Dave's not here man...

A couple nights ago I was sitting in a dorm room at the foriegner camprground in Islamasbad reading when a man entered. He was relativly normal looking except for his unkempt hair. He said "hello" and began making his bed. After a brief moment he turned to me and said "got any hash". I looked up from my book and said "sorry, I don't do drugs". It was this point I really started to notice him twitching and scratching his skin vigerously. After a moment he informed he that he didn't beleive that I didn't have hash and he wanted some. After some convincing he asked for music CDs becasue he wanted to listen to music and the whole situation repeated itself with me informing that I didn't have any and him not beleiving me. The paranioa really was the final straw in making me think he was on speed. He then proceeded to bombard me with how horrible the world was and how horrible his life was in an obvious sympathy fishing trip so I just got up and left. That night I slept in the tent with Dave and didn't go back to the dorm except to get my stuff. The next day, the now very apparently crazy man from Argentina, who had been living in Goa(in India) for the last 15 years, made his rounds throughout the campground quickly alienting everyone there with his extremely arrogant and negative attitude. Later that day he walked around the campground with a large stick holding it like a club and looking very aggitated. This worried a family traveling by bus enough to keep their kids near the rest of the day and everbody away from him. The next day, he approached me just as it was getting dark and began talking to me again. He was extremely insistant that we talk about sex, which I wouldn't indulge him in. He then started asking me if I'd been sexually harrased by men in Pakistan and I finally told him he needed to leave. This seemed to really suprise him and he stood up turned to me and said, "you could die". He began to walk away and I asked "are you threatening me" to which he replied "your sick, you could die". At this point I was getting pretty worried and some seperate confrontations other campers had had brought everything to a boiling point. The next day after he screamed at a german man that he was a Nazi (becasue of his nationality) the whole campground banned together to get him kicked out along with the signifigant amount of drugs he seemed to be stockpiling in the dorm room. The whole situation didn't go entirely well and he ended up sneaking back into the campground that night and sleeping in an recently emptied dorm room.

This would have been the end of the story except that today while in line surrounded by armed gaurds and barbed wired fences at the Indian embassy I was talking to another traveller and out of nowhere the Argentinan man popped up next to me. He immediatly began screaming at me about trying to get him ejected from the campground. It took me a couple of minutes to calm him down and tell him that if he wanted to talk about it he could wait until we were in a better place. When he finally calmed down he immediatly tried to hop in front of me in line (which I had been waiting in for nearly an hour) telling the man at the office window I said it was ok. That was the last straw for me and with the help of some people in line we forced him back as he yelled loudly. A Pakistan man leaned towards me and asked if I was friends with the crazy man, to which I shook my head vigerously. After some time, the Argentinan left and I havent seen him since, although I imagine that there will be another confrontation to which I am not looking foward.

This situation has made me realize that I have met at least 150 travelers since I left 4 months ago and for the most part they have been very easy going kind people. This seems to be a rare case, but also worries me about India. Its seem that there is a pretty signifigant group of foriegners who have lived a good deal of time in India, or try to, persuing an almost cultish drug ladden hippy utopia. Truly, it is now a goal to avoid anyone like the Argentinan, who made feel really unconfortable for the first time in a long, long, while.

Also, I've been spending quite a bit of time at the campground where there are a lot of foriegners. When I got my visa to Pakistan I thought that I would be in many heated, passionate conversations with Pakistanies about American foriegn policy. I was wrong. Everytime I say I'm American, people tell me that they recognize that American people don't want innocent blood on their hands, and that they understand that the government, and current the administration don't neccisarily reflect the will of all Americans. This has been nice to hear. On the other had I have found myself in a number of intense conversations, and having to overcome a large number of assumptions about the U.S. and myself in the campground with foriegners. Its funny that all the people who are the most worked up, angry, and attacking me for my nationality are Europeans. I'm getting pretty tired of it, but until I get to leave Islamasbad its pretty much what I have to deal with... and possible crazy people from Argentina.

The more I hear about the earthqauke the more I realize how much it has devistated this country. It was extremely lucky I was in Islamasbad when it hit for two reasons. One, the Kerekorum will be closed possibly until summer seeing that the slides wont be cleared before it snows, and two, if I had been in any of the stone walled guesthouses that I had stayed in before I reached Islamasbad, there is a good chance it would have collapsed on me. One day difference is all it would have taken.

I hope your all well. I'll write again within a week.