"Standing with Israel" means "Standing against Palestine" - the Demagogue that is Erick Stakelbeck

Erick Stakelbeck had gained much controversy before coming to speak at Portland State University on Monday, May 14. The week prior to his arrival Students United for Palestinian Rights (SUPER) had put out a call for “all students, faculty, staff, and members of the broader community to join us for a silent protest against hate and intolerance.” A few days later Erick's blog reported that Christians United for Israel (CUFI) who sponsored the event had put up posters promoting the event. Several of these posters had been defaced with swastikas drawn over the Star of David. Several other posters were ripped down shortly after being posted.

In response to the controversy the presentation had been upgraded to a larger room, moving from a conference room into the much larger ballroom. Outside of the ballroom was a posted sign stating that all bags, purses, and backpacks would be searched.

Erick was scheduled to go on at 7:00pm. At 6:50 a single-file line of forty-five social activists poured into the ballroom. The group, ranging in age and ethnicity, entered filling the easternmost side of the room. The westernmost side was already filled. The activists came holding signs and with tape covering their mouths in a silent protest. The red, black, and white tape read, “peace”, “NOH8”, and “justice”. Their signs read, “Jews, Muslims, everyone unite against apartheid.”, Pro-Israel against racism”, “No more war in the Middle-East”, and “Your bigotry is showing.”

Before Erick's introduction was made the room sat uncomfortably – two groups sitting on opposite sides of the aisle like a wedding of feuding families. Erick's supporters chatted idly on the bride's side, while SUPER patiently sat comforted in their silence on the groom's side. Two uniformed officers lounged in the back corner peering around the room, cautiously eying anyone who dare walk to back table for a cookie or bottle of water. The stage remained empty except for a large blue backdrop with a golden emblem of the United States and Israel flags reading, “Christians United for Israel”.

A student walked up onto the stage and informed the audience of how the posters for the event had had swastikas drawn on them in the middle of the Star of David, clarifying, “This is hate speech – no different than burning a cross on the lawn of an African American.” Moving along to address the other public relations move made in anticipation of Erick's arrival. “A student forwarded me a flier stating that our speaker is racist and Islamaphobic. If someone is telling you we're racist or Islamaphobic you're being manipulated.” He went on to introduce the speaker, “He is an expert on terrorism and extremism. You can often see him on the Glen Beck TV show.” The crowd feigns at muffling their laughter. “Don't be afraid to take the tape off of your mouth and ask a question.”

Erick Stakelbeck hearing his cue takes the stage. Erick briefly reemphasizes the swastikas being etched on his posters. “Does everyone here condemn the swastika over the Star of David?” The entire audience bursts into applause denouncing this act of hate.

Erick then discussed how he had coped with the threats. “I will read from the Bible. I know it's scary, I quote from the Bible.” Quoting Isiah 54:17 “'No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against you in judgment you shall condemn.' So I went to bed in peace.”

Erick went on to talk about how Jews had lived in Israel thousands of years ago when they were killed, “were cleansed”, he corrected himself, “by the Roman empire.” How Israel had continued to be threatened today by fifty-thousands of missiles lined up by Hezbollah on Israel’s border.” Stakelbeck did not mention the Iron Dome anti-missile defense system which the United States is expected to announce they will fund with $680 million as part of $947 million aid package they plans to spend to support Israel’s missile defense.

“Free exchange of ideas and the truth will set you free.” It's not clear if he's being facetious or not. He continues, “Well the Bible, that pesky Bible again. Comparing Israelis to Nazis is the intellectual thing to do this day.” While humor often works as an effective way to defuse emotionally-charged situations, here Stakelbeck's use of sarcasm is inappropriate. His reasoning continues to be full of simple and sarcastic one-liners.

“While Christians in Muslim nations are being cleansed. Christians in Israel have increased one-thousand percent.” Stakelbeck continues to paint Christians as the modern-day victim, never addressing the treatment that Muslims have received in the United States and around the world following September 11, 2001.

At 8:05 the collection of forty-five Students United for Palestinian Rights stand together and leave. The room tries not to notice, but can't help but turn and watch them. Stakelbeck pleads, “Come back for the Q and A.” Other members of the bride's side yell, “God bless you.” as the activists file out mostly silent, mouths covered. They leave as they had arrived, and in leaving empty the bulk of the groom's side. The void, immediately apparent in the seating, also become apparent in Stakelbeck's ego. As if attacked, he becomes defensive. “That was real productive and enlightening. I'm a changed man. I've got nothing to hide. Read my book and watch my show.” Defense transitions in to an apparent fallback of marketing his media as a well-balanced truth.

Next, Stakelbeck introduces the Muslim Brotherhood - “Terrorists in suits, that's what I call them, were in our White House... They are talking to al-Qaeda, 'We have the same goal, but our methods are different.” He goes on to describe the Muslim Brotherhood as being nonviolent and moderate, working through education and the democratic medium. “Why be violent when you can get elected into office? And now they're in our White House!”. He portrays this method as being more dangerous than violence, because it is effective.

Next Stakelbeck takes on Iran. “Iranian leaders say America is the Great Satan and Israel is the Little Satan, and they're goose stepping – as the Nazis did – on American and Israeli flags... You see? They bunch us together like that. America and Israel, whether we like it or not. I don't know about you, but I like it!... We are the ultimate prize to Iran. Do you think if they wiped Israel off the map they'd be satisfied there? Does anyone think they'd stop there?”

This is where Stakelbeck really hits his stride. Selling the idea of terror, that everyone is out to get us, and the bride's section remains engaged, hanging on his every word. He goes on to talk about how Iran has nuclear tipped, ballistic missiles which are capable of striking the east coast. “Now you guys don't have to worry about that. You're safe out here, but you have to be careful of Korea.” He won't be stopped, “The Iranians are planning a serious terror attack and apparently they're not scared of the repercussions. A regime like that where it's all about martyrdom... No, I'm not making this up. I'm not speaking out of ignorance. I'm not just making this up and speaking out of blind ignorance.” He peppers his speech with these phrases, prodding his audience along.

Stakelbeck goes on to speak of Iran's growing number of embassies in Latin America and their interest to develop missile bases in Cuba. If this expert on terror and extremism hasn't scared you yet, he cites a congressmen who reports that “Hezbollah has hundreds of operatives here on US soil. We suspect – these are members of Congress speaking here – not a raving, lunatic, racist, Islamaphobe Stakelbeck. These are members of a freely-elected congress. They're here. It's not alarmism. It's a fact. Let's not be caught blindsided again like we were in nine-eleven.”

“The Muslim Brotherhood's creed is jihad – holy war. Jihad is our way – dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope. They've never changed that creed and motto... The terrorist is here and the Muslim Brotherhood is here. They're even guests at the White House. I encourage you to Google them. Apparently our leaders don't have Google.”

Erick then turns plays a video of a Red Cross member who works in Palestine. He sums up her testimony, “She said in a very robotic, brainwashed way, 'Israel is the occupier', so we get the left. Where's the left on woman’s rights in Islam? The burka is very liberating. Where is the feminists?”. Continual condescension, setting up an expert witness only to mock her and her views for not conforming to his.

Stakelbeck closes with a Bible verse from Isaiah 62:6. “'I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence.' So speak out, be bold. Don't let cowards intimidate you. What can they do? You have the truth on your side.” An “Amen” is belted from the crowd. “Anyone who doesn't see what 's happening, there's some nasty times coming. Instead of debating, call me Islamaphobe and a racist. I'm here to educate. We need to be bold and confident.”

By the time Stakelbeck finishes the educational Q and A he's promised only has time for three questions. The first is by a woman who congratulates Stakelbeck, “You present yourself as someone who really believes what you're saying, and you say you need to educate us, but I see many people watching you and became visibly upset with what you're saying. You believe your side and they believe theirs. I don't believe you were entirely respectful.”

What this woman is eluding to is Stakelbeck's style. A true demagogue Erick's strength comes from appealing to prejudice over reason. He coaxes his audience – perhaps himself, that he can be trusted. He's the expert on the situation, categorizing his opinions as “fact” and his hate-spinning as “education”. Like a skilled surgeon, he goes to work. First, applying the general anesthetic through Bible verses. The audience responds to hearing the Bible the way our analytical minds respond to comedic commercials – by shutting down, not questioning anything, just taking in the message. Then he continues, feeding them through the intravenous drip. Bits of how Christians, Israelis and Americans are clearly being targeted. Then, the only proper response is to target Muslims and Palestinians in a similar fashion.

He sarcastically demonizes himself, degrading his personal experience and knowledge. “But don't worry. I don't know what I'm talking about. I'm just spouting off out of ignorance.” This is his one-two combo. Setting himself as the authority and then attacking straw men who would dare to challenge his opinion. “This rabble-rouser, he's just a hater and a bigot, but he's got all these facts – man!” His delivery drips with condescension.

His approach was particularly hypocritical while basing his monologue on othering Muslims as a separate, different, and lesser person than us, while simultaneously portraying Christianity as a persecuted religion - unjustly harassing one religion while commending his own religion for being unjustly harassed. If you need any more evidence that Stakelbeck's career has been established on fear-mongering, look no further than his latest book, titled, “Terrorist Next Door”.

Whether it was intentional or not, Stakelbeck did not address that earlier that day Palestinian prisoners had ended a nearly month-long, twenty-four hour hunger strike. Over 2,000 political prisoners had united in the hunger strike to challenge Israel's indefinite detention of Palestinians without charge. Their condition sounds very similar to a new law in the United States that Obama signed on New Years Eve 2011 – the National Defense Authorization Act. The Palestinians ended their hunger strike on agreement to terms that nineteen prisoners be released from solitary confinement, approval of family visits from relatives living in the Gaza Strip, and an agreement to no longer hold prisoners without charge once they complete their terms.

A member of Students United for Palestinian Rights was reached following the event for an interview on their direct action. He stated, “Religious intolerance towards the Muslim community is not OK. We forced him to hide his racism. He really curved what he would normally say and what he says in his interviews. We already had an effect and forced him to not be so blatant about it.” The activist went on record to distance himself and the group from the swastikas drawn on Stakelbeck's posters. “We don't want any part of racism or hatred. Actually, SUPER along with Jewish Voice for Peace will be hosting a discussion panel next week.” Al-Nakba Awareness Week will be held at PSU and includes a discussion on “Challenging anti-Jewish Oppression and the Misuse of Antisemitism”, spoken word by Remi Kanazi, and Keynote speakers Nora Barrows-Freidman and Neda Elia. In Palestine they will also be commemorating May 15 which marks Nakba, meaning “catastrophe”. Nakba is the day in 1948 when Israel declared statehood and exiled hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes. Palestinians will have a day of action including a massive rally in the Gaza Strip with other actions scattered along the West Bank.

Mexico

March 2, 2009

So another update on where I'm at and a few exciting things. I guess the most relevant being that my last roommate Christian Perez Alfaro officially goes down as the worst thing that's happened to me since my car accident in Columbia with Laura Forguson about 5 years ago. That being the optomistic introduction, here's what went down. I met this guy on an internet site to help match people with rooms for rent with people looking for places to live. He seemed like a really cool guy and we got along great. He stayed for 3 weeks and only paid 500 pesos of the security deposit and no rent. So he paid 500 pesos out of a total of 3000 pesos that he should have paid me. I guess that was the first sign, but I felt bad for the guy and didn't want to throw him out yet. So one day I came home and the front door was open. I checked the house and realized that his room was empty. So I assumed he did me the favor of not having to throw him out.

Upon closer inspection, I realized that he took all the money out of my wallet, my cell phone, my digital camera (including about 300 pictures I hadn't uploaded yet), and my Nintendo Wii. While this is traumatic news for me, it is good news for my bike and bed which move up a few slots on my list of valued material possessions:

old list: 1) car 2) computer 3) digital camera 4) Wii 5) bike
new list 1) car 2) computer 3) bike 4) work clothes 5)bed

So I found a new guy who seems cool, paid me up front, and was referred by mutual friends, so I think he's legit. On the other hand, I'm hunting down this guy Christian Perez Alfaro, so let me know if you find him. Another positive, I learned a very important lesson: never trust a Mexican.

What else? The job is pretty slow. I'm working an average of 2 hours a day, which I guess is enough to get by if people quit stealing from me. I'm halfway looking for another job to work on top of Berlitz. I still don't have my papers, so I'm still working illegally.

Things are getting rather serious with my girlfriend Greta Venegas. This past weekend, I went to a family barbeque to meet her family. I think it went pretty well. I mostly just ate and schooled everyone in foosball.

Sorry, no photos for this blog.

12/09/08 Update on Life and Situations

Yes, so I have a "steady" job now. I'm in the process of waiting for my FM2 to be completed which will allow me to work legally in Mexico. Right now, I am working illegally under another coworker's name and getting paid cash under the table. It's very funny to me to see the other side as we so often think of the Mexicans coming to America to "steal" our jobs and getting paid cash under the table.

Anyway, the hours are short. I only teach one class a day on average, and they're usually at night. From 6:00-8:00 pm or 7:30-9:00 are my normal shifts and Saturday mornings 10:30-1:30. The pay is good, the hours are short, so it's pretty much what I want. Enough to feel some sort of production in my life, but short enough to where I can live like I'm on permanent summer vacation: staying out late, sleeping in late, eating long breakfasts. "Life is only as good as you let it be." (maybe misquoted, Charles Bukowski)

Also, the classes are small from private classes (1 student, 1 teacher) to my largest class of 4 students. Berlitz is the most expensive school in Monterrey and most of our students are adults working in large corporations. Very few pay out of pocket, most are sponsored by their jobs to learn ESL for their job. A few students who are wealthy or have wealthy parents do take our classes just to make themselves more marketable in the future.

I am happy here and really enjoy my students, coworkers, and boss. However, in the future, I would definitely prefer to work in a more academic setting. With lower to middle-class students as opposed to upper-class. I don't know why this is, but I've always felt more of a desire to help those who are less fortunate; this likely stems from my days as a social worker.

A few other cool things about my work is it's downtown and really close to my house. I can walk there in 10 minutes and can bike their in 5 minutes of weaving through traffic. Another is that Berlitz is international, so after a year here, I can transfer to pretty much any country I like. I'm thinking about going back to Japan or maybe Thailand.

Other than work, I've been going out a lot, reading, biking, killing mosquitoes, making friends, cooking some basic Mexican food, watching a lot of movies and my poor, struggling Cardinals.

So I got out of a mediocre Argentinian movie and I was biking home. I was taking a different route because the park I usually bike through - Paseo Santa Lucia - closes at 10. So I'm biking home, it's a pretty short route: 10-15 minutes. I'm going through down this street and this car is coming towards me perpendicular. We both slow down and he stops, like to let me pass, so I thought.

So I pass in front of him and as soon as I'm most of the way past him he starts going again and clips my back end. My bike tipped over, but I didn't fall all the way over or get hurt or anything. He caught all bike, so I'm totally fine. I look up and the fucking guy is driving away without even stopping to see if I'm ok. So I hold up my hands like, "What? asshole?"

I try to move my bike the side of the road, but the back wheel won't turn, so I look down to inspect the damage and there's a big chunk of something that looks like it fell off my bike and is stuck in the spokes. I pull it out and it's the guy's front plate license plate!!!! What are the odds, right? My back tire is totally bent. There are a group of guys in a little shop drinking beers and hanging out. They heard and came to check it out. One of the guys helps me call the cops.

So I'm hanging out with all these guys who are so cool and helpful. I'm kinda shaking, pissed, and full of adrenaline. Before the cops come back, the asshole who hit me comes back. He realized his lisence plate fell off and is suddenly guilt-stricken. Whatever, he gave me $50 and we called it a day. I had to walk my bike back home and now I have to walk to work tomorrow.

Roadtrip with Matthieu Carlier: Morelia and Guanajuato

07/05/08We woke up at Violetta's with no running water. Matt and I made do and showered each other with kisses instead. We ate and went downtown. We were looking for a parking spot and I found myself going the wrong way down an unmarked one-way street. This is not an unusual occurrence for me here and usually results in people standing in the sidewalk whistling at me and pointing the other way. When I make it to a point in the road where I can turn around, there are three cops waving me down. I try waving them off that I'm ok, but it doesn't work. I explained that I'm unfamiliar with the town and there's no "one-way" sign. One of the cops argues, "There is a sign.""Uh, no there's not.""Come, I'll show you." He walks me to the end of the street where there is a sign on one wall, but there are no visible signs where we came from. He let's us go. For those counting, that's three incidents with the cops within 24 hours. We parked, walked around downtown and explored some churches and a marketplace. Matt and I hit a point where we became crazy-hyper and happy. Dancing and rapping. I jumped from one post to another, dancing. Matt jumped on a fountain and began dancing around it. However, he immediately lost his balance and fell in, up to his crotch. His pants were soaked as well as his purse, books, and camera. We didn't care. We laughed at each other. A barber nearby witnessed the whole thing, not stopping his haircut. We pointed at him and all laughed together.We met up with Violetta for coffee. Then we decided to go to a public pay bath. It was 35 pesos well worth it as we hadn't been able to shower for a few days. It had all the hot water and gigantic cockroaches we could ask for. That night we went to a interesting rock bar with a bad cover band. It was packed, so we left and went to Casa de Salsa. There was a live mariachi singer. Matt and Violetta danced together and I danced with some straggling fat girls until I realized it wasn't as much fun as it sounds.08/05/08We all got breakfast then Matt and I left for Guanajuato. The highway took us on a road that bisected a huge lagoon. Leaving us with views of nothing but water as far as we could see on both sides of us. Then we came across a small ghost town that sold only sweatshop cowboy and booty-club girl clothes. I bought a some cowboy pants for $6.We got to Guanajuato and met up with Jorge, our couchsurfing host and Max a surfer from Germany who was also staying with Jorge. Jorge is an over fashioned, stereotypical super-gay, super-in-the-closet Mexican who's obsessed with French dance culture known as tectonic. He dresses, listens, and dances tectonic. Matt gave him a hard time this as tectonic is as original as the pop-diva slut craze in the US. German Max is too-tall and awkward in his cumbersome hiking boots. He's taking a break from his studies in physics to travel. He's been to Australia and swam with sharks. Now, he's hiking parts of Mexico. He hiked the Copper Canyon by himself, but miscalculated resulting in three days completely isolated with no food and only river water to drink. He thought he was going to die. Then he came upon an indigenous tribe and tried to give them hundreds of dollars for food, but they didn't use or value money and shook him off. He survived all this to be hanging out with us in Guanajuato.
Max and Matt immediately began bickering back and forth about how Germany and France hate each other. Somehow this led to us all telling all the racist jokes we knew and bonding immediately. The discussion ended with Matt asking Max what he thought was a better German invention, the gas oven or mustard gas.
We all explored Guanajuato together. Matt and I were blown away by the people. There was a huge population of Europeans, Americans, and even Norwegians. In the downtown part of the city, it appeared as though Mexicans only made up half of the people. Apparently, the schools here are really good and have several exchange programs overseas. The mixture gives the city the feeling of a large hostel. We got fruit-flavored tea and enchiladas then went back to Jorge's to shower and headed out to Barflies. Barflies is a reggae bar full of hippies who actually skank. I can't help but be reminded of early high school. Everyone was great. Matt and I won a game of foosball, then we all left as it was too packed.
We went to another club named Apple which was an average clubby club where the girls were less attractive but they dressed up really nice to feel better about it. We made due. Matt found a girl and I danced with a waitress in between her taking drink orders. We realized that the place really did suck so we went to En Lak Etch, which is a open-late techno bar. They had a DJ spinning electronic music in a smaller, overpacked, hot room. We all danced until 3 when they kicked us out, so we went back to Jorge's.

Roadtrip with Matthieu Carlier: Morelia

05/05/08
We got up and left Guadalajara. It was a nice drive to Morelia but I was cashed by the time we got there having drove close to 20 hours in the past 3 days. Morelia has a very ugly outer city and Matt and I thought we'd only want to stay for a day, but when we discovered the city center we quickly changed our minds. We started at the cathedral and walked several blocks. We stopped on a park bench in the center to watch people pass. Matt noted, "Look at them. They're women and they're with children." We waited outside the cathedral to read and wait for Violetta, our host. She showed us around some more and we went to a fancy bar. As soon as we were alone Matt began telling me how much he loved her.

06/05/08
We woke up and Matt took another cold shower. It seems hot water is a luxury in Mexico. When he got out and dried off, he started itching his back which was irritated from sunburn. He kept complaining, and being extremely over dramatic - as is his fashion. "How can I go out or do anythign with this?" He kept scratching his back, ripping his clothes off, slamming doors, grabbing at his back, dancing in his underwear and wasting almost all of Violetta's lotion while I lied on the ground laughing and snapping pictures. We went to the grocery store for breakfast of doughnuts, bananas, and orchata then went downtown. We went to a museum with amazing engravings and woodprints. I snuck a few pictures while Matt distracted the gaurd.
We met up with Violetta after she got out of school at Casa de Cultura and went out to eat. Then we went to a market with dulces and artenesanias. We drove to another area west of the center so Violetta could go to her grandpa's house. After she left, Matt and I were exploring a park when Matt announced he had to pee and wondered down a main street. I saw him standing behind a car "making art with his prick" on the corner just as a cop was pulling down the adjacent street on a motorcycle. He began yelling that he was going to arrest Matt and he didn't care that people in France pee all up and down every street, because this is Mexico and people here don't do that (Yes, they do!). When I wondered up to see what was going on, the cop asked me, "Quieres ir con tu amigo?". I answered yes, not paying attention, I thought he had asked if I was with him. He had asked if I wanted to go with him, to jail. After a $35 bribe (Yes, that's $3.50 dollars) Matt and I were walking away with nothing more than a relatively cheap story. Matt complained of the cops, "I hate it. You have to fear the cops as much as the criminals. These cops rob me more than any criminal in my life.""
We walked to a nearby university with an alluring campus and decided to enter to read and maybe meet some students. We were the only white people and clearly didn't belong, so everyone had a strong reaction towards us one way or the other. The girls all seemed to take notice and the ones who didn't Matt complained, "I'm tired of all these girls pretending that they are not interested by me." He is genuinely cocky and I felt quite confident with him. "Look at them all. They can't help to look and admire us because we are so attractive and different," he'd say dead-seriously. The women on campus were all big-eyed and smiles. The guys were all defensive scowls. We left feeling like rockstars with Matt constantly pumping us up with lines like: "It's so fun to walk in this beautiful city and attract girls."
We met back up with Violetta and went to a pop art museum with a portrait photo exhibit of a collection of people who live on one of the most crime-ridden streets of Mexico City. Violetta took us to eat in a church basement which had a school cafeteria feel to it, but the food was good and cheap and the eight busboys couldn't take their eyes off my digital camera and lucha libre photos.
That night Violetta took us out to the highest altitude bar in Morelia located on top of the mountain. It was closed, so we continued on to a park with a view overlooking the city. The park was closed and gated, but we were hungry for adventure and felt they had no right to keep us out of the public park. Matt went to the left and I went to the right. I ducked under some barbed wire, went to the end of the fence and found a place we could swing around into the park. I went back to get Matt and Violetta. We were so excited and crazy with the view of the city and the lights in the night. We had the park to ourselves. We were running around. I was taking pictures of everything. We sat on the far edge of the park and took in the view. Violetta turned around facing the park, "Oh!". I turned and there's a security guard standing five feet behind us. He appeared without making any noise and we had no idea how long he had been standing there. He was wearing all black, including a black hat, and black tinted sunglasses and stood with his arms folded over his chest just under his square jaw and ultra-stern expression. He seems to take it as a personal insult that we would dare break into his park. He calls the cops. Three show up: a big, quiet guy, a buff woman, and a little guy who does all the negotiating. They are much more jovial about the whole thing than the security guard had been.
The little guy leader takes the three of us aside and runs us through the routine. First, he scares us, threatening that since Matt and I are foreigners we have to be treated differently - taken to customs. After letting this thought sit for a while, he begins joking with us. Calls me Jesus Cristo Superestrella. This whole time, the other two cops are gawking at the view, taking their phones out and snapping pictures - the same thing that got us in all this trouble. The leader suggests that there may be an easier way to handle this. He says they are hungry and could settle for some money for dinner. But they're really hungry. Just look at the big guy. He can eat a lot. We give them $200 and the female cop is practicing her English on me and they invite us out for drinks. The leader's been eying Violetta this whole time. We pass. They walk us to the front of the park, get in their car. Peel out backwards, up the hill while screaming like George of the Jungle on the loudspeaker. None of us can believe what just happened. We celebrated our victory at a lame sports bar.

Roadtrip with Matthieu Carlier: Playa de Manzanilla

02/05/08
So the people we were surfing with in Guadalajara had a 3 day weekend and were planning a trip to the beach. They had invited Matt and I to tag along, so a total of 14 people left from Guadalajara to Manzanilla Beach between my car and a Nissan pick up. It was an interesting mixture of people: one American, two French, two Australian chicks, two German chicks, and the rest were Mexican including a one year old baby. We drove through desserts, mountains, taquila bushes, and small towns stopping every 30-45 minutes to rotate people out of the baking truck bed into my car. We got to the beach at 6:45, but they told us we couldn't camp there because crocodiles were loose on the beach. We all got out to look at the crocodile and moved down the beach like a mile to another site.
We found a beach front campsite where we could camp for free. We pitched our tents and checked out the area. The men began gathering coconuts from the trees, which is more difficult than it sounds. Some of the guys attempted to climb the trees and pull them down. Orlando and I took huge logs and tried to poke them out, but it was cumbersome and we cut up our wrists. Sadey and I threw other coconuts up to knock out the fresh ones. Then Sadey tied a rope to a coconut to try to throw it over a bunch and pull them down, but he couldn't tie it on the coconut. I found an empty 2 liter and filled it with water, tied the rope, and threw it up over the bunch. It was hard, but it worked. Meanwhile, the girls were at town to buy items for a fish taco dinner. A few of us swam in the ocean, but most of the Mexicans didn't because it was la ispuma roja. Which is what they call it when the water has a red tint. They say it is a cleaning phase in the ocean where bacteria kills everything and washes it ashore.
We started a bonfire and cooked fish tacos and rice. After eating, we stayed up talking. They cut open the coconuts and drank the milk, mixing in rum with a few. Then slept in our tents.

03/05/08
We got up and swam again. This time the water had yellow foam. We had lunch of more fish, fresh fruits, and coconut. We swam more and had another bonfire and loved the beach.

04/05/08
We swam in clean water. Then walked to town and got banana shakes in bags. The crazy guy who was tending our camping site kicked us out a few times, but we weren't ready to drive back as half of the people had to ride under the sun in the back of the pickup. So we packed up and went to a small, dirty beach to kill some hours. A lot of us wanted to go straight home, but went to the other beach to keep the unity of the group. We were tired and angry and the beach was ugly and dirty. The 2 Australians: Emma and Juliet and Matt and I found a cheap restaurant with beachside seating and ordered tacos and drinks. Our mood drastically changed with the food. I got super high on life and kept telling everyone how much the trip meant to me and how I loved them and these were the moments that we'd never forget. Matt and I began a show off competition for Emma's love. I did a bunch of somersaults in the sand, got disoriented, and fell on top of a chubby Mexican and his sandcastle. He said he was ok, I talked with him and helped him build another, better sandcastle. Matt and I swam in a chlorinated pool to clean off a bit, Party Boy danced and we drove back to Guadalajara. On the way home Matt told me stories from his time in France when he organized a student protest to completely block of the school. This resulted in him getting beaten by the police to the point where he needed to get stitches.