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.

Roadtrip with Matthieu Carlier: Guadalajara

30/04/08
I woke up with a fly buzzing in my ear and landing on my nose. Matt and I got up, said our goodbyes, and left at noon for Guadalajara. It took 5 hours to get to Guadalajara. Mostly an easy drive with maybe 2 hours of winding, slow mountain driving. We found our couchsurfer's house Orlando, but he was at work. He lives in a commune house setting. Similar to a dorm for grown ups. There are 6 rooms spread along the perimeter of a community outdoor area, living room, and kitchen. Everyone hangs out together and takes turns cooking and cleaning. We unloaded our stuff in Orlando's room and walked downtown. We went to an art museum, a million plazas with fountains and palaces. We settled in a plaza with a live mariachi band playing on stage in front of a huge crowd. Interestingly, mariachi bands and much of Mexican traditional culture originated in Guadalajara. We ate, found some street performers, and watched some kids playing music and dancing Capoiera. We got home at 11 and hung out with Orlando and the other roommates. There were like 8 people over. I met Ruth who rents out one of the rooms for an art studio. She's kinda really cute and funny. She told me what I should see in Guadalajara. She's super sick and has a bad cough, so we walked to Oxxo to get mango juice and talked for a while.

05/01/08
We woke up and went to a marketplace with crazy fruits called Yakas an the cheapest, gross tacos ever (5 for $10). I got two orders and a huge orchata for $10 more. We explored more and found another huge market where everyone sells the same things: guitars, leather crocodile shoes, panchos, perfumes, and food. We wondered some more and found a plaza and stopped to read at a shady bench. Found a bookstore and matt convinced me to buy 100 Years of Solitude in Spanish. That ngiht we decided to go see lucha libre in Guadalajara. We walked to the Arena Coliseo which was in a bad part of town. Everyone was staring at us unwelcomingly. We made it ot the Arena to find out it was not open on Thursday. We went back home disappointed. We got a group of us and went to a nearby taco stand. Matt and I had been talking about going out that night, so we invited Orlanda and Ruth and went to a music bar Scratch. They played blues, 60's, and James Brown. It was nice, but Matt and I wanted to dance-go out after spending our weekend in Chill Zacatecas. It was midnight, the four of us headed to a salsa bar Mutualista with a $15 cover and a live salsa band. At first we were all just standing around, waiting. Matt and Orlando went to get drinks and Ruth and I began dancing. Well she more or less taught me how to dance. Her feet were always moving twice the speed of mine. We danced all night. I joked that it was half dancing and half lucha, because the place was so full and we were constantly bouncing off other dancers. Matt danced with an attractive Mexicana until she asked to take a break and sit down. He couldn't stop and became fed up with her. They kicked us out at 2 am and we went home.

Roadtrip with Matthieu Carlier: Zacatecas

So a few days earlier at a Couchsurfing party, I met this French guy who was couchsurfing in Monterrey. He had been hitchhiking his way across the States for the past 5 months largely inspired by Jack Kerouac. After listening to his stories and plans to travel Mexico next, I shared that my life in Monterrey was very flexible without a job and offered to join forces with him in his trek through Mexico.

28/04/08
I picked him up three days later with two weeks and a loose plan of what we wanted to see. We both were slow getting ready as my house was without electricity that day following a storm the previous night. We left at 3pm for Zacatecas. We had a slow start stopping for groceries for the trip and to eat great tacos for under $35 a piece. We made it to the Tropic of Cancer and stopped to take photos. While I was taking a shot of a large globe that marked the spot, I felt something sting my toe. I looked down to see that I had stepped near a large ant farm and there was a fat one on my right foot. My toe hurt and as I continued to drive it throbbed a little.
We arrived in Zacatecas at 9 pm without a place to stay. We parked and decided to look for an internet cafe or a hostel. We passed a group of 3 alternative-looking guys about our age and I asked Matt if we should just ask them if we could stay with them. They said we could stay with them, so the 5 of us went to Wendy's for enchiladas then returned to their house located nicely in el Centro. The guys were Guillermo, Marvin, and Jose Luis. Guillermo and Jose Luis were guitar majors and Marvin is an engineer major. At their house we talked and they drank.

29/04/08
The next day I woke up and my foot was better. Matt showered with cold water as the guys haven't paid their heating bill. Also, when Matt went out to my car to get his clothes, their landlord told him that they hadn't paid their rent for the month - only $1000 each. Apparently, she has dementia and can't remember when they pay and when they don't. She also asked Matt and I to pay her for the nights we stayed. We refused of course.
Matt and I walked the streets of Zacatecas, wondering into a few tattoo shops for Matt to price tattoos. Matt wants a tattoo of a Mayan sun and keeps trying to talk me into getting a tattoo of Dia de los Muertos. We stopped at a bread store and got some pan dulce con flan adentro - too rich and heavy, but we both ate it. We explored a few churches and plazas. Matt became quickly frustrated with the aesthetic Zacatecas complaining that as soon as you put your camera away, you are surprised by another beautiful view. We climbed the mountain on one side of the town and took the teleferico over the city to the Bufa on the other side. We bought some small hand-made crafts from the gypsies on the other side and ate gorditas.
We went back to the guys' house to read and relax. WHen they all got home from school, we went to a cafe downtown that one of their friends Sol had opened. It's a cafe, bookstore, and art gallery all in one. The guys' guitar teacher was there drinking alone. He was already drunk, the guys invited him to come sit with us. He kept making the same jokes over and over again. Some being that the landlord wanted my money because I am Jesus Christ, so I have all the money in the world. Then a similar joke about how I should pay her because I'm such good friends with George Bush. He wasn't funny. We all talked about music, politics, and all the different meanings and uses of Spanish curse words. Sol kicked us out at 1 am as we were the only ones in the cafe. The teacher took Matt and some of the guys to another bar, followed by a gay bar. I went to get tacos and sleep.

Juacala

21/04/08

I'm watching TV with Marychewy and Tia Rita. They have Dish so they can order whatever movie they want. They've succesfully found three or four movies in a row that offend them. The last one was “30 Days of Night.” They watch the plot develop having no idea it's a vampire movie. Then they get to the first attack and look away saying “juacala... que horrible!”. Then the change the channel to “I am Legend” for a repeat. It's great. Other than that, my day is boring. They tried to explain juacala to me as "muy feo", but it's not in the dictionary.

I failed to get another job following an interview for GoEnglish. I took my first Monterrey bus last night and got a little lost. It was fun. I'm thinking about a brief roadtrip through the States in May to go to Greg's wedding in Indiana then St. Louis to see my family and maybe to California. On the job front. I met some American chicks who teach here and they couldn't believe I haven't got a job and made it sound like I must be trying not to work – maybe they're the first ones to figure me out.

My days are boring and unproductive, my nights are great. I need a new hobby. Weekends are awesome. Lucha libre is also good to me. Last night I saw La Parka wrestle. He's getting old and only did a few moves mostly poking people in the but when they bend over and ramming his crotch into their faces.

Weekend trip to Wine Country

13/04/08

Tuesday I had my interview with GoEnglish. The guy seemed cool. I have to wait another week or so to find out if I got it. Tuesday night I went to my first lucha libre match with Paloma. We arrived and paid 30 pesos ($3) for the upper deck. We went upstairs to an entirely empty arena. It was probably full to 10% of capacity. Apparently Sunday night is when the better wrestlers fight and when the people show up, but Tuesdays are cheaper. It was alright. The quality of the wrestling was less than I was expecting and it was mostly out of shape, fat guys totally telegraphing moves and making it abundantly clear that this is all fake. The crowd was really into it. I guess that's a big part of the appeal. The majority of the fights spill into the audience and the luchadors wave audience members out of their seats so they can throw opponents into them. Also, fans throw sodas, beers, tortillas and trash at the bad guys. Towards the end of the fight some of our other friends showed up. On the way out, I bought a La Parka mask for a bargain at 37 pesos. It's too small, but for once I went fashion over function as La Parka is the man. Then we went out to eat and got excellent food for too cheap.

I don't remember Wednesday except I saw Antes que el Diablo sepa que has Muerto. Alejandro was supposed to see it with me, but he bailed.

Thursday, I met up with Willem who's a couchsurfer from Belgium. We explored more of Monterrey. Mostly walking through busy market streets and museums and beautiful churches. He's great. He reminds me so much of my friend Brandon Hutsell I met from my semester in England. I keep laughing so hard at him and he doesn't understand why and that's why. He's traveling for like six months. He spent three months in Australia and one and a half months in New Zealand. Now he's spending ten days in Mexico and US before he goes home for his sister's wedding. I can't help but laugh at the amount of time he's allotted himself for Australia and New Zealand as opposed to the States. He's been a huge inspiration to me though, because he doesn't ever know where he's staying for the night. He just gets on a bus to a city and looks for a hostel or a couchsurfer. Later we met up with Paloma. Paloma and I were walking Willem to his hostel when we passed this plaza where a 20 + piece big band was playing tango music. The plaza was full of old people dancing. Everyone was between 50-90 except the three of us. Willem went to his hostel and Paloma and I danced for a little over an hour. That night we all went out to Cafe Iguana's which is the coolest place in Monterrey. It's a huge bar, venue, and dance floor all together in one huge, open-air building. One part of it has a DJ and fog machines and everyone's rave dancing. The rest of the place plays popular indie music too loud and everyone drinks and talks and looks at other people. It's very nice and we ended up dancing in the rave part for a while.

The next day we left for Parras. Paloma has family there and one of her niece's was having her first baptism followed by a family party. Paloma, Willem, Azael, and Camillo all went. We got a really late start because Paloma and Azael work until 7pm. We got there after midnight after a two hour detour at a grocery store. We stayed with Paloma's family: I forget the dad and mom's names, but the kids are Paloma (yes, another one like 14 years old), Choco (10), and Onya (5). The dad is a butcher.

Parras is another small town. Paloma says that it has the first winery in the Americas which is pretty impressive. Saturday, we got up and went to el Centro for breakfast. I got chicken tacos for 25 pesos ($2.50). After eating we went to El Tanque which is a huge swimming pool that is fed by a natural spring from the mountain. We all swam for about an hour, laid around, and I took Onya for a ride in a raft that Choco had rented. It was really tough to get anywhere because we had two oars and she refused to give hers to me, so we mostly rowed around in circles. Onya is the most precious girl that I've ever met. I told her mother so. Everywhere we went she would hold my hand, or ask me to pick her up and spin her around.

Somewhere along the way, Willem got really sick. He thinks he accidentally drank the water or something, so instead of swimming he lied on a blanket in the sun with a sombrero over his face. After swimming, we walked up to a church that was built on top of a small mountain. It was nice and small and from the top we had a nice view. Later, we went back home and fell in love with Paloma's family until that night when it was time to go to the party.

At the party Paloma introduced us all into like 30 different family members. Then we ate and drank at a table with some of the other young adults. After eating, we danced to Salsa, Raggaetone, and all kinds of Mexican classics. I danced with Onya, Paloma, Azael, Erica, and Monce. Monce is one of Paloma's too-attractive cousins who's an accountant. After the party, the original five of us (Paloma, Azael, William, Camillo, and I) and Erica looked for a Parras discotec with no luck. We ended up lying in a field drinking wine and water, just loving and looking at the starts. We saw one shooting star, well the best shooting star I've ever seen. It was golden.

Sunday, we ate breakfast at the same place. It was too good and cheap to pass up. We said goodbye and headed back to Monterrey. Onya gave me her pink stuffed animal of something between a dog and an elephant for a regalo to take home with me. It only has one eye. She asked Paloma when we were coming back to visit next and asked if we would come back tomorrow. Paloma told her that tomorrow sounds nice and that we'll be back.

On the way back my car hit 100,000 miles. Milestone! I dropped everyone off and Willem and I went to lucha libre as he wanted to see it and was leaving that night for Texas. Willem also told me that the word “Scherven” in dutch means smithereens and in old dutch it was spelled “Sjerven”. So I guess my last name means little pieces. Sunday's performance was better. Well we accidentally bought more expensive tickets than we had wanted at 100 pesos each. So imagine two blonde, (they call me blonde here), white guys over six feet towering above the average 5'6” dark-skin, brunette Mexican and we ended up in the front row. The put us on the jumbotron twice for like 30 seconds and I think people were cheering for us – I hope. We were talking like, “Man, I hope they don't put us up there again”, but I think we liked it because we were messing around, like I was making muscles and kissing them and Willem was dancing. When Willem danced the audience all made this sound they make whenever people solo dance and it's very sweet and encouraging.

Yeah, well the quality of the wrestling was much better Sunday. There was a mixed match two teams of a man and a woman each. It was alright, but for some reason after the match the girls switched guys and everything got crazy. The last match was a 4 on 4 match and each team had a midget. It was pretty amazing. There was also a fat, sexy guy who kept dancing and rubbing on everyone and a big guy in a bug suit. I don't remember who won, but it was great. I said goodbye to Willem before he caught his train to Austin and promised I'd try to visit him in Belgium. I also told him that I'm a dreamer and I intend to visit everyone I've met all over the world, and so far I've made it just to Mexico.

Una Tortuga

08/04/08

Yesterday, I had one of the most unexpectedly surprising days. It started as a slow, boring day. I did not feel like going downtown, so I walked to the nearby park. I went to my secluded area by the stream and sat down to read. About an hour later, around seven teenagers showed up and walked about fifty feet down stream where there was a rope swing hanging from a large tree. One by one they swung and dove in. One kid, climbed a fifteen foot tree and jumped in.

An hour or so later, a group of four kids and one teenager showed up further down stream and were working their way up. The oldest of them had a net which it looked like he was using to either fish or clean trash out of the creek. The littler kids had sharpened steel rods and industrial-strength rubber bands which they had fashioned into slingshot fishing poles. I can't remember the actual name for this method. The kids each had a few fish. They were scavenging along the far side of the creek, digging through the shrubbery. I returned to my book.

A few minutes later the oldest of the fishers started yelling at the kids who gathered around him. He pulled out a large turtle that looked like a snapping-turtle. Its shell was probably a foot in diameter and very flat to the ground. The guy brought it a shore and threw it up onto the land. The turtle immediately scuttled much faster than he expected and I thought was possible. He pounced on it again, grabbing it by its sides to avoid its head. The kids gathered around and the other group of swimming teens came over. I pulled out my camera to try to vaguely take pictures from my bench. It's difficult for me to do anything vaguely and they all immediately noticed. The kids started talking to and about me. “Para el periodico?” pointing at my camera. “No, por que quiero recuerdo, no mas.” After this the hunter held up his captive and posed. The other kids began shouting “un de toto” and they all climbed over another bench striking a pose and holding up gang signs. By this time a third group of teens had showed up. This group was the equivalent of Mexican thugs, wearing baggy shorts passed their ankles, fancy shoes, and different haircuts.

Everyone was excited about the turtle. One of the hunting kids asked me if I had some money. “No”, I lied. Everyone was asking me more questions than I could understand or answer.

Some of the thug kids asked me if I smoked pot, drank, or did cocaine. “No, me gusta refrescos y jugo, no mas.” He pointed to one of the hunting kids who was holding a small bottle up to his mouth and inhaling. I guess he was huffing something. One of the other kids grabbed it and took a drag. These hunting kids were like ten to thirteen years old.

The guy with the turtle by now had began trying to kill the turtle. He tried to place the head under the bench leg, but the turtle kept pulling his head in. He put the bench on top of the turtle's back and instructed one of the young fishers to shoot it in the head with his rubber-banded fishing rod. He did and the turtle began bleeding, but the rod hadn't gone all the way through the head. At this point the main fisher ripped a shirt into strips and tied it around the turtle, leaving excess on top to form a handle. They then put the turtle into a bag and continued further up stream.

The swimming kids took off as well, leaving me and the thugs. They asked me what bad words I knew in Spanish. I told them. They reminded me of a few others and taught me some that I hadn't learned yet. In return they asked me to translate these words into English, so they could try to repeat them. I obliged them. At this point they either became bored or realized how awkward I was with what was going on, and left. I finished my chapter and returned home as well to watch the Cards lose in extra innings.

Mas gordito

Today at lunch, my family told me that I'm getting a little bit fatter. They are happy and laughed.

me extrañaste?

06/04/08

I found out that I did not get accepted to JET. I sincerely thank God for answering this prayer. Lately, I have been filled with much anxiety about my life, where I'm going, what I'm doing, and I was starting to fear relocation to Japan and starting all over with a new, unknown language.

Yesterday, Paloma and Azael showed me how to make flautas. I skinned and shredded the chicken, wrapped them tightly in tortillas, and fried them. Meanwhile, they did all the women stuff like making sauce and talking about guys.

Last night, I went to a party at Azael's house. I was walking there from Paloma's at like 8pm and I found myself behind a garbage truck. There were two men following the truck on either side of the street throwing little, grocery-bag sized bags into the back of the truck. The truck driver seemed in a hurry to get off work and enjoy his Saturday night as he was driving much too fast for the men to keep up. The further behind they got the further they had to launch the trash bags into the back of the truck. It was really funny walking behind them. They reminded me of kids playing as Michael Jordon and Larry Bird shooting all threes.

The party was ok. It was pretty small throughout the night. A few of my friends from couchsurfing came: Reynaldo and Vincent (I think). It was good. I made my first friend who doesn't speak English. I think that's a step in the right direction.

Today, I was walking home from the Metro with my nose stuck in “Farewell to to Arms” and missed a turn and got lost in my own neighborhood. I kept walking and realized I was like a block from my house on the opposite side that I usually take. Anyway, Ernest Hemingway is that good. I'm only like 35 pages deep, but I'm loving it.

Not too much going on here. I see that my Cardinals are doing well with out me. I think I have a job interview Tuesday with GoEnglish!

Roadtrip Days 7-9

25/03/08 Roadtrip Day 7

We got up early. Hung out with Octavio for another minute, then drove back to Zacatecas for the Bob Dylan concert. He was playing a free outdoor show for their cultural weeks party. I think he was the grand finale. We knew it was gonna be packed, so we wanted to get their early. We got to Zacatecas and found a miracle parking spot at 2:30. We were a little surprised to find out that the line was already like 4 blocks long since he wouldn't go on until 8:30. We at some super spicy gorditas at Dona Julia's and got back in line. We killed time by reading and playing cards. Some Mexican guys were there from DF making a documentary and they interviewed me apparently because I'm a gringo and therefore automatically interesting. Whatever. Well, they said cameras weren't allowed in the concert, so I left mine in the car. Of course, when we got in, we were the only two there without cameras.

We did have really good spots. On the floor about 10 rows back and dead center. Bob Dylan played for almost 2 hours, I think. Honestly, it's probably a lot cooler to say that you saw Bob Dylan play for free in Zacatecas than to actually be there. The show was ok, but his voice is shot and worn-out. It was definitely enjoyable though just for the experience and to see all the other stupid people like us camping out all day for it. After the concert we went back to Wendy's for enchiladas then went to Juan Pablo's office and crashed.

26/03/08 Roadtrip Day 8

We got up and went out for tortas de bistek y queso with Juan Pablo. They were really good, but it was funny because his girlfriend Valeria refused to eat them because she calls it the typhoid hut or something. I kept telling her how good it was and offering her bites of mine and she would refuse and I'd act really confused until she got red and announced that she didn't like it loud enough for the workers to hear. JP, on the other hand, swears by this place. He told us a story which I think is great, but will likely offend most of my friends. He brought two of his friends there and they don't eat beef for religious reasons. JP wouldn't let them miss out though, so he told them not to worry because the meat was actually horse meat. They happily indulged then and loved it. JP you sonuvabitch, I love you. We left Zacatecas at noon for Real de Catorce which is rather off the beaten path. It was mostly highway, but then we had to drive 40 minutes on the worst roads we've encountered yet, more rough cobblestone. It was very scenic though, winding through mountains. The road ends at a tunnel which you pay $2 to drive 2 miles under the mountain and end up in Real de Catorce. It's another old mining town. I guess it used to thrive, but since they shut the mine down it's just a beautiful, dead, isolated town. It's gained recent fame as the Brad Pitt film the Mexican was shot there.

We parked and found a hotel for like $17 which was really nice except it smelled moldy something. We walked around town and found a small diner where I got puerco asado and Gaby got chili reyenos. It was a really small place, but it had a super high ceiling, so they had built a loft and stuck the cook and dishwasher upstairs by themselves. They would raise and lower dishes and food using a tray and pulley. So great. We went to this really cool church which is actually the church of Francisco de Isisi. It's kinda funny because in Italy our whole family was looking for stuff with this guy on it, because my mom's friend Robin is obsessed with him. Then I accidentally stumble on a church dedicated to him in the smallest, hidden town in Mexico. Jeff had told me that this guy became so frustrated with preaching to the public because no one would listen to him, so he kinda went crazy and went out into the wilderness to live and preach to the animals because at least they would listen. I think that's great. After the church we explored the rest of the small city including the bull ring and graveyard and main street full of vendors selling tortillas, t-shirts, and ugly jewelery. We went back to the hotel and showered for the 2^nd time of the week and slept.

27/03/08 Roadtrip Day 9

Gaby told me there are two things you can do when you visit Real Catorce. 1) Go into the dessert and take peyote or 2) Take a horse ride. After much debating and several games of thumb war we decided upon the horse ride. We found a guide who said he would take us for an hour and a half for $10 a piece. We made sure that it would be $20 total as I have read stories about guides who will take you on the tour and then afterwards say that you must pay the rent for their horse as real. He said $20 total and of course we could tip him if we enjoyed it. We started out from the center of town up small, winding horse trails that led up the mountain. Riding a horse is pretty amazing. You feel it lunge when he's going up and you feel every little stutter step when he's shuffling his way down the rocky terrain. We made it to the top of a small mountain and tied up our horses. Then the guide took us in an old mining tunnel. He warned us that people can camp in the cave and often try to explore on their own and fall in deep pits and die. It was pretty great and he gave us some little geode rocks that he found and offered to help us find peyote. After hanging out at the mine for about 20 minutes we started our way back and stopped at another little place with a great view of the city. We returned to the city and tipped the horse guide as he was really stellar. Ate some more little tacos and started our drive back to Monterrey. Oh yeah, we were really low on gas again, so we asked where the city's gas station was. They don't have a “gas station”, but there's this guy who has big jugs of gas in a shed, so we bought some gas from him. It was fun, because he stuck a big tube in and had to suck on it to get it started. Then we made it back home safely and life is back to normal.

To summarize the trip: 9 days and 8 nights, 2 showers, stayed in 5 cities, and a total of $150-175 a piece. My favorite part of the trip is how we had an original plan, but everything changed. We had 3 cities we wanted to go to, but when people recommended other places for us, we were very eager to change our plans and had an incredible amount of flexibility that allowed us to do this. If things hadn't played out this way, I would have missed 2 of my favorite cities – Tamasopo and Real de Catorce.

Quick update

Today I have a really good story that I need to update you guys about, because it was really exciting for me.

I was driving to Monterrey Tec to meet Gaby. I have never been there before, so I was navigating as best as I could. When I got to Garza Sada it was only one way going the wrong way. I got on anyway, heading the wrong way and I got in the far left lane because here you can make u-turns anywhere there is an opening. I couldn't find an opening and I saw that the road turned into a highway ahead and split, which I didn't want to get on. I swerved over 4 lanes to get off before it turned into a highway and got off on a side street that would allow me to u-turn under the highway.

Well after crossing 4 lanes, this cop on foot saw me and began chasing my car waving his clipboard in the air. I should have just kept going because I was way past him, but it was funny and I felt sorry for him on foot, so I pulled over. He came up to my car and asked for my information. He was super nice and asked how long I was in Monterrey and what I was doing. I explained that I am usually a good driver, but the road is confusing. He understood and said that it was a shame that he would have to give me a ticket ¨for such a minor infraction¨. He was clearly waiting for a bribe. I asked how much the ticket would be for and he said 400 pesos ($40). Then he repeated it was a shame to write a ticket for such a minor infraction and how he really wanted a soda. I said, ¨Lo siento, pero no entiendo.¨ He again repeated that he didn't want to give me a ticket. Maybe we could work it out some other way. I repeated, ¨Lo siento, pero no entiendo.¨ After he had straight up asked me for a bribe 4 times, I decided that he had earned it and opened up my wallet to offer him $5. He gave me that look like ¨$5, really?¨. I pulled out $10 and he said, ¨No ahorrita¨, because an old lady was walking by my car. After she passed I handed him the $10. He asked for more and I was like ¨no¨. He was ok with that, he shook my hand, gave me a big smile, and told me to enjoy my stay in Monterrey.

For some reason the transaction felt more natural and pleasing than the majority of my visits here to the local grocery store.

Roadtrip Days 5 and 6

23/03/08 Roadtrip Day 5

We packed up and left Media Luna for las cascadas de Tamasopo. The drive was crazy and scary. Windy, twisting roads full of signs warning “peligrosa curva”. We even went through a town called Valle de los Fantasmas (Valley of the Ghosts). When we got close to Tamasopo we stopped to eat and I got ripped off for the first time – that I'm aware of. A lot of places here don't have menus, the waitress will just tell you what 3 or 4 items they have for the day. So we ordered not thinking anything of it. We got a lot of food. It was Enchiladas Potossi with beans and a rubbery steak. After we ate we asked for the total and she said $15. Every meal we've eaten so far had been between $6-10 for the both of us. So we were kinda pissed, but whatever, live and learn.

When we drove down a steep hill into Tamasopo. We found a nice little hotel for $20 a night which we decided to get instead of camping as it was a bit chilly and overcast and neither of us had a hot shower yet during the trip. After cleaning up we went to explore the town and search for gas as we were close to low. We came to Tamasopo as is reputable for its waterfalls, so we searched for some. We found 2 small ones that flowed into a little lagoon. We got in and walked around, but it was too cold to fully submerge.

Then we continued on our quest for gas, we passed a huge rodeo which was packed. It was $10 and passed on tickets, instead joining the cheap locals who gathered around to watch from outside the fence. That lasted about 30 minutes until we got the boot with the rest of them. The small town didn't actually have a gas station. You could either buy gas out of a shed where people stored it in big juice jugs, or, as we chose to, drove 10 miles out of town on a small scenic road and found a gas station. It was sold out of unleaded and had only premium. Oh well. On the way back to town, we found a local baseball game and caught the last 2 or 3 innings for free. We had to pass through a gypsy camp to get to the game and 2 ladies began yelling at Gaby that they needed to read her fortune. She resisted and we made it to the the grass in right field where we watched the game.

After the game we went back to the rodeo area where there was a fair next door. We got really cheap taquitos – I think like $6 for both of us. We walked around the fair for a while, then went back to our hotel and watched Dodgeball.

24/03/08 Roadtrip Day 6

We woke up and found out where the real cascadas were, so went there early. These were the real ones that the city had become known for. I would estimate the largest one was 30 feet high. They all fell into several different pools. When we first got there we walked around and explored and climbed some little cliffs. Gaby slipped on a rock and hurt her hand, so she's all kinda messed up now. Today, again was a little cold and cloudy, but the pools were too alluring, so we inched our way in. Once we were all the way in and got to some of the deeper parts, little minnows began nipping at our legs. It tickled more than hurt, but it was so scary so I would either freak out or laugh a lot.

After swimming for about an hour, we left Tamasopo to begin our quest toward San Luis Potossi. When we hit the windy, scary roads it was dark, misty, and started to get very foggy. When we were at Valle de Los Fantasmas it was so foggy that you could only see at most 10 feet in front of you. Gaby cruised through it and we made it safely to San Luis. We walked around San Luis for a while, but it didn't take long to realize that it's super boring. We went out to eat and got Volcanes and saw Black Christmas which just came out here in Mexico. It was pretty much what we were looking for in a film. Then we went to our couchsurfer Ocatavio's house. He's pretty cool, so we stayed up talking about politics, education, America, immigration, and whatnot. After we went to bed, well at about 3 am, someone walks into our room and starts yelling stuff at us. It ended up being Octavio's mom who doesn't live there and no one was expecting. That was kinda surreal.

Roadtrip Days 3 and 4

21/03/08 Roadtrip Day 3

We woke up in our sweet office-apartment to realize that we had no hot water. It took us like an hour to find out, or at least come to grips with that. Juan Pablo, Valencia, and her clubbing cousin picked us up and took us to a museum in Guadalupe – the sister city of Zacatecas. I'm still confused about what happened, but we didn't go in the museum and they all left Gaby and I in Guadalupe with the plan to pick us up in a few hours. We walked around Guadalupe and got some cheap, gross enchiladas. We returned to the museum and laid in the courtyard, lounging in the sun and reading. It was really fun though, because there was this gate going around the museum and it was a very busy street. So people kept passing and staring. Like staring. I've gotten used to a lot of looks, double-takes, and unbroken stares from kids. But this was another level. Gaby and I were just sitting in the grass reading, and everyone was gawking at us like we were caged animals. I couldn't help but laugh several times as people would walk past us without taking their eyes off us for the bulk of the block. I guess it was a combination of me being a white guy in a small Mexican town and the fact that people here don't really go to parks to read. They go to parks to let their kids run around on the grass that says “stay off” and eat, but sitting and reading is taboo or something. Well, it was really funny if you were there. After that for a while, we walked around some more. Gaby found this booth where you buy a little plaster object for like 50 cents and you can paint it for free. We both got dinosaurs and painted them. Which was fun. I gave mine to Marychewy.

Sometime during this JP texted us saying that the plans had changed and he wasn't going to pick us up from Guadalupe and we were pretty much on our own. We took a bus to Zacatecas Centro, which was another adventure as neither of us take buses regularly. When we got downtown we went to the Teleferico, which is just a huge cable car that takes you over the city on a zip cord to the Buffa which is like a big weird mountainy volcano thing on the other side. It was like one and a half hour wait, but we met some French couple and it was totally worth it. Rick Steves would say something like, “Full of film-consuming views”. When we got to the Buffa at the other side, we watched the sunset and I took way too many pictures again.

At this time we decided to go to Wendy's for enchiladas, because why not? On the way there, well you won't believe how fortunate we were, completely unexpectedly, we ran into this Easter Parade. It was so long and even scarier than it was long. There were drummer boys with hoods over their faces, Roman Soldiers on horseback, and all kinds of people in full KKK masks and robes of all colors. People carrying candles and like 5 different floats of Jesus at different stages in his life. It was a pretty rad parade called the “Procession del Silencio.” Stuff like this happened the whole trip, I feel. We'd just be wondering around aimlessly and we'd pass something super free and entertaining.

We ate enchiladas at Wendy's, then met JP at the town cathedral where the parade actually ended and people gathered to watch them arrive. JP was with his two brothers, who had just arrived because their uncle is very sick with cancer, and also two French couchsurfers, who couldn't help but hate me for being American. We all took a bus back to JP's house and his brother recommended a few more sites for our trip, primarily Media Luna which became our next destination.

22/03/08 Roadtrip Day 4 and Happy Birthday Gaby

Got up and took gross, cold showers. Said goodbye to JP and his family and headed past San Luis Potossi and to Media Luna, which JP's brother had recommended. We stopped at some hole-in-the-wall diner for the craziest tacos and enchiladas. I got chicken tacos and it came out like a salad, because they were smothered in all kinds of lettuce, tomato, and french fries. Gaby got Enchiladas de Potossi. They were both way too good. We also stopped at some big chain retail store as neither of us had proper swimming suits. Enclosed is a picture of mine. We had to drive 10 kilometers back on this really rough gravel road to get to Media Luna. When we got there it was a bigger stream with where a lot of kids and families where swimming or bathing depending on how you look at it. It was a very nice place, pretty lagoony and way too overcrowded as it's Mexico's spring break. We set up Gaby's tent, which was fun, because the zipper didn't work to close the door and the poles didn't fit in the holes. We improvised and it was perfect. Then we got in the water which was warmer than we were expecting and swam for an hour to break in our new suits. Somehow over the past few days Gaby's right foot is really messed up, most likely from all the walking around Zacatecas. We ate some more food and went to sleep early in our piecemeal tent as we were both cashed.

Roadtrip Days 1 and 2.

18/03/08

Ok, lots of catching up to do. Today there was a HUGE wind storm. It blew up all kinds of dust and covered everything. It knocked down several powerlines and put part of the Metro and a bulk of the city -including our house- out of power. I was wondering around downtown in the storm and went to a museum – free on Tuesdays. That night I packed without power for tomorrow's roadtrip...

19/03/08 Roadtrip Day 1

Gaby picked me up and we were off. First stop Zacatecas. The drive was too easy and smooth. We passed a bunch of little dust-wind columns like from Mario 3 where you jump and they shoot you up. It was weird. I've never seen anything like it in real life. We stopped and got some not that good hamburgers at some hole-in-the-wall restaurant with a huge tree growing inside and forming a canopy under the ceiling. Gaby taught me some Spanish and how to say things hip, so people will talk to me instead of laughing.

We got to Zacatecas at 5pm. It's a super-small pueblito, which used to be a silver-mining city until the mines dried up. Now it's just a cool, beautiful city of nothing. We walked around a lot. I bought some chopped up coconut in a cup which tasted like nothing with a bad texture. Then I got a glass of Agua de Horchata which tasted like everything. We found so many nice little parks and super churches. The city is basically a small valley surrounded by hills on every side. The majority of the town is flat, but anywhere off the main street and you have to walk up hills. Like a huge bowl. Oh, and we had a small, crazy thing happen. It was the first time that we got a little lost and we were debating which way to go, and – I'm not exaggerating at all – I stepped on a little piece of paper, and picked it up and it was a tourist map of the city with like some coupons on it. So Gaby doesn't believe how lucky/blessed or whatever I am.

After bumming around we decided to call our couchsurfing host – Juan Pablo. I hope you are ready to hear about him. Well not just yet, because he didn't answer his home or his cell. So we decided to find his house. We got there and his mom apparently didn't know anything about couchsurfing as we were his first guests. Then also, her brother just got diagnosed with cancer and all of their family is coming in town the next day and staying with them. So we were kinda thinking we wouldn't have a place. Then, she says that she has an office with a bed attached to it or something. Bonus, we ended up getting our own little house with a bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen. She called Juan Pablo who answered.

We met him and his girlfriend Valaria downtown. He's super cool and kinda reminds me of a Mexican Kenji for some reason. He tells us that we have good timing, because Zacatecas is in the middle of some culture party which lasts two weeks and is full of free concerts and arts and sweet stuff. Juan Pablo took us to this restaurant Wendy's. The best enchiladas I've ever had. Hands down. Just to tell you, Gaby and I ate here 4 times in 4 days of Zacatecas. I am pretty sure I will end up driving back to Zacatecas just for these enchiladas.

After dinner we went back to Juan's house and met his dad. I really like him. He was all in our business. In the first five minutes of meeting us, he had asked Gaby and I: if we were dating, if we do drugs, and if we are religious. He's really great. I was telling him that I've been in Mexico for a little over a month and “quiero quatro o cinco mas mesas”. Well I wanted to tell him I intended to stay in Mexico for another 4 or 5 months, but I told him that I want 4 or 5 more tables. So that's pretty great.

20/03/08 Roadtrip Day 2

Woke up early and lounged around until Juan Pablo picked us up at 9:30. We all went to the Centro and Gaby and I walked around and went to Optimus Prime internet cafe. We found this great museum courtyard and read and took pictures. Also, I bought a dead frog holding a microphone for Artemio, because he loves frogs and kareoke. We met up with Juan Pablo again and got these deep fried tacos. Walked around so much more. Juan Pablo showed us the rich part of town with an even better church, the old bullfighting ring, and the best park ever. The name of it is like “where 2 walk in and 3 walk out” because it's that romantic.

We went to a bullfight that started at 4:30. Juan Pablo had a press pass for some volunteer work he's doing. So he was like front row, being a jerk and hanging out with all the matadors. The bullfight was very bizarre. I wasn't sure how I'd respond to it, but it's definitely something that I've been wanting to go to for like 10 years. Well, first I'll tell you how it goes, then I'll tell you what I thought. There were like 7 or 8 fights. Each one starts with a matador on a horse dancing around, then they release the bull. So the matador has a long stick – like 4 feet – with different colored darts on the end. He tries to let the bull get as close to him and his horse as he can, then stabs him and prances away. After he's stabbed him like 5 times, he gets off the horse. Then he does the cape thing that everyone sees everywhere which is probably the coolest part. Then he gets these two darts which are probably like 2 feet long. By this time the bull is in bad shape, out of energy, and bleeding all over. The matador will have the bull charge him and stab him in the back with the two darts and jump out of the way. He does this like 3 or 4 times. By then the bull usually dies or falls over from exhaustion. Then another guy comes out and stabs the bull in the back of the neck or spinal cord to paralyze it or kill it. That's the jist of it. But the whole time the matador is doing his thing there are like 4 or 5 clowns running around with capes distracting the bull so the matador can sneak up on him from behind.

Ok, well Gaby was crying pretty hard during the first fight. It was weird because she's hardcore and likes stuff like World of Warcraft and death metal. Anyway, I thought her reaction was pretty appropriate. I felt a weird combination of emotions. I was really appalled at the lack of sport. I thought it was entertaining and beautiful to watch the matadors dolled up with their hair all did and their make up and fancy clothes and their horses with their hair braided. But it was really sleezy the way the matador couldn't handle the bull one on one. Most of the time there were 3 to 5 people in the ring all working against the bull. Not just that, but whenever the bull got mad or wild, all the men would run out of the ring and just make him but his head agains the wall. Well there was a lot of blood. After 2 or 3 matches I felt I had seen most of what there was to bullfighting. We stayed for 6 and a half fights out of a total of 7 or 8. It was only $8 to sit in the sun or $10 to sit in the shade. I don't know if I will go again. I don't think I would feel good supporting it again.

After we left we were waiting outside the gates for Juan Pablo when we saw some matadors leaving. Gaby told me to get my picture with them, so I did. We met one who had been “a wetback” in the States and spoke good English. We told him about our trip and he suggested we go to a small city called Tamasopo which has the best waterfalls within San Luis Potosi.

We met up with Juan Pablo and returned to the Centro. We had more Wendy's enchiladas and Gaby and I got chased out of an art museum and a jazz concert.