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.