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.