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.

Stereo Total and Raymoundo Party

17/03/08
This guy on couchsurfing told me I had to go to this concert Friday night. The band was Stereo Total. I met him - Abdul aka "Boobah" at the Metro and went to his house so he could get ready. It was already like 10 and the ticket said show started at 9, so I was kinda leary about that. When we got to his house he showed me all his sweet collections: Vintage 80's Star Wars figures, jar of toenail and finger nail clippings, and a stack of magazines. He informed me that this show was gonna go all night and hoped I was ready to party. Then he asked me if I wanted to take extacy with him. I politely refused. This guy is the greatest character ever and I could write a whole page just on him, but he is all about fun. We went to the show and he new like everyone there. Ok, so he's like this little fashion guy, that you kinda think is gay, but then he keeps talking about girls. He's all over the place, introducing me to everyone, running around to other people. So I met a lot of his friends. There was a DJ playing when we got there, but the first band didn't go on until midnight and the show wasn't over until 3 am. But wait, let me tell you about the venue. It's called Casa de Chocolate and it's a freaking mansion that was revamped into a venue. The swimming pool in the back yard is still full, and the stage is built on stilts out of the pool. There's palm trees and neon lights everywhere. Everyone I asked about the place would debate about the rumor that an old popular TV clown used to live there.
After the show was over Abdul disappeared, so I was kinda lost without a car, and it was 3 am, so the Metro was not running even if I could find it. I had been talking with this chick Maria, who half invited and half told me that I was going to her house for the afterparty. Since I was otherwise stranded this sounded like a good idea although I was really tired and hungry. We got back to her house and I made a sandwich and hung out with her and her friends. I ended up crashing there until Mary Chuy called me at 8 am in the morning asking where I was and telling me to come home for our trip to Reynosa.

So Maria doesn't know how to get around Monterrey and can't find my house even when I show her it on a map. She drops me off at a gas station and I got a cab home. Then we drove to Reynosa for Raymoundo's 70th birthday surprise party. It was great. Like 100 people all dressed up. The food was good, lots of music and dancing. I danced a bit when one of his daughters pulled me onto the stage. The party went past midnight, but I went and fell asleep in Artemio's car as I hadn't gotten much sleep the night before. The next day, we drove back to Monterrey and I went to meet Gaby and her friend at some mall. I drove there on my own and didn't get lost. Then Gaby and I went to her house and watched Beetle Juice and I couldn't stop thinking of Aaron Ellis. Since Gaby's on spring vacation from teaching and I'm on life vacation from everything, we've thrown together an impromptu roadtrip to 2 or 3 cities in Mexico including San Luis (colonail town), Tampico (crappy beach), and another place that should have a nice waterfall. Tonight there is a couchsurfing community meeting at a bar and then an afterparty, so we'll see how that goes.

Ok, PS, if you read this, please leave me comments even just saying that you are reading it. Because you guys are half the reason I'm writing this.

Equipo de Puro Corazon

14/03/08
I feel like more than 3 days of stuff has happened in the last 3 days. I saw Vantage Point and Spartan Movie. Please, don't see Spartan Movie. I know that you know that it's gonna be bad, but maybe a little funny. It is not a little funny. There are much better things to do with your time. I would say anything being shown on channel 9 will be more satisfying. Thursday night I went to my first Mexican party for my friend Paloma. I met many more friends. It was a good party. Everyone was very kind and most spoke at least some English. I found a guy who is going to a free Bob Dylan show in some small town in South Mexico. I may try to go with him. This group of people are like artsy, music people. I like them a lot. I met two chicks who work in museums and one who is a journalist about art and culture. I also met a lawyor who is very funny and was not invited or friends with anyone at the party. Overall, the party was not at all different from American parties. Lots of people around drinking, talking, eating some weird cakes. They sang Happy Birthday in Spanish. Paloma and her roommate Lalo were very awesome and hospitable and told me I can come by anytime to play video games. I spent the night there, because the trains quit running at midnight and we partied till like 3.
The next day I walked Paloma to work. She lives and works in very hip parts of town. I ran some errands and bought some tickets for an upcoming concert that everyone here loves - Cafe Tacuba. Alicia played them for me and they are quite good. I went home ate some Mole. Which is chicken covered in a weird Mexican gravy stuff. I don't know. I took the Metro back to town and met up with Gaby who took me to this great mountain spot by her house. We talked about how much we hate Harry Potter. Then we went to Temo's soccer game. They lost 4-2, but earlier Temo scored the tying goal which was very exciting. After the game, Gaby and I left the family and went to Cafe Iguana. This is the coolest place. I can't tell you. It's like a venue, pizza shop, bar, and dance floor all in one. They played very good music and it's very beautiful architecture. You can walk upstairs and it's all open air. We got on the roof for an awesome view, but got busted pretty quickly. The pizza was good too. I got bit by the Curse of Lance, then took a train home. Usually the trains don't play any music, but since it was like midnight they were jamming on Michael Jackson and everyone was trying so hard not to dance - myself included. I wanted to get up and grab people and dance, but yeah, I don't know how'd they'd like it. Everyone was just tapping their feet and drumming on there knees. I walked home, ran into Fidel and met some of his grandsons, I think, then went home and slept.
One last interesting note. As I learn more Spanish and certain slang and in phrases, more people are correcting me and telling me to speak a certain way. For example, I think that Alejandro and his friends taught me some phrases maybe similar to jock talk. Somethings that are meant to be causal but could be interpreted as disrespectful to women. Also, the ways that my parents teach me to talk, no one else my age talks like this. They are teaching me to talk as if I were at work all the time and very serious and formal. Then Gaby doesn't like the way I say "con permiso", so she taught me a hipper way to say it, something like "co'mpro". I think it's all really funny.

TMNT

11/03/08
Yesterday was the best day so far. It was exactly what I had been hoping for when I moved here. I walked to the Metro, which is a nice 30 minute walk on a pretty busy street. Then I took the Metro back to Macro Plaza, which seems to be the place I always return to. It took another 30 minutes on the Metro to get there. When I got off one of the trains to transfer, I heard someone speaking English behind me. I didn't catch it exactly, but something like, "Hey man..." I turned around and it was this like 15 year old kid with his girlfriend. I asked him in Spanish if he wanted to practice English and he said no. They started out friendly and he asked me questions about where I was from. Then he asked me a bunch of what I consider very difficult questions and his girlfriend was laughing very hard. I assume they were making jokes at my expense. Then this very nice guy named Jose came up and in English explained what they were asking me. So I started talking to him. He was cool and told me about his job and how I can get a job very easily here that will pay nice as well. He helped me find my way to where I was going and went to work. I hung out in the park at Macro Plaza read some Psalms and some stories from my Mexican adventures book. Then I met this chick Gaby who also speaks perfect English. I've noticed that the younger people tend to speak very good English. It's also funny here, when I meet someone and ask if they speak English, very often they will say that they don't or that they speak very little. However, as we talk, I find that they speak what I consider to be very good English - this is very reminiscent of Japan for me. Anyway, so I hung out with Gaby for a while and she showed me a park nearby. She is very fun and has never done drugs, because the Ninja Turtles told her not to in a PSA. That is one of my favorite things I have ever heard. Once it got dark, I headed back to the Metro and returned home. On my way home I passed this old man who was sitting outside of his house playing guitar. I stopped to listen, and told him "me gusta". His name is Fidel and he began speaking English. Of course saying that he only spoke a little, but we had a very nice conversation about music, family, travel, and cockfights all in English. He taught me a few cords on guitar and told me I can come back anytime and he may even take me to a cockfight. I continued on my way home I discovered a street that was entirely packed with people who each had a stand like 5 to 10 feet wide. They were selling all kinds of stuff: food, clothes, junk from there house (garage salesy), and bootlegged movies - I couldn't pass up on Into the Wild and got Sweeney Todd as well. The sale went back like over 5 blocks. It was pretty crazy and there were a lot of people there. I left to return home, pretty hungry, I passed a house with a sign on the front advertising like eylotes and nachos and stuff. I peeked in and asked "esta abierto?" (well I said some other made up word, but it was close and she corrected me). Yeah, she was open, and I got the best nachos I've ever had and this weird mango popcicle for like $1.10. I walked the rest of the way home feeling very content.

Que habidoooooo?

09/03/08
Some more days have passed and I'm feeling very great and confident. I have made many friends through Monica and Alejandro over the past three days. I went to church with Monica and afterwards went to a birthday party where I met several more people who I communicated fairly well with. Thursday night I went to Temo's futbol game which was awesome. He did a bicycle kick! They won 3-1. I've been going back to the park, exploring more, loving more. This weekend Suzie and Phillip came in from Alamo, so I got to go out with them last night. We went to Macro Plaza, then took the Metro back home, which is exciting because it's like 35 cents one way or something silly and cheap. It's probably a mile walk from our house to the Metro station and it goes everywhere, so I intend to use it frequently to explore as I'm still uncomfortable driving in this city. I had a lot of fun with Suzie and Phillip. Last night we caught up with Monica and her friends at this awesome diner/coffee house place and played Uno and they played Scrabble which I passed as it was Spanish words only. Then we saw 10,000 BC which was a movie.
This morning Phil and I got up at 8 to climb the Sierra de Cilla with Artemio, Temo, Emilio, and Maryanna. We made it up 1,800 meters and the kids wanted to go back. It was quite a treck and I took sooo too many pictures. I want to go back on my own and go to the top. I think we made it a little less than half way and I hear there is a statue of Jesus somewhere on it. Then today Alejandro picked me up and we went out with a lot of his friends to Preza de Boca. Which is a big lake where all young people sit around, drink, listen to music, and speak Spanish with each other. It was pretty fun. Then we got the best hamburger ever. I'm so happy here and feeling a little better with my Spanish and much better with having more friends.
Some interesting things: When Mexicans get bored they invent new forms of speed bumps to keep people from driving like real Mexicans. Some of my favorites are the double-decker and the inverted speed bump. They also have one that's made up of a bunch of small steel bumps about the size of a baseball. I've quit asking if I should put salsa on anything, as the answer is always, "si, que claro." The other night I got in a heated debate with Artemio over how many continents there are in the world. I knew there was 7, but I had a hard time naming more than 3. For those of you counting 1) North America 2) South America 3) Africa 4) Asia 5) Antarctica 6) Australia and 7) Europe. In Mexico, they say there are 5, because they don't count Antarctica and they include the Americas as one. Plus, They don't believe in Daylight Savings, which I think is great.

Un otro amigo, gracias a Dios!

05/03/08
Yesterday I woke up with nothing to do as usual, so I decided to go explore the neighborhood and surrounding area. I passed some kids playing on the sidewalk and they were very curious about me as I'm the only white person that I've seen here in my duration. They asked my name and asked the name of my mom and the name of my dad. They asked me something else that I didn't understand, so I walked away. Hahahaha. I found this huge park that's fenced off with barbwire, but a bunch of holes are cut along the fence, so I climbed through one and found a creek. It was shallow at a point and I was trying to cross it when someone started yelling at me and pointed a way further upstream where it was easier to cross. While wondering up the stream, all I could think was how similar this creek was to the one that Jeff and I would play in when we were kids. It was very beautiful, except horribly polluted with soda cans and wrappers. Once, I crossed the creek I found all kinds of crazy stuff. The creek goes all the way through the park, but there was also an abandoned roller coaster, cool rope swings into the creek at parts where the water looks really clear and blue, and awesome animals like golden finches and little swan things. I have a feeling that I'll be reading and drawing there often.
Today, I ran some errands with Artemio and met this awesome old guy who speaks English and used to live in Chicago making drums. Then I walked to the theater and saw In the Valley of something. Then went to some church party at a hotel. It was pretty nice and catered, but cost $13 which is kinda a lot and even more here. It's all good, because I made another friend bringing the grand total to 3. His name is Luis and he's a veterinarian. It's pretty good that we communicated almost wholly in Spanish and I feel like we talked a lot, so I'm getting a little more confident. Now I'm watching Beerfest and then going to sleep.

More Austin and back to Monterrey

03/02/08
The next day in Austin I went thrift store shopping again and found every Kurt Vonnegut book for $1 each and some other books and clothes. Then I went to the
natural spring swimming pool they have. It's pretty amazing. The water stays at like 65 degrees all year, so it was a little cold. It felt good to get out
and lie in the sun. I didn't have a towel or shorts, so I swam in my underwear and just lied around in my underwear which was a pleasant experience for me.
I met a few chicks who told me to go check out a local park. I went there and it started raining really hard. So I went home, watched TV, and got really
stir crazy, bored, and a little lonely as my roomies were out. I drove downtown and decided I'd try to get into a sold out NOFX show. By the time I got there
they were playing there last few songs, but it was at Stubbs - an open air venue, so you could hear it perfectly, actually probably better, outside than in.
This was the second time on this trip where I've began feeling lonely. Immediately afterwards, I met this chick Aleena and her friends, who invited me back
to a party at her brother's house. There everyone was smoking a lot of pot and there was a guy on acid who was really funny and kept asking me if something
had just happened that had never actually happened. Aleena's brother's name is Joe and he was really nice and gave me a free CD of his band which is
actually pretty good. The main thing, is that I have felt God looking out for me. In both times that I felt lonely. I met some intresting, random people
immediately afterwards.
This brings us to Saturday. I woke up and went to check out UT campus which was having some party for prospective students. The campus is pretty big and
kinda nice, but nothing too fancy. Then, I drove to Austin and stayed with Alex and his family again. I ran some errands with Alex's daughter Susie and
her boyfriend Phillip. They're both fun to me. Today - Sunday - I took my car to get an oil change and some other stuff and I've just been hanging out
with the family and reading. I stayed at Alex's house then begun driving back to Monterrey, which should have been a 3 hour drive.
This is my first solo roadtrip through Mexico. I left Alamo, TX and passed the border into Reynosa. When I got to Reynosa, I was immediately lost. I drove
around trying to follow the signs that pointed to Monterrey for about 30 minutes and realized I was literally driving circles around the city. You have to
pictue the roads here: the lanes are not divided by lines, they are imaginary and you do your best to stay in your lane. I would say only 5-10% at most of
Mexican streets are labeled with the street name. I don't know how people know where they're going. I guess you just get to know a city when you live there.
So I was driving around Reynosa rather aimlessly and I decided to pull into a 7-11 and use some even rustier Spanish - as I had been speaking only English
the entire past week in Texas. I asked directions in my best Spanish to Monterrey, and the 7-11 chicks could actually understand me and tell me where to go,
and I understood them!!! This is quite an accomplishment for me. The first time I've been lost on my own and succeeded. So I found my way to the highway to
Monterrey. There are actually two highways and they are significantly different: 1) the pay highway which costs $30 from Reynosa to Monterrey and is a little
shorter and much higher quality roads. It has two lanes going each way with an actual divider. 2) the free highway, which is the original highway used before
they made the new one. It is a rougher ride, unlit, a little longer, and most importantly is only 2 lanes: one lane heading north and one lane heading
south, with no divider or anything. So if you are behind a big, slow semi, you have to pass them in the lane with any oncoming traffic headed directly at you.
If you know me, you know I took the free highway. This was a small challenge, but I made it back to Monterrey in good time. Once I got to Monterrey, I was
immediately lost again. I called Alejandro who came and met me where I was and let me follow him back to my house. What a true friend. Now hopefully I can
settle down and learn Monterrey without having to drive anywhere for a while.