this particular post may be a bit light on the details, as im writing about much of it from memory, and without the aid of my journal or written notes to refresh some of the happenstance.
i spent a bit more time on the east coast of mexico.
enjoyed the beaches of cancun, playa del carmen, tulum.
went for a scuba dive in the dos ojos cenote, which was amazing.
like the blue grotto in capri. not much life down there. a few small fish. but amazing light play in the water, stalactites, stalagmites. awesome!
got a tattoo of the hunab ku afterward.
and then plans may have changed a bit...
okay, a lot.
the initial idea was to head to belize, but somewhere along the way i decided to shift gears a bit.
venezuela is so close (look at a map; its like... 2 inches away).
alejandra and francisco are there.
and i wanted to go.
i figured i could rearrange my journey to visit some of my old camp friends down there. a couple in venezuela, a couple in paraguay, a lot in brasil. . .
caracas is another enormous city (many of you know how i feel about cities), full of people, buildings, and cars that never seem to stop with the horn honking.
it was amazing to me that literally everywhere i looked, there would be cars or people.
also amazing was the fact that every ATM everywhere had a constant line.
i wondered what kind of jobs some of these people had that would enable them to hang out in a long-ass line in the middle of the day, in the middle of the week, waiting to get a bit of money out.
it was great to see ale and frankie again. they used to work with me at camp erdman in hawaii, and are now back home in venezuela. we cruised around the city for awhile, waited out a crazy rain, ate some delicious venezuelan foods, had some good conversation. frankie somehow got me to eat fish. for breakfast. (i dont eat seafood, and definitely not to start my day. it was. . . not terrible ;)
went from caracas to lima, peru to santiago, chile to asuncion, paraguay. somewhere along the line, in cancun i believe, i briefly researched whether or not i needed a visa to enter the countries i was visiting. somehow was led to believe that i did not need a visa to enter paraguay. mistake #1. arrived at the airport with only my passport, and was turned around. instructed to fly to buenos aires, argentina to get a visa from the paraguayan consulate. ok, really frustrating after spending so many hours on board planes and in airports, looking forward to hanging out with clara and joaquin in asuncion. not a big deal tho, right? just a detour. fly to buenos aires, spend $140US to enter the country, find a cheap and last-minute hotel to spend the night in, head to the consulate in the morning and shell out another $100US for my visa, return to the airport, fly back to asuncion, and enjoy paraguay. almost.
the plan was on track until i arrived back at the airport to discover that at some point shortly after my arrival in the country, all flights from buenos aires were cancelled due to the eruption of the puyehue volcano in chile. of course. awesome. ironically, "puyehue" means "place of small fish", and i was about to discover just how small of a fish i really was in the great big sea of people in buenos aires.
no flights for at least the next 48 hours. so. . . take a bus up to asuncion. only about $70US for an 18 hours bus ride. not too bad, right? mistake #2. walk down to the bus station. discovered that not only is it a 3-floor, city-block-long jumble of activity, but a lot of people had had their flights cancelled and wanted to go somewhere, the bus ticketing agents dont take US dollars (i didnt have any argentine pesos because being in argentina was never part of my 'plan'), there are no money changers in the terminal, and all the ATMs are offline because everyone had already drained them of cash.
finally found a spot that would take credit cards, and went to the locutorio to call clara to confirm times before final booking. despite having charged my phone all night (a phone that doesnt work for calls and is only used for its calculator, calendar, and alarm clock functions), the battery mysteriously died right as i opened the phone to find the number i needed. haha, of course. sooo. . . either pay to use a computer to look up the number in my email, or find a place to plug in and recharge long enough to extract the necessary info. opted for option b. grabbed my charger and adaptor and scanned the locutorio to find a place to plug in. mistake #3
at this point, i had been carrying my pack around all day, everywhere i went, and thought it would be okay to set it down for a second to charge the phone. uhh... still mistake #3 i guess. had my back turned for literally 60 seconds, and that was apparently all the time that was needed for someone to grab my fairly heavy pack. wow. literally everything i own - well, except the clothes i was wearing, my ipod shuffle (charger was in the pack, of course), sunglasses, phone, charger, adaptor, and (fortunately) my passport - gone in 60 seconds. and here i was, all this time thinking that nothing could be worse than the nicholas cage movie of the same name.
so now, with no possessions, no money, no bus, no flight, no place to sleep, i walked back to the airport (yes, feeling quite dejected and sorry for myself) to spend the night or two until i could take my flight to asuncion. fortunately claras uncle-in-law eduardo lives in buenos aires, and picked me up from the airport, paid for my hotel for the night, bought my bus ticket for the next day, and gave me a few pesos to get by. muchas gracias! bought a toothbrush and toothpaste, took a shower, and went to bed. ridiculous day.
after a long and very cold bus ride north (these bus drivers loooove their AC - everyone had blankets or coats on, but the cold kept coming), i finally made it back to asuncion.
got to see clara again, meet her baby and baby daddy, met her mom and sis. cruised around asuncion, ate some delicious food, got to visit itaipu - the worlds largest hydroelectric plant, and took a ride over to brasil to see iguazu falls...good times.
it took me a few days to get over my shock and anger at the robbery. the feeling that id been violated in some way. making first a mental, then a paper list of all of the things that id lost. the cursing of the person who stole it all. the wondering about what they would keep, what they would sell, and what they would throw away. are they teaching themselves to play the ukulele as i write this? will they be able to wear or sell the 2 years worth of contact lenses that i had? are they going to read my journals or discard them? delete all the pictures that i took or save them? eat the peanut m&ms that i had? use the copy of my passport or my immunization records? overdose on my malaria pills?
finally i accepted what happened. put things into perspective. it could have been worse in many ways, but i still have the clothes on my back, i have my passport, i have music (even if i cant listen to it because a shuffle battery lasts a day at most, and the charger is a ridiculous little thing that is uncommon in the world), i have my health, and i have love in my heart. i dont need to curse the person who stole my things, tho i hope that it was done out of a legitimate need for some or most of it. but the reality it that its not my stuff anymore. the plan is to go with the flow, and all of those things - replaceable or not - just flowed away from me.
its easy to be angry, play the victim, hold onto resentment. . . its really just easier to let it go. there wasnt anything in there that i really needed. well, except my deodorant. and i miss writing in my journal and playing the uke.
but now im on a new and different adventure. and i have a lot less shit to carry around and try to keep an eye on. im going to accept this as a sign that its time to change direction. at least for now.
so. . . im heading up to nyc again.
gonna work for sean and jacob for the summer. try to make some money in the next coupla months, then start over. maybe head up to nova scotia for jenna and jons wedding. head back to hawaii to find some work in my real home. before the cold comes to the northeast.
perhaps ill be seeing some of you soon.
aloha
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
peeing on a bus (in a bottle)
before you judge me, consider the facts:
1. mexico has long been known for its sterling reputation of having some of the smoothest, straightest roads on the planet, and is currently undertaking a massive construction project to widen hundreds of kilometers of these roads (my fellow americans: a kilometer is a base-10 unit of measure used by practically every other country in the world - along with centigrade - and is simply 1000 meters. a meter is 100 centimeters or roughly 3feet, 3.5inches) thereby creating vehicular congestion in the very sections they aim to improve.
2. because of the practically air-cushioned quality of these roads, many people are tempted to drive at high speeds, and the most cost-effective way to slow them down is to install topes (speed bumps) every kilometer or so, and raised crosswalks so high that cars would require chains to ascend them if snow and ice visited this region.
3. an intermediate class bus not only means that there is no restroom on board, but also that you will be on a vehicle that serves as a school bus AND a city bus (making frequent stops for drop-off and pick-up, turning a 2-hour ride into a 4.5 hour tour), that the suspension will probably be completely shot, and that there will be an increased chance that your driver has intermediate operating skills (jerky shifting thru all 16 gears, constant and abrupt braking, and mashing the accelerator like a heavy metal drummer uses the foot pedal on a bass drum).
4. it is hot here below the tropic of cancer, i consume copious amounts of water every day, and usually have ample opportunity to burn that water up.
so... a half-hour into this ride (to chichen itza), im regretting not going at the terminal ($5 there, free on the bus - i thought). i see a sign that says "chichen itza 180". a lot of kilometers to travel with a full bladder. i had a 1.5 liter bottle ("liter" is another one of those pesky, unamerican-and-therefore-wrong units of measure; i refuse to transpose the r and e) of cold water that id had a few sips of, and i started to consider my options: go up and tell the bus driver that i need to make an emergency pee stop (embarassing); pee my pants (humiliating. and uncomfortable); find a few empty rows and pee onto a seat cushion (disgusting. tho the cushion would act as a giant diaper); consume almost 1.5 liters of water so i can pee in the bottle. yes, thats the one. but i can hold it a bit longer, maybe there will be a stop. nope. after about 10 more minutes i told myself id wait for the next sign for chichen itza to see what kind of progress we were making; maybe we were almost there. another 10 minutes, a bunch of roadway signs, none of which mentioned our destination, leading me to believe that we were still a long way off. with all of the abrupt stopping, jerky starting, back-and-forth swaying, and up-and-down jolting over topes my pee was sloshing around inside of me like a freshly-purchased goldfish in the bag of water that is supposed to somehow simulate its natural environment. i proceeded to chug all of the water within a couple of minutes - a daunting task even when one does not desperately need to urinate - then tried to look casual as i stood up, grabbed my pack, and changed seats for one farther back in the bus. only one guy behind me, about 3 rows back, all the way in the back row, and he looks like he might be sleeping. 4 rows between me and the people in front of me - perfect! but it got better... as soon as i had settled myself into an appropriate, leak-proof position, we stopped. to take on a couple of passengers. old man first, takes a seat near the front of the bus; middle-aged woman next, coming toward the back, but there are plenty of seats before she comes into range. no. . . the seat directly diagonal to me is undoubtedly the most comfortable of all of them. especially when you recline it all the way back so you are practically in my row. yes, thank you. i quietly got up and silently moved one row back, still too close for comfort, but. . . let it fly. i refilled the bottle quite nicely, as my bladder apparently has a capacity of 1.5 liters. only a few dribbles, but those were the drivers fault for trying to wait until the last minute to slow down before launching over a tope.
oh. . . and dont read this if you think peeing is gross.
1. mexico has long been known for its sterling reputation of having some of the smoothest, straightest roads on the planet, and is currently undertaking a massive construction project to widen hundreds of kilometers of these roads (my fellow americans: a kilometer is a base-10 unit of measure used by practically every other country in the world - along with centigrade - and is simply 1000 meters. a meter is 100 centimeters or roughly 3feet, 3.5inches) thereby creating vehicular congestion in the very sections they aim to improve.
2. because of the practically air-cushioned quality of these roads, many people are tempted to drive at high speeds, and the most cost-effective way to slow them down is to install topes (speed bumps) every kilometer or so, and raised crosswalks so high that cars would require chains to ascend them if snow and ice visited this region.
3. an intermediate class bus not only means that there is no restroom on board, but also that you will be on a vehicle that serves as a school bus AND a city bus (making frequent stops for drop-off and pick-up, turning a 2-hour ride into a 4.5 hour tour), that the suspension will probably be completely shot, and that there will be an increased chance that your driver has intermediate operating skills (jerky shifting thru all 16 gears, constant and abrupt braking, and mashing the accelerator like a heavy metal drummer uses the foot pedal on a bass drum).
4. it is hot here below the tropic of cancer, i consume copious amounts of water every day, and usually have ample opportunity to burn that water up.
so... a half-hour into this ride (to chichen itza), im regretting not going at the terminal ($5 there, free on the bus - i thought). i see a sign that says "chichen itza 180". a lot of kilometers to travel with a full bladder. i had a 1.5 liter bottle ("liter" is another one of those pesky, unamerican-and-therefore-wrong units of measure; i refuse to transpose the r and e) of cold water that id had a few sips of, and i started to consider my options: go up and tell the bus driver that i need to make an emergency pee stop (embarassing); pee my pants (humiliating. and uncomfortable); find a few empty rows and pee onto a seat cushion (disgusting. tho the cushion would act as a giant diaper); consume almost 1.5 liters of water so i can pee in the bottle. yes, thats the one. but i can hold it a bit longer, maybe there will be a stop. nope. after about 10 more minutes i told myself id wait for the next sign for chichen itza to see what kind of progress we were making; maybe we were almost there. another 10 minutes, a bunch of roadway signs, none of which mentioned our destination, leading me to believe that we were still a long way off. with all of the abrupt stopping, jerky starting, back-and-forth swaying, and up-and-down jolting over topes my pee was sloshing around inside of me like a freshly-purchased goldfish in the bag of water that is supposed to somehow simulate its natural environment. i proceeded to chug all of the water within a couple of minutes - a daunting task even when one does not desperately need to urinate - then tried to look casual as i stood up, grabbed my pack, and changed seats for one farther back in the bus. only one guy behind me, about 3 rows back, all the way in the back row, and he looks like he might be sleeping. 4 rows between me and the people in front of me - perfect! but it got better... as soon as i had settled myself into an appropriate, leak-proof position, we stopped. to take on a couple of passengers. old man first, takes a seat near the front of the bus; middle-aged woman next, coming toward the back, but there are plenty of seats before she comes into range. no. . . the seat directly diagonal to me is undoubtedly the most comfortable of all of them. especially when you recline it all the way back so you are practically in my row. yes, thank you. i quietly got up and silently moved one row back, still too close for comfort, but. . . let it fly. i refilled the bottle quite nicely, as my bladder apparently has a capacity of 1.5 liters. only a few dribbles, but those were the drivers fault for trying to wait until the last minute to slow down before launching over a tope.
oh. . . and dont read this if you think peeing is gross.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
new friends
heres a special post for two new friends who wont shut up until i say something about them in the blog. haha, kidding. but seriously... they wont.
jenna ennis (aka jennis, aka frennis) - one of my best besties who is waaaaay up in nova scotia - hooked me up with her friend fernanda who lives here in cancun. i met "furry" (who is actually a LOT hairier than her nickname implies, believe it or not) and her friend dana (pronounced 'donna'; who pretended to be shy) for lunch.
we (fernanda and i) spent a lot of time talking about our dear friend jenna. mostly about how awesome and hilarious she is, and how amazing her dance moves are. i told her how we actually have a dance move in hawaii called 'the jenna', and demonstrated it for her. some of you know what im talking about. then we spent some time talking about other things. like how hilarious susan (jennas mom) is, and how crazy jenna and katie are when they are together. dana... i apologize. dont be jealous. furry loves you too. and i . . . kinda like you.
we had a lunch of mexican food (obviously), and i explained to them that i try to keep only the coolest friends, so i conducted a friend interview over lunch. what is a friend interview, you may ask? well basically the friend prospect tells me a story about themselves that sufficiently impresses me, so that i am WOWed into a state of admiration or respect that convinces me to keep them around. making me laugh out loud within the first 15 minutes of meeting you or being generally hilarious is a good way to avoid the interview altogether and jump straight to the friendship phase. fernanda didnt do so well with her story, but fortunately for her dana was there, so i gave her a bit more time to think while dana told her story. we watched pirates of the caribbean 17 (with spanish subtitles), had some paletas, watched a traditional mayan dance...
a great day with lotsa laughs, and some good conversations. so i say mahalo to you mis amigas nuevas, and mahalo jennis for the connect. ill see what i can do about getting up to nova scotia (aka, end of the universe) for your wedding in september...
dont walk in front of me, i may not follow.
dont walk behind me, i may not lead.
just walk beside me and be my friend.
-- Albert Camus
jenna ennis (aka jennis, aka frennis) - one of my best besties who is waaaaay up in nova scotia - hooked me up with her friend fernanda who lives here in cancun. i met "furry" (who is actually a LOT hairier than her nickname implies, believe it or not) and her friend dana (pronounced 'donna'; who pretended to be shy) for lunch.
we (fernanda and i) spent a lot of time talking about our dear friend jenna. mostly about how awesome and hilarious she is, and how amazing her dance moves are. i told her how we actually have a dance move in hawaii called 'the jenna', and demonstrated it for her. some of you know what im talking about. then we spent some time talking about other things. like how hilarious susan (jennas mom) is, and how crazy jenna and katie are when they are together. dana... i apologize. dont be jealous. furry loves you too. and i . . . kinda like you.
we had a lunch of mexican food (obviously), and i explained to them that i try to keep only the coolest friends, so i conducted a friend interview over lunch. what is a friend interview, you may ask? well basically the friend prospect tells me a story about themselves that sufficiently impresses me, so that i am WOWed into a state of admiration or respect that convinces me to keep them around. making me laugh out loud within the first 15 minutes of meeting you or being generally hilarious is a good way to avoid the interview altogether and jump straight to the friendship phase. fernanda didnt do so well with her story, but fortunately for her dana was there, so i gave her a bit more time to think while dana told her story. we watched pirates of the caribbean 17 (with spanish subtitles), had some paletas, watched a traditional mayan dance...
a great day with lotsa laughs, and some good conversations. so i say mahalo to you mis amigas nuevas, and mahalo jennis for the connect. ill see what i can do about getting up to nova scotia (aka, end of the universe) for your wedding in september...
dont walk in front of me, i may not follow.
dont walk behind me, i may not lead.
just walk beside me and be my friend.
-- Albert Camus
Saturday, May 21, 2011
sayulita to cancun
aloha amigos!
thank you for your patience and continued interest, blah blah, etc...
this is why i didnt want to start a blog... so much to attempt to document; what to leave in, what to leave out. leaving some people hanging for weeks on end (jennis); overwhelming others with an overdose of info (andi). ill probably go off on a few tangents here, so maybe dont bother reading if you dont have a few minutes to spare... ;)
when viewing my pictures, keep in mind that im not a photographer, and my camera was the 3rd or 4th cheapest on the shelf :) irregardless (thats for you jacob), neither my deft maneuvering with the english language nor my unparalleled ability to take amateur photographs of the same mountain from 6 different angles in an attempt to capture 'essence' can fully depict the realities - both beautiful and hideous - of mexico. especially traveling thru mexico as a pinche gringo on the solo tip. . .
soooo, after leaving sayulita, i took a bus to puerto vallarta for $25 (all amounts in MXN unless otherwise noted, so... $2.15USD?). a half-hour ride brought me to the city center, where i booked a surprisingly nice hotel room for $420. they said it was a 2-night minimum, but i got chummy with the manager on duty, and he told reception to make an exception. yes!! cruised around pv on foot, took a coupla pics of the sunset, ate some pizza (id had enough mexican food for awhile). mexico seems to know 4 kinds of pizza: cheese, pepperoni, hawaiian, and - occasionally - a supreme-type pizza. for those of you familiar with antonios, i havent seen anything even closely resembling a mexicana pizza here (black bean, basmati rice, spicy chicken, cheddar cheese, sour cream). or an aztec chicken pizza. or any of the quesadilla or taco pizzas, etc... just sayin.
headed out to guadalajara in the morning. checked in with my couchsurfing hosts luis and melisa, who brought me out with their friends pedro, olga, and sesa (olga and sesa are having a baby in june; i think ive got them 78% convinced that shestin is a solidly ambiguous name for an unborn, gender-undeclared child. shestino or shestina if one wanted to be more gender-certain in this spanish-speaking arena). i tried mezcal for the first time, which is not unlike drinking smoke. checked out the city on my own the next day, took a few pics. its hilarious to me how many churches there are (reminds me of the RATM song 'vietnow' in which they ask, 'is all the world jails and churches?' the usa has all the jails, mexico has all the churches). seriously... the amount of time, money, and materials that go into building multiple homes in such close proximity for a god who is supposed to be omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient is ludicrous (that ones for you shawn b). is there really no better use of our time and talents than to be erecting these silly buildings for someone who doesnt even live here, and who would spend an eternity just trying to make an appearance in each home if s/he/it did? okay, back on track... saw too many gaudy churches (not just here - everywhere), but guadalajara is a beautiful city. also managed to get my pack repaired in a half hour for $50 pesos; and its sturdy - almost as good as new. pinche caballo.
on to ciudad de mexico, d.f. (distrito federal). met up with my couchsurfer friend carolina near viveros, and walked around the beautiful coyoacan area. had some delicious food and drink near viveros; i loooove garlic and its been so long since ive tasted it! muchas gracias caro for the connection! next day i checked in with erika, my couchsurf host here. she has a sweet place in the city near the zapata subway line. got to meet some of her cool friends ellie, aleksei, paula, umair; her bros ruben and jorge; her bf derek. woke up on cinco de mayo to a mexico city earthquake, the building swaying, erika coming into my room to tell me to come stand in the doorway; i stayed in bed. i went and checked out the pyramids at teotihuacan, the museum of anthropology, the bellas artes; tried to see the chapultepec castle, but got there too late, colon left-parenthesis. i somehow forgot that mexico city is one of the most heavily populated cities in the world...something like 18 million in the metropolitan area. i think all 18 million of them were on the subway that day. every station i went to i watched subway doors unable to close because people were literally jamming themselves into the cars. at first i thought, 'is it really necessary to be on THAT train? the next one is about 5 minutes away.' and i would wait for the next train, only to find that it was the same. or worse. and the next one. and the next one. unbelievable how so many people can be rushing in the same direction at once. it reminded me of nyc at rush hour, except that it was all day. everywhere i went. i kept wondering who was up on the streets, if everyone was down here. some really sweet art in some of these stations, tho. one of them has a planetarium-type feel to it with the zodiac painted on the ceiling and walls and lit by blacklight. i was an obstacle in the foot traffic for awhile, gazing up at the ceiling in child-like wonder. and steve stills of csny was right - when i saw the southern cross for the first time, i understood why i came this way...
from the d.f. i went to puebla to meet up with gabriel from camp and his friend maurilia. gabe and i cruised around puebla for a bit, saw some authentic poblano song and dance performances, a recreation of an aztec dance in the city center, rode on the crazy camiones that are like roller-coaster rides except way cheaper ($0.50 USD) and probably way more dangerous. went with maurilia (dos juntos) to the pyramids in cholula, another city of many churches, then went to meet up with gabe when he got out of work. had my first mexican 'crepe' which is nothing at all like a crepe, but delicious anyway. potatoes and chilis rolled in a thin dough and deep fried.
after puebla, i had to decide between veracruz (north and beaches) and oaxaca city (south and pyramids) as a kinda halfway point on my way east to palenque. i chose oaxaca, and checked out the pyramids at monte alban. met 3 swiss girls (ingrid, lucile, celine) with whom i shared a conversation (in english, yes!) for about 20 minutes before i explored monte. cruised around the city the next day, ran into the swiss misses again, and we talked for a bit longer. a bum got aggressive and angry when they didnt want to trade his sandwich bag of junk and a phone charger for their cigarettes, so he snatched their lighter from the table and ran away. i thought it woulda been a fair trade - i never know when i might need a phone charger, some rubber bands, soda can tabs, pen caps, or even a flyer for a local night club. and if theres one thing i learned from japeth the goat in hoodwinked, its that i should be prepared. this lesson must be shared...
i continued on to palenque to meet up with federico and work on an organic farm there. found out that he wouldnt be there til friday (i arrived early wednesday morning), so i thought to myself, 'self, why not take a trip up to ciudad del carmen for some beach time?' great idea self. took a bus up to cdc, but arrived around sunset (slighly underestimated the amount of time it would take to travel 80 miles; bus left palenque at 11, got to cdc at 530?). found a brand-new-looking hotel with rooms for only $350 ($30US), so i checked in so i could drop my pack and take a look around the city. on the surface, everything was new and shiny. upon closer inspection, there was not only a healthy mold colony growing under both of the mattresses in the room (there is a fondness in this country for using massive concrete slabs as bed frames; sturdy, but you can never rearrange your furniture), but there were more mosquitos than a room-sized rainforest might have. i spent no less than an hour and a half trying to kill them all (mosquitos are the only living thing i can say i truly hate, and i definitely cant sleep peacefully in the same room as them) and failed. at about 9pm i gave up, took a quick shower (they jumped in with me, the pervs), cranked up the AC in the hopes that the cold would slow them down enough so i could murder them, and went out to find some dinner. two hours later, back at the room, the mosquitos didnt seem to be affected by the cold. i killed a few thousand more, then opted for stringing up my mosquito net from the light bulb (had to unscrew it a bit first) above the bed. made certain all the moldy parts of the bed were tucked away out of sight (just as the hotel staff did before i checked in, im sure), then laid down and watched nacho libre en espanol. ahhh, jack black. even tho i cant understand the words that are coming out of your mouth you make me laugh with your crazy antics. jack always reminds me of my friend sean berthiaume (as does chris parnell for some reason); except sean is much funnier. in fact, for those of you who dont know sean, if you ever need a laugh or a smile, just hop onto his facebook page at
www.facebook.com/home.php#!/seanymcsean
youre guaranteed to find something that will make you chuckle. also, try to find the revolusean tattoos in his photos; something like 11 or more people with variations of seans face tattooed on their bodies. amazing! if you want one, he will pay for it. just sayin... oh seany mcsean. anyway, checked out of there as soon as i woke up on thursday (after flipping up the mattresses to expose the dirty truth, in the hopes that maybe they would address it. doubt it) and realized my predicament: i now had a pack to carry around, so i couldnt really relax at the beach, and i had to be in palenque the next day, so it wouldnt make sense to check into a hostel or hotel. so i went back to palenque. there were probably other solutions that made more sense. palenque was good to me tho. the posada nacha'n ka'an hotel is right in the town center, rooms for $75 ($6.50US) with free breakfast and free internet. whaaat! yes please. went to check out the pyramids, which were obviously astounding. bought some 'linen' pants for $100 pesos ($8.60US) from a roadside vendor on my walk back. i wanted to get some dark-colored linen pants to swap out for my heavy and bulky jeans so id have some farm-working pants. i fortunately didnt get rid of my jeans, because the new 'linen' pants split completely down the seams the first time i put them on. lesson learned. got in touch with federico and found out that i had to take a colectivo to meet him in zapata, because we were going to be working in campeche, not palenque, so i bought a $25 peso ticket to zapata and rode like a sardine all the way there.
in zapata i met up with fed, waited for another wwoofer, marion from france to arrive, hopped in the truck, and it wouldnt start. after an hour or so of trying, we decided to stay in zapata for the eve, and had a mechanic come repair some cables in the morning.
on to campeche in the dodge ram pickup. it was loaded down with bags of meal, dolomite, and phosphorus for making compost (along with soil, mulch, compost aged 2 years, molasses, manure, and water - a recipe he had learned in brasil), so it took about 4 hours to get to campeche, with the gratuitous stops at every state boder to be questioned by police. as it turns out, it wasnt an organic farm after all, but coast tropical - a branch of coast citrus (www.coasttropical.com) - an enormous mango plantation, and one of the largest exporters of mango to the us. spent a few days shoveling shit (literally), eating mangos for 3 or more meals a day (literally ;) and hanging around campeche.
after campeche we were to return to palenque to work on another farm in the community, but i opted to head to cancun instead, since it was much closer than palenque and therefore quicker and cheaper to get to, and since i had a commitment to another farm in quintana roo in 3 days anyway. arrived in cancun after midnite, checked into an eco-hotel (www.reycaribe.com) that was effing sweet despite the fact that the rates at the front desk were a bit higher than the quoted rates online. beautiful place, also with free breakfast and internet.
ill be hanging around in cancun for a coupla days, checking out chichen itza, wading in the water (since sayulita reminded me that my shoulder isnt quite ready for swimming yet), maybe ferrying over to isla mujeres if its cheap. ill try to get a scuba session in at cozumel. i was thinking of going and doing some organic farm work up in solferino, but ive changed my mind. ill let you know how it goes and stuff...
-- a good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving
lao tzu
thank you for your patience and continued interest, blah blah, etc...
this is why i didnt want to start a blog... so much to attempt to document; what to leave in, what to leave out. leaving some people hanging for weeks on end (jennis); overwhelming others with an overdose of info (andi). ill probably go off on a few tangents here, so maybe dont bother reading if you dont have a few minutes to spare... ;)
when viewing my pictures, keep in mind that im not a photographer, and my camera was the 3rd or 4th cheapest on the shelf :) irregardless (thats for you jacob), neither my deft maneuvering with the english language nor my unparalleled ability to take amateur photographs of the same mountain from 6 different angles in an attempt to capture 'essence' can fully depict the realities - both beautiful and hideous - of mexico. especially traveling thru mexico as a pinche gringo on the solo tip. . .
soooo, after leaving sayulita, i took a bus to puerto vallarta for $25 (all amounts in MXN unless otherwise noted, so... $2.15USD?). a half-hour ride brought me to the city center, where i booked a surprisingly nice hotel room for $420. they said it was a 2-night minimum, but i got chummy with the manager on duty, and he told reception to make an exception. yes!! cruised around pv on foot, took a coupla pics of the sunset, ate some pizza (id had enough mexican food for awhile). mexico seems to know 4 kinds of pizza: cheese, pepperoni, hawaiian, and - occasionally - a supreme-type pizza. for those of you familiar with antonios, i havent seen anything even closely resembling a mexicana pizza here (black bean, basmati rice, spicy chicken, cheddar cheese, sour cream). or an aztec chicken pizza. or any of the quesadilla or taco pizzas, etc... just sayin.
headed out to guadalajara in the morning. checked in with my couchsurfing hosts luis and melisa, who brought me out with their friends pedro, olga, and sesa (olga and sesa are having a baby in june; i think ive got them 78% convinced that shestin is a solidly ambiguous name for an unborn, gender-undeclared child. shestino or shestina if one wanted to be more gender-certain in this spanish-speaking arena). i tried mezcal for the first time, which is not unlike drinking smoke. checked out the city on my own the next day, took a few pics. its hilarious to me how many churches there are (reminds me of the RATM song 'vietnow' in which they ask, 'is all the world jails and churches?' the usa has all the jails, mexico has all the churches). seriously... the amount of time, money, and materials that go into building multiple homes in such close proximity for a god who is supposed to be omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient is ludicrous (that ones for you shawn b). is there really no better use of our time and talents than to be erecting these silly buildings for someone who doesnt even live here, and who would spend an eternity just trying to make an appearance in each home if s/he/it did? okay, back on track... saw too many gaudy churches (not just here - everywhere), but guadalajara is a beautiful city. also managed to get my pack repaired in a half hour for $50 pesos; and its sturdy - almost as good as new. pinche caballo.
on to ciudad de mexico, d.f. (distrito federal). met up with my couchsurfer friend carolina near viveros, and walked around the beautiful coyoacan area. had some delicious food and drink near viveros; i loooove garlic and its been so long since ive tasted it! muchas gracias caro for the connection! next day i checked in with erika, my couchsurf host here. she has a sweet place in the city near the zapata subway line. got to meet some of her cool friends ellie, aleksei, paula, umair; her bros ruben and jorge; her bf derek. woke up on cinco de mayo to a mexico city earthquake, the building swaying, erika coming into my room to tell me to come stand in the doorway; i stayed in bed. i went and checked out the pyramids at teotihuacan, the museum of anthropology, the bellas artes; tried to see the chapultepec castle, but got there too late, colon left-parenthesis. i somehow forgot that mexico city is one of the most heavily populated cities in the world...something like 18 million in the metropolitan area. i think all 18 million of them were on the subway that day. every station i went to i watched subway doors unable to close because people were literally jamming themselves into the cars. at first i thought, 'is it really necessary to be on THAT train? the next one is about 5 minutes away.' and i would wait for the next train, only to find that it was the same. or worse. and the next one. and the next one. unbelievable how so many people can be rushing in the same direction at once. it reminded me of nyc at rush hour, except that it was all day. everywhere i went. i kept wondering who was up on the streets, if everyone was down here. some really sweet art in some of these stations, tho. one of them has a planetarium-type feel to it with the zodiac painted on the ceiling and walls and lit by blacklight. i was an obstacle in the foot traffic for awhile, gazing up at the ceiling in child-like wonder. and steve stills of csny was right - when i saw the southern cross for the first time, i understood why i came this way...
from the d.f. i went to puebla to meet up with gabriel from camp and his friend maurilia. gabe and i cruised around puebla for a bit, saw some authentic poblano song and dance performances, a recreation of an aztec dance in the city center, rode on the crazy camiones that are like roller-coaster rides except way cheaper ($0.50 USD) and probably way more dangerous. went with maurilia (dos juntos) to the pyramids in cholula, another city of many churches, then went to meet up with gabe when he got out of work. had my first mexican 'crepe' which is nothing at all like a crepe, but delicious anyway. potatoes and chilis rolled in a thin dough and deep fried.
after puebla, i had to decide between veracruz (north and beaches) and oaxaca city (south and pyramids) as a kinda halfway point on my way east to palenque. i chose oaxaca, and checked out the pyramids at monte alban. met 3 swiss girls (ingrid, lucile, celine) with whom i shared a conversation (in english, yes!) for about 20 minutes before i explored monte. cruised around the city the next day, ran into the swiss misses again, and we talked for a bit longer. a bum got aggressive and angry when they didnt want to trade his sandwich bag of junk and a phone charger for their cigarettes, so he snatched their lighter from the table and ran away. i thought it woulda been a fair trade - i never know when i might need a phone charger, some rubber bands, soda can tabs, pen caps, or even a flyer for a local night club. and if theres one thing i learned from japeth the goat in hoodwinked, its that i should be prepared. this lesson must be shared...
i continued on to palenque to meet up with federico and work on an organic farm there. found out that he wouldnt be there til friday (i arrived early wednesday morning), so i thought to myself, 'self, why not take a trip up to ciudad del carmen for some beach time?' great idea self. took a bus up to cdc, but arrived around sunset (slighly underestimated the amount of time it would take to travel 80 miles; bus left palenque at 11, got to cdc at 530?). found a brand-new-looking hotel with rooms for only $350 ($30US), so i checked in so i could drop my pack and take a look around the city. on the surface, everything was new and shiny. upon closer inspection, there was not only a healthy mold colony growing under both of the mattresses in the room (there is a fondness in this country for using massive concrete slabs as bed frames; sturdy, but you can never rearrange your furniture), but there were more mosquitos than a room-sized rainforest might have. i spent no less than an hour and a half trying to kill them all (mosquitos are the only living thing i can say i truly hate, and i definitely cant sleep peacefully in the same room as them) and failed. at about 9pm i gave up, took a quick shower (they jumped in with me, the pervs), cranked up the AC in the hopes that the cold would slow them down enough so i could murder them, and went out to find some dinner. two hours later, back at the room, the mosquitos didnt seem to be affected by the cold. i killed a few thousand more, then opted for stringing up my mosquito net from the light bulb (had to unscrew it a bit first) above the bed. made certain all the moldy parts of the bed were tucked away out of sight (just as the hotel staff did before i checked in, im sure), then laid down and watched nacho libre en espanol. ahhh, jack black. even tho i cant understand the words that are coming out of your mouth you make me laugh with your crazy antics. jack always reminds me of my friend sean berthiaume (as does chris parnell for some reason); except sean is much funnier. in fact, for those of you who dont know sean, if you ever need a laugh or a smile, just hop onto his facebook page at
www.facebook.com/home.php#!/seanymcsean
youre guaranteed to find something that will make you chuckle. also, try to find the revolusean tattoos in his photos; something like 11 or more people with variations of seans face tattooed on their bodies. amazing! if you want one, he will pay for it. just sayin... oh seany mcsean. anyway, checked out of there as soon as i woke up on thursday (after flipping up the mattresses to expose the dirty truth, in the hopes that maybe they would address it. doubt it) and realized my predicament: i now had a pack to carry around, so i couldnt really relax at the beach, and i had to be in palenque the next day, so it wouldnt make sense to check into a hostel or hotel. so i went back to palenque. there were probably other solutions that made more sense. palenque was good to me tho. the posada nacha'n ka'an hotel is right in the town center, rooms for $75 ($6.50US) with free breakfast and free internet. whaaat! yes please. went to check out the pyramids, which were obviously astounding. bought some 'linen' pants for $100 pesos ($8.60US) from a roadside vendor on my walk back. i wanted to get some dark-colored linen pants to swap out for my heavy and bulky jeans so id have some farm-working pants. i fortunately didnt get rid of my jeans, because the new 'linen' pants split completely down the seams the first time i put them on. lesson learned. got in touch with federico and found out that i had to take a colectivo to meet him in zapata, because we were going to be working in campeche, not palenque, so i bought a $25 peso ticket to zapata and rode like a sardine all the way there.
in zapata i met up with fed, waited for another wwoofer, marion from france to arrive, hopped in the truck, and it wouldnt start. after an hour or so of trying, we decided to stay in zapata for the eve, and had a mechanic come repair some cables in the morning.
on to campeche in the dodge ram pickup. it was loaded down with bags of meal, dolomite, and phosphorus for making compost (along with soil, mulch, compost aged 2 years, molasses, manure, and water - a recipe he had learned in brasil), so it took about 4 hours to get to campeche, with the gratuitous stops at every state boder to be questioned by police. as it turns out, it wasnt an organic farm after all, but coast tropical - a branch of coast citrus (www.coasttropical.com) - an enormous mango plantation, and one of the largest exporters of mango to the us. spent a few days shoveling shit (literally), eating mangos for 3 or more meals a day (literally ;) and hanging around campeche.
after campeche we were to return to palenque to work on another farm in the community, but i opted to head to cancun instead, since it was much closer than palenque and therefore quicker and cheaper to get to, and since i had a commitment to another farm in quintana roo in 3 days anyway. arrived in cancun after midnite, checked into an eco-hotel (www.reycaribe.com) that was effing sweet despite the fact that the rates at the front desk were a bit higher than the quoted rates online. beautiful place, also with free breakfast and internet.
ill be hanging around in cancun for a coupla days, checking out chichen itza, wading in the water (since sayulita reminded me that my shoulder isnt quite ready for swimming yet), maybe ferrying over to isla mujeres if its cheap. ill try to get a scuba session in at cozumel. i was thinking of going and doing some organic farm work up in solferino, but ive changed my mind. ill let you know how it goes and stuff...
-- a good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving
lao tzu
Monday, April 25, 2011
tijuana to sayulita...
aloha again!
mexico has been great to me. crossed over into tijuana. almost missed getting my passport stamped because there isnt really anything stopping someone from just walking into the country. theres military and police everywhere, but theyve only ever wanted to inspect my bags. on the 24-hour bus ride from tijuana to yepachic (somehow more comfortable than the train from portland to san francisco) there were endless military checkpoints, a few of which involved a soldier with an m-16 getting on the bus and asking for tickets; at one of the checkpoints, we all had to get off the bus, and drag our luggage inside to go thru the traffic light that determines whether or not you will get inspected - green is go, red is inspection. i got red. at all 3 of the inspections that i underwent, the guards asked me a few questions in rapid spanish, which i asked to have repeated, thereby giving myself away as a gringo, and was allowed to pass without more than a cursory glance at my pack. the guards at the border started to open my pack, saw the ukulele, and got distracted by it; they wanted me to play a bit, so i complied and they were kinda apologetic as they tried to fasten my pack back up for me.
met up with jorge in chihuahua. he and his lady victoria came to pick me up at the bus station, and he put me up in his dads house. good people. wish i could have spent more time up there with you bro, but its okay because youre coming down to brasil, right? headed down to yepachic to work on el rancho nogal "organic farm". not exactly what it presented itself as (you were right, gen; what was the farm tommy was on in costa, so i know?), but still a beautiful location in the sierra madres. yepachic town is already in the middle of somewhere, and the road to get to the ranch is about an hour and a half of intense off-road driving (you woulda been impressed, steve). walking takes about 5 or 6 hours; fortunately bob, the owner, picked me up in town. the ranch is about 8500 feet above sea level, very cold overnight, very hot all day, has slightly thinner and much drier air (all the moisture was sucked out of my skin by the end of week 1). different plants and environment up there. lots of cactus and pines, horses, donkeys, mules, cattle, buffalo, herons, buzzards, blue jays, coyotes (so loud every night), roosters (diligently proclaiming the sunrise daily at 3am; thanks to the nights spent at kats spot, i can tune them out), dogs (everywhere), pumas (that i didnt see), and other various songbirds. i worked with adobe for the first time. mixing it, forming it, carrying it, lifting it over my head. the stuff is extremely heavy, durable, and abrasive when it brushes against your skin (if you were to lift a faulty piece, a corner broke off, and the other 60lbs of it slid down your forearm, for example). had some good adventures up there, however; went on a solo day hike, took a walk thru the canyon with two other wwoofers faroe and leslie (this "walk" involved scaling up and down the steep canyon walls when there was no riverbank and the river was too deep to wade thru), walked from yepachic town to the ranch with hector (ranch foreman from honduras) and faroe (only took about 4.5 hours, because hector weighs 100lbs and walks 10mph with a cigarette in his mouth, while climbing up and down the steep trails thru the mountains), rode the horses around the huge ranch (felt like a legit cowboy for a second; teri im sure i made you proud, wherever you are), and went on a few other day hikes with hector, faroe, and leslie. bob left after my first 4 days, and hadnt come back by the time i left. the day we left, we had to walk out at 4am to be in town by 10, so hector hooked us up with a couple of horses - one to carry our packs, the other for one or another of us to ride, just in case. luna was the mare who was loaded up first with our three backpacks; hector told us that she was kind of a crazy horse, and it was a full moon that day, of course. as soon as we had walked 10 feet and gone thru the gate, leslies pack snagged against the fence, ripping one of the wooden slats off. the horse went ballistic and started bucking and jumping and whinnying, and didnt stop until all 3 of our packs were on the ground. it was kinda funny to watch her throw a temper tantrum - until i went to pick up my pack and saw that she had kicked it and had ripped the shoulder strap apart (left shoulder, obviously). i was upset for a second until i realized that there was nothing i could do about it at 4 in the morning on the ranch. we loaded up the other horse (who was waaay more chill), and made it to town where hector used some heavy string from his girlfriends house to tie up my strap so i could carry my pack.
i hopped on the bus for the 4 hour ride to creel (which was free for me!), and spent a night there. took the ferrocarril thru the barranca del cobre the next day. beautiful train ride for 7 hours southwest toward los mochis and the coast. i stayed in los mochis for a night, then got a half-price ($7) bus ticket to culiacan, thanks to edgar, who gave me a ride to the bus station where his cousin works. got to culiacan mid-day, and decided to just stay on the bus to mazatlan. mazatlan was a fiesta grande. a beautiful place, but i only stayed for a night; semana santa there was like mexican spring break. i still marvel at the differences in the way easter is celebrated in the us and mexico - candy, rabbits, and eggs (which were all inventions of jesus, if i remember correctly) versus a week-long party. i continued on to tepic where i had my first experience as an official couchsurfer. i was hosted by citlalli (taly), daniel, and sra raquel. their whole family was in town for semana santa, and they fully brought me in. gave me a bedroom, fed me delicious food, brought me to the beach in san blas... great times, muchas gracias!! from tepic i headed south to sayulita where i met up with shenna, duncan, and gary, who imparted alot of knowledge and ancient wisdom regarding the maya. met alfredo, sonajah, bruno, pepe, david, remy, doug, tavik, and so many other cool people. sayulita is a pretty chill little town, and the climate here is more my to my liking. got to listen to a ton of live music on saturday night, with bands in bars, on beaches, and drum circles all over the place. went to playa callecitas with duncan and gary yesterday, and jumped in for a swim without really thinking twice. realized today that it might have been a mistake - now my shoulder hurts when i raise my arm over my head, and ive just realized that that was the first time ive attempted to swim since my accident in january; it felt great while i was doing it tho.
i think ill be sticking around here for a couple more days, then on to guadalajara where i have another couchsurfing host. steadily working my way toward the yucatan. ill see what i can do about posting a bit more often so there wont be long, scrolling books for updates. much aloha!!
-- we all have the extraordinary coded within us, waiting to be released
jean houston
mexico has been great to me. crossed over into tijuana. almost missed getting my passport stamped because there isnt really anything stopping someone from just walking into the country. theres military and police everywhere, but theyve only ever wanted to inspect my bags. on the 24-hour bus ride from tijuana to yepachic (somehow more comfortable than the train from portland to san francisco) there were endless military checkpoints, a few of which involved a soldier with an m-16 getting on the bus and asking for tickets; at one of the checkpoints, we all had to get off the bus, and drag our luggage inside to go thru the traffic light that determines whether or not you will get inspected - green is go, red is inspection. i got red. at all 3 of the inspections that i underwent, the guards asked me a few questions in rapid spanish, which i asked to have repeated, thereby giving myself away as a gringo, and was allowed to pass without more than a cursory glance at my pack. the guards at the border started to open my pack, saw the ukulele, and got distracted by it; they wanted me to play a bit, so i complied and they were kinda apologetic as they tried to fasten my pack back up for me.
met up with jorge in chihuahua. he and his lady victoria came to pick me up at the bus station, and he put me up in his dads house. good people. wish i could have spent more time up there with you bro, but its okay because youre coming down to brasil, right? headed down to yepachic to work on el rancho nogal "organic farm". not exactly what it presented itself as (you were right, gen; what was the farm tommy was on in costa, so i know?), but still a beautiful location in the sierra madres. yepachic town is already in the middle of somewhere, and the road to get to the ranch is about an hour and a half of intense off-road driving (you woulda been impressed, steve). walking takes about 5 or 6 hours; fortunately bob, the owner, picked me up in town. the ranch is about 8500 feet above sea level, very cold overnight, very hot all day, has slightly thinner and much drier air (all the moisture was sucked out of my skin by the end of week 1). different plants and environment up there. lots of cactus and pines, horses, donkeys, mules, cattle, buffalo, herons, buzzards, blue jays, coyotes (so loud every night), roosters (diligently proclaiming the sunrise daily at 3am; thanks to the nights spent at kats spot, i can tune them out), dogs (everywhere), pumas (that i didnt see), and other various songbirds. i worked with adobe for the first time. mixing it, forming it, carrying it, lifting it over my head. the stuff is extremely heavy, durable, and abrasive when it brushes against your skin (if you were to lift a faulty piece, a corner broke off, and the other 60lbs of it slid down your forearm, for example). had some good adventures up there, however; went on a solo day hike, took a walk thru the canyon with two other wwoofers faroe and leslie (this "walk" involved scaling up and down the steep canyon walls when there was no riverbank and the river was too deep to wade thru), walked from yepachic town to the ranch with hector (ranch foreman from honduras) and faroe (only took about 4.5 hours, because hector weighs 100lbs and walks 10mph with a cigarette in his mouth, while climbing up and down the steep trails thru the mountains), rode the horses around the huge ranch (felt like a legit cowboy for a second; teri im sure i made you proud, wherever you are), and went on a few other day hikes with hector, faroe, and leslie. bob left after my first 4 days, and hadnt come back by the time i left. the day we left, we had to walk out at 4am to be in town by 10, so hector hooked us up with a couple of horses - one to carry our packs, the other for one or another of us to ride, just in case. luna was the mare who was loaded up first with our three backpacks; hector told us that she was kind of a crazy horse, and it was a full moon that day, of course. as soon as we had walked 10 feet and gone thru the gate, leslies pack snagged against the fence, ripping one of the wooden slats off. the horse went ballistic and started bucking and jumping and whinnying, and didnt stop until all 3 of our packs were on the ground. it was kinda funny to watch her throw a temper tantrum - until i went to pick up my pack and saw that she had kicked it and had ripped the shoulder strap apart (left shoulder, obviously). i was upset for a second until i realized that there was nothing i could do about it at 4 in the morning on the ranch. we loaded up the other horse (who was waaay more chill), and made it to town where hector used some heavy string from his girlfriends house to tie up my strap so i could carry my pack.
i hopped on the bus for the 4 hour ride to creel (which was free for me!), and spent a night there. took the ferrocarril thru the barranca del cobre the next day. beautiful train ride for 7 hours southwest toward los mochis and the coast. i stayed in los mochis for a night, then got a half-price ($7) bus ticket to culiacan, thanks to edgar, who gave me a ride to the bus station where his cousin works. got to culiacan mid-day, and decided to just stay on the bus to mazatlan. mazatlan was a fiesta grande. a beautiful place, but i only stayed for a night; semana santa there was like mexican spring break. i still marvel at the differences in the way easter is celebrated in the us and mexico - candy, rabbits, and eggs (which were all inventions of jesus, if i remember correctly) versus a week-long party. i continued on to tepic where i had my first experience as an official couchsurfer. i was hosted by citlalli (taly), daniel, and sra raquel. their whole family was in town for semana santa, and they fully brought me in. gave me a bedroom, fed me delicious food, brought me to the beach in san blas... great times, muchas gracias!! from tepic i headed south to sayulita where i met up with shenna, duncan, and gary, who imparted alot of knowledge and ancient wisdom regarding the maya. met alfredo, sonajah, bruno, pepe, david, remy, doug, tavik, and so many other cool people. sayulita is a pretty chill little town, and the climate here is more my to my liking. got to listen to a ton of live music on saturday night, with bands in bars, on beaches, and drum circles all over the place. went to playa callecitas with duncan and gary yesterday, and jumped in for a swim without really thinking twice. realized today that it might have been a mistake - now my shoulder hurts when i raise my arm over my head, and ive just realized that that was the first time ive attempted to swim since my accident in january; it felt great while i was doing it tho.
i think ill be sticking around here for a couple more days, then on to guadalajara where i have another couchsurfing host. steadily working my way toward the yucatan. ill see what i can do about posting a bit more often so there wont be long, scrolling books for updates. much aloha!!
-- we all have the extraordinary coded within us, waiting to be released
jean houston
Thursday, March 24, 2011
full circle
aloha friends!!
to save some time for those of you who are just tuning in (which i believe is most of you), i am currently on a little journey to explore all 21 countries in latin america. this blog will be an attempt to chronicle some of my most memorable (or merely noteworthy) experiences. having never done this before - backpacked thru latin america or had a blog - i have no idea what will happen, so keep your expectations high. bridget gets credit for the spinz with stinz™ idea...
also, i will take liberties with grammar (run-on sentences and fragments are fun), punctuation (minimal use of apostrophes), capitalization (caps are really just for emphasis), use ellipses with spaces. . . and without... and liberally sprinkle my writings with aposiopesis. . .
this new chapter in the continuing saga began on january 3rd when i left camp erdman, waialua, and oahu. among other things, it was so surreal sitting on the plane watching diamondhead fade away; a scene id witnessed so many times on interisland and mainland trips, but now would not be seeing for (possibly) a long time. after a brief stopover in maui, i flew to san diego on january 5th. the "plan" was to kick it here for a coupla weeks, then cross the border into mexico and take it from there.
plans changed.
in fact, most of the following was never planned, or was tentatively planned.
instead of going from hawaii-san diego-tijuana and beyond, i did a little zig-zagging (that one's for you jacob). it looks more like:
hawaii-san diego-san francisco-oakland-south lake tahoe-brooklyn-northampton-amherst-brooklyn-portland-welches-portland-san francisco-mountain view-south lake tahoe-san francisco-guerneville-san francisco-hermosa beach-del mar-solana beach-ocean beach-solana beach-tijuana-mexicali-juarez-chihuahua-yepachic. . .
long story, but the not-so-condensed version goes like this:
i made it to san diego and got to spend time with kara, sarah, sean, green, and meganne; i accepted an invitation to visit my friend maggie and do some snowboarding up in tahoe; separated my shoulder up at heavenly; stuck around tahoe for two additional weeks; hung out with maggie, ruby, dewey, barber, marcus, joe john, starr, raquel, vanessa, danielle, christian, liz and eric, diyar and tanja, heather, vj, and jacob; went to san francisco to bring jacob to the airport and got to spend time with emily rose, diyar, and katina and theo; flew to nyc for three weeks to work for my homeys jacob and sean at vinnies pizzeria; got to spend time with sean, jacob and kitty, henrik, varghese, vivek, allie, andrea and ashley, rebekah and paula, nils, heather, sana, liala, alexis, amy, laura, caleb, sara and heather and moose and buckwheat, steve and jes, beth, jorim, rachel, stahl, walter, nery, balmore, and johnny; flew back to the west coast and spent some time in portland and mount hood; got to spend time with melissa, ryan, kat, sterling and jayson and kai, and dave and gudrun; took the overnight train (never again) from portland to san francisco and got to spend time with diyar, heather, and the lalaind sisters; drove up to tahoe again (no snowboarding) and spent some time with maggie, marcus, starr and molly, raquel, liz and eric, and the dogs - ruby, dewey, bella, and abigail; drove back to the bay area and spent some time with lindsay, and karissa and danielle in the city and in guerneville; got a bus back to the city from guerneville and spent some time with emily rose before continuing on down to los angeles and hermosa beach where i got to have a little antonios reunion with carrie, esthergen, and sean (thanks to cubby); rode with cubby and sean down to del mar where cubby generously hosted me in his mothers mansion on the coast for a few days; spent some time with him, sean, brett, and newman the dog; came up the road to solana beach and spent some time with kara and hatch, sara, lauren, and katie; went back down to ocean beach and spent some time with sean, krista, krystal, rob, and green; came back up to solana beach and spent some time with kara and hatch, sarah, mike, katie, tony, and cory; now its back down to ocean beach to kick it with sean, then tijuana, mexicali, juarez, chihuahua, and yepachic... im sure theres some peeps i forgot to mention in there, others i intentionally declined to mention (because im mildly ashamed of you marc and joshua). regardless, i love you all.
falling on a snowboard on an icy mountain and getting an acromio-clavicular separation without health insurance is a shitty thing to do. i dont recommend it to anyone. however, it appears to be a blessing in disguise because it enabled (or forced) me to spend time with a lot of people that i otherwise might not have seen for. . . awhile.
so here i am, back where i started three months ago. . .
slightly poorer financially but much richer. . . friendancially?
heading to life and work on an organic farm in the serene beauty of yepachi, mexico...
-- i seem to have been only as a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting
myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than
ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.
isaac newton
Monday, February 7, 2011
the empire state...
in new york city once again...
definitely told myself id never come back here in the winter.
definitely didn't see myself being in brooklyn in february...
i was thinking more like. . . puerto vallarta? palenque? mexico city?
all good tho. i get to spend quality time with the homeys, meet new friends, solidify relationships with some past acquaintances, and work at Vinnie's Pizzeria!!
for those who don't know, check them out in williamsburg on the corner of bedford and north 9th, or in greenpoint on the corner of nassau and kingsland.
quality gourmet pizza, awesome people, hilarious environment...
jacob petrera, sean berthiaume, and henrik toncic are the proprietors.
the 3 zamigos. zamigas, actually... according to the spellcheck failure on the state of new york business license.
i worked with sean and jacob at antonios pizza in amherst for a few years back in the day...
theyre pizza ballers in the bk now along with henrik...and my employers for the next 3 weeks.
a little something to occupy my time and make a lil money while my shoulder heals...
heading back west on the 24th. or so says my ticket. we'll see what actually happens...
-- everyone is crying out for peace; none is crying out for justice.
peter tosh
definitely told myself id never come back here in the winter.
definitely didn't see myself being in brooklyn in february...
i was thinking more like. . . puerto vallarta? palenque? mexico city?
all good tho. i get to spend quality time with the homeys, meet new friends, solidify relationships with some past acquaintances, and work at Vinnie's Pizzeria!!
for those who don't know, check them out in williamsburg on the corner of bedford and north 9th, or in greenpoint on the corner of nassau and kingsland.
quality gourmet pizza, awesome people, hilarious environment...
jacob petrera, sean berthiaume, and henrik toncic are the proprietors.
the 3 zamigos. zamigas, actually... according to the spellcheck failure on the state of new york business license.
i worked with sean and jacob at antonios pizza in amherst for a few years back in the day...
theyre pizza ballers in the bk now along with henrik...and my employers for the next 3 weeks.
a little something to occupy my time and make a lil money while my shoulder heals...
heading back west on the 24th. or so says my ticket. we'll see what actually happens...
-- everyone is crying out for peace; none is crying out for justice.
peter tosh
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
the adventure begins...
as many of you know, i left hawaii on january 5th to begin my latin america trip...
the idea was to fly to san diego, cross the border, and begin the adventure in mexico...
the plan was not to have a plan, just to go with the flow, to see where the universe took me...
with that in mind, i let my homegirl maggie maehem talk me into coming up to lake tahoe for a bit of snowboarding...
i arrived on the 11th, and my homeboy jacob flew in from nyc on the 17th to kick it with us for a week...
after a semi-decent session at kirkwood on sunday the 16th (my first in at least 2 years), i convinced myself that i was awesome enough to snowboard in the icy conditions at heavenly on wednesday the 19th...
while jacob was safe and warm in the casino on the california side, i was attempting to keep up with maggie on the nevada side...
coming out of a toe-side turn at a speed that was unreasonable for my skill level, my board dug into the ice and i landed HARD on my left shoulder...
i determined that i needed to stop riding and seek prompt medical attention, so we decided that i would follow maggie the rest of the way down to the gondola...
after maggie missed the turn-off for the gondola and i wiped out not less than two more times, i opted for a ride down the mountain in the body bag of the ski patrol sled...
i got a shuttle ride to the clinic at stateline, but of course, having recently quit my job at camp, and being a US citizen, i have no health insurance, so they wouldnt take me...
so maggie and jacob came to pick me up, then dropped me outside the ER and went to the bar to worry about me over a few drinks...
x-rays showed that i had an acromio-clavicular separation in my left shoulder (torn ligaments)...
no need for surgery, but i gotta wear a sling for a coupla weeks, take painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs, and let my body recover for about a month...
so it looks like ill be chilling here in tahoe for a few more weeks during the healing process...
needless to say, i had no idea i would be living in the grip of winter for a month, and was fully unprepared, having brought only t-shirts, shorts, linen pants, and a hoodie to clothe myself...
fortunately tahoe is beautiful and i get to hang out with one of my besties for a bit longer than i thought...
so THIS is how the adventure begins :)
-- emancipate yourself from mental slavery; none but ourselves can free our minds.
bob marley
the idea was to fly to san diego, cross the border, and begin the adventure in mexico...
the plan was not to have a plan, just to go with the flow, to see where the universe took me...
with that in mind, i let my homegirl maggie maehem talk me into coming up to lake tahoe for a bit of snowboarding...
i arrived on the 11th, and my homeboy jacob flew in from nyc on the 17th to kick it with us for a week...
after a semi-decent session at kirkwood on sunday the 16th (my first in at least 2 years), i convinced myself that i was awesome enough to snowboard in the icy conditions at heavenly on wednesday the 19th...
while jacob was safe and warm in the casino on the california side, i was attempting to keep up with maggie on the nevada side...
coming out of a toe-side turn at a speed that was unreasonable for my skill level, my board dug into the ice and i landed HARD on my left shoulder...
i determined that i needed to stop riding and seek prompt medical attention, so we decided that i would follow maggie the rest of the way down to the gondola...
after maggie missed the turn-off for the gondola and i wiped out not less than two more times, i opted for a ride down the mountain in the body bag of the ski patrol sled...
i got a shuttle ride to the clinic at stateline, but of course, having recently quit my job at camp, and being a US citizen, i have no health insurance, so they wouldnt take me...
so maggie and jacob came to pick me up, then dropped me outside the ER and went to the bar to worry about me over a few drinks...
x-rays showed that i had an acromio-clavicular separation in my left shoulder (torn ligaments)...
no need for surgery, but i gotta wear a sling for a coupla weeks, take painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs, and let my body recover for about a month...
so it looks like ill be chilling here in tahoe for a few more weeks during the healing process...
needless to say, i had no idea i would be living in the grip of winter for a month, and was fully unprepared, having brought only t-shirts, shorts, linen pants, and a hoodie to clothe myself...
fortunately tahoe is beautiful and i get to hang out with one of my besties for a bit longer than i thought...
so THIS is how the adventure begins :)
-- emancipate yourself from mental slavery; none but ourselves can free our minds.
bob marley
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