A very large band

There is a very large band on stage: 3 percussionists, 3 trombone, 3 clarinet, 3 trumpets, 2 singers, 1 tuba. There are more people on stage than waiting tables and more people waiting tables than at the tables.

The music is a cross between marching band, 50's doo wop, and James Brown. The kids dancing wriggle like people trying on too-tight jeans, in fact, like two people trying to fit into one pair of jeans. One boy lifts his girl up so both her feet are off the ground and she kind of pole dances down him.

I put down my beer and the bartender hands me another. How does he know?

For Sale in Guadalajara

New + Improved

In Mexico, they put ketchup, lime, and salt on potato chips.
In Mexico, they put worchestershire sauce and lemonade in beer.
In Mexico, they put bacon on hotdogs.

Basically, they've taken all our foods and improved them.

Incredibly Strange Marital Wrestling

Out on the town in Guadalajara

Lucha Libre

This is a good representation of the incredible wrestling and acrobatic skill of the Luchadores - the popular wrestling sport in Mexico...this film happens to be of a young up and coming Lucha Libre sensation known only as El Cuervo. In Guadalajara, we had the opportunity Tuesday night to see some of the bigger names in Lucha Libre, live and up close, in the Arena Collosium. We attended with our new amigos from Tlaquepaque, read more in our next blog!

Oaxaca update

This is the best article I have read summarizing the Oaxaca situation
article
and photos
photos

Pictures of 8,000 people preparing to make the 13 day walk from Oaxaca to Mexico City. Planned arrival is 3 October.
march photos

View from the Author's Desk

This little Chango is very interested in the blog!

A Poem from Dad

Max Ehrmann
Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.

Mexican Pyrotechnics Day

We got to see two Mexican Independence festivals. Tlaquepaque's was deferred one day to not coincide with Guadalajara's.



In this series, you see one of the Castillos go up. First, a variety of fireworks blow up the tower's sides. For the climax, the top of the tower opens up into a lotus, from which a spinning halo (small ring in third picture) lifts off and floats like a UFO up into the sky, showering sparks. At it's apex, a final explosion.

Encounter with Tlaquepaque Police 24 September

So, Tlaquepaque is a smaller neighborhood outside of Guadalajara. Erika was taking Lama on the evening stroll, after dinner, and the town was setting up for yet another round of Independence Day fireworks and festival activities. This is when we were stopped by the police.
A group of officers, (with their semi-automatic weapons) sitting on a bench on the pretty cobblestone walkway, getting ready for the night shift, all eyes shifted to our rottweiler pit bull, and the usual round of "Que buen perro! guapa!" was heard. One reached for his camera.

Erika turned around and said, "Quieres un foto?" and the officer blushed and said, "Si!" Lama posed very handsomely like a real guard dog, very serious looking, and he took the picture. He was very happy (Erika could not help but laugh aloud, this is really very silly.) We should have asked for a few pesos for that one! And on we went happily to the festival.

The main futbol team here is Guadalajara, Las Chivas. Oswaldo Sanchez, who is on the cover of many sports magazines this month, is the great goal keeper and we're going to try to see a game.

In the square tonight there will be about 20 different styles of mariachi, to be enjoyed with Micheladas (a lemondade-beer-infusion with salt, salsa de Maggi, and worcestershire sauce. Very good!

Ay ay ay!

Walking down the bricklayed streets of Tlaquepaque, Guadalajara, we heard the most nasal harmony singing ever. It's hard to describe except to say that the more nasal of the two singers--a blind woman extending a cup--would switch to kazoo for the solos and it sounded pretty much exactly like her voice. She may very well have had some kind of throat or lung blockage; her vocal instrument was not like other humans. On the other hand, the kazoo was a choice. I guess she likes that buzzy twang, I know I did.

Parabrisa Rota

The word in Spanish for windshield is "parabrisas". Here we are getting our parabrisa fixed in Puerto Vallarta. The triangular window happened to be open as we passed by a branch that had been bent by the hurricane. This took two days as the first time it was ordered, it arrived broken. Basically an excuse to stay in Puerto Vallarta longer. The first place we went to for the repair was called "Roto", which it turns out, is the Spanish word for "broken".

Tequila Road

On the road to Guadalajara, past fields of agave and the town of Tequila.

Heaven

I would not describe Puerto Vallarta as heaven on earth, however it looks that way in these photos. Lean closer to the monitor for a more immersive experience.

Lunes por la Noche via the Sayulita Oasis

Lunes por la Noche! We have looked forward to this evening of Monday night football.
It's so hot. first we went to try to get a window on the Vanagon fixed, which took several hours of hotness. Then, the van got rubbed up by a truck, scratches and a broken parking light. No big deal, but a little tense. Last Saturday after the hurricane, we drove into Sayulita and it was great to get there since amongst traffic (trucks) and collided HARD with a branch hanging out in the road which smashed to pieces the glass in the front triangle breeze window.

It was scary, -- Erika looked to the passenger side and Eugene was alright. Just glass, no blood. Thank God. Glass, everywhere, the van is now skunked and sliced. Pulled off into Sayulita unharmed. Sayulita is as beautiful as we had hoped, lotsa surfers. Easy style. Feels like Costa Rica.

Puerto Vallarta: we arrived at 5 pm on the 16 September, Independence Day, which is celebrated in Mexico much like the 4th of July except it's all red white and green. And, illegal fireworks are revered, very old ladies take part, and stay up late. The night before in San Blas is kind of like New Years' Eve, with a countdown near midnight to get the crowd to shout together, "Viva Hidalgo! Viva Guerrero! Viva Morelos! Viva!! Viva!! Viva!!!"

In Puerto Vallarta there was traditional dance, aztec fliers, and low-riders competing for eardrum space on the Malecon in front of Hooters restaurant. Public art: Surrealist sculptures line the beach front. Strange and Beautiful, an unlikely sight. Eugene was entertained by buying more battery powered light-up flashy gadget things before dinner overlooking the sights.

From Bullfighter to Bartender to Brooklyn

The San Blas Social Club

Recap to last weekend...
At San Blas, before the fireworks, we were served soda pop by an ex-bullfighter, turned bar-man, who was the most handsome and ancient person we had met on the trip.. and made friends with a young good looking reporter from Williamsburg, Brooklyn...who was chasing down a story of a group of fisherman lost at sea for more than 9 months, and just got back to San Blas. (rumors of drug transporting, cannibalism, and intense trauma, according to this reporter who was having difficulty getting the real scoop) The San Blas Social Club is decorated with photos of Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack, etc. Very classy place.

I went out to the celebration despite there being a world class hurricane coming from nearby Puerto Vallarta. As I suspected, the rain made no difference to anyone and tons of couples were dirty dancing in the torrential rain. The band played super fast banda, as the hyper rhythms kept the crowd on the dance floor despite being drenched. I hid under the eaves of restaurants along with grandmothers holding infants. This being about 1am. Anyone who has been to Burningman will be familiar with the effect of music being swirled around in the wind, which creates a phasing effect. With the sound (already moving air) being stretched and squished in the air, it creates a real sense of sonic volume, like sound as a solid, or audible space, similar to refractions in a pond.

Yummy Things

Strawberries are Delicious and Banana Bread Too

Mazatlan

Work in the local internet café with meeting held over Skype. Met my new boss via phone conference.

Erika did the weekly Tuesday acupucture for Lama to continue the treatment for cancer she had been getting from Ella Woods, LaC. After the treatment she was enjoying herself more.

Went for an open-air taxi ride in a Volkwagen Thing from 1969, ears flapping in the wind. Our driver Hugo also had a rottweiler and did not mind driving with Lama in front. Saw Mazatlan heights and old town plaza, some buildings as old as 1600's. Watched clavadistas dive from high rocks into scary pounding surf.

At high tide the water comes up nearly to the edge of our veranda.

Mazatlan

Warm ocean water directly outside
Air condition inside
No desire to get back in the van
Noone on the beach

Just ran into the ocean for 15 minutes
Now back to work
Dog drying under a palm tree umbrella
Tomorrow we will teach Lamacita to surf

Relevant nicknames for Lama today:
Lamapoodle
Lamachihuahua
Chewbacca
Chewhuahuabacca
K-9 Unit
Sandy Bottoms

Flat beach
Walk in 200 feet and still only up to my belly button
Waves be damned. I am tall.

Watched Monday night football en Espanol.
Lama not doing well from the heat and upset stomach. She threw up in the middle of the night during a dramatic electrical storm.

Mazatlan

We have arrived
Agonies of planning
A month of packing and moving
Gallons of sweat
and here we are.

Los Mochis

Los Mochis. This is Spanish for "The Mochis".

After having spent the day there, we both had to agree that our favorite part of Los Mochis, was indeed, the mochis.

Burning Van

Today, the only thing wrong with the van was that the horn stopped working. Later, it fine again.

"Are we there yet?"

So far it is very much like Burning Man, but in a van. It is Burning Van. And instead of 30,000 people, there are only 2 people and a dog. We spend our days managing ice and shade, placing web bandanas on our hot parts. As at Burning Man, if you get the ratios just right, you can stay cool.

alternate names for the submarine:
Rita Moreno
Willie Brown

Officials at the Sinaloa border ask to see our vehicle permit and check us for fruit.



Arrive in bustling Los Mochis. Truly a submarine now, driving through streets flooded as much a foot or more deep. People walking with shoes in hand. After trying 5 or 6 hotels, the only one that would take a dog, ironically is a 5-star business hotel (no carpet). $100 ouch.

I realize now, that while I can connect to the internet using my Sprint cell phone as a modem, but not in Mexico. The Sprint telephone op tells me that we should have had our "preferred roaming list" updated when back home. Now things will not work properly and there is no way to update the software--you need to be within signal reach of a Sprint tower.

That night fancied a bit of entertainment in the hotel bar. 3 young teens in tight jeans and open shirts, clearly Morrisey fans, singing mexican ballads while their tio (uncle) accompanied on full symphonic casio. The boy on the left wriggling like he was Shakira.

I went down to the crossroads, take my rider by my side

The border crossing that we had prepared for so carefully was completely uneventful. Mexican immigration only allows each person a specific count of books, sports equipment, computer equipment etc. We had parcelled this all out and the night before prepared a written list. Driving across the border from Nogales, USA to Nogales, Mexico, they did not even glance at us.

Tonight, after having left Tuesday from my sister's home in San Carlos, California, we arrive in San Carlos, Mexico. An up and coming Cabo San Lucas, perhaps 20 years from now.

Lobster dinner by the seaside.

The odometer scrolled past 999 back to 0 today.

Left some California grass for a home in Tucson Arizona

We decided to stay in Tucson an extra day to recover from the exhaustion of moving, watch tv and order pizza, and get the starter replaced. Tucson has annoying streets that are 6 lanes wide and blocks that a quarter mile long. I guess they don't expect anyone to walk in the heat. The areas outside of Tucson are declared a federal flood disaster zone, although it's all fine in Tucson. The first rain they've had in 9 months.

today, I saw a sign that says
"Happiness is submission to go"

but then Akire pointed out
that i most likely said
"Happiness is submission to god"

I did not, however, verify the existance of the D.

The Best Western has a beautiful pool. Nothing quite like water lit from beneath at night.

Double Jeapordy

Today the van breaks down, but only twice. In the morning, we immediately go to Herbie's Autohaus, the problem with the coolant comes down to just replacing a special cap on the coolant tank that includes an overflow valve. A tiny bit of wear on the cap seems to be at fault. Took the moment to replace distributor cap and check a few other things.



Later that night, we pull into a gas station outside of Phoenix, only to not be able to start up afterwards. By the luck of the gods, the gas station store is manned by a 19 year old mechanic and his friend Noel. An hour later, the submarine simply starts again, presumably because the starter had time to cool.
Driving into Tuscon just in front of a flood storm. Arrived at Best Western. Stayed up to 6:30 am in the hotel room, preparing a document for a 9am meeting. Woke up at 8:15 to find via email that my meeting had been cancelled.

Mobile Computing

We, and our most needed belongings go into this box with wheels.


Goin' mobile...

The van we dub the Mexican Submarine, because living in it is like being in a submarine. I am thrilled to be able to connect to the internet, while driving on I-5, using my Spring cell phone as a modem. Pulled into our first gas station, thinking of the many future gas stations in front of us.
We drive and arrive in LA after midnight instead of by dinner time as predicted. We are already on Mexico time.

Just coming into LA, the submarine begins puking coolant, though not overheating. Actually this happened once before in Berkeley on a not particularly hot day. We make it into LA to the home of our friends ok, but worried. In their driveway, parked next to another vanagon.

See you on the Flip Flop: San Fran to L.A.

The drive down to L.A. got started after a trip to the consulate and to visit Dan C. and give him our farewell Pabst T-shirt and get taqueria cancun with Melissa, and a CD from Gustavo of music files, so we'd have something to do music-composition-wise in Mexico (of course there's those electro-cumbia ambitions of Akire to be fullfilled)

Through Gilroy (capital of the garlic world) to the Highway Five was smooth sailing. Big Bertha, the Mexi-Submarine Vanagon, was solid but hot with no aircon. We rested in Coalinga for ice cream and Lama had a break with some other dog types who were traveling with their people. It was a pretty sunset, but we knew at that point we wouldn't make it to Greg Camphire's until midnight. Midnight in East L.A., Highland Park area, with a spectacular view of the barrio. Tim Norton was there to greet us and we hung out on the balcony, where we could all feel like God up there with the sort of peaceful, grand view of a police helicopter chasing down a frenzied car below, and then swarming around to attack the human that jumped out of the vehicle and into the Los Angeles jungle with precision spotlight beams cutting through the backyards of the neighbors on the flats. The moon was almost full, sparkling Hollywood just a few breaths as the crow flied away into the night.

Greg wants to ex-pat to Japan for a year. We talked that over in the context of music and beers, as the police chase continued to be a good show. Too bad our time was short in L.A...
The next morn', on the advice of our friend Ravi who lives with Greg, we got up quickly and rode down the hill to Herbies Auto Shop. We could have been at the mexican hacienda of car resorts. Bertha the Mexi Submarine had a coolant problem, so as that was being attended to, we hung out under some trees behind bright yellow bars, with a beautiful blue sky, and spectacular Rumba music (sung by La India) was playing through the neighborhood. In less than an hour we were ready to drive to pick up ice to cool off the van, and drive through the Palm Springs desert to Tucson.

Almost gone

Say goodbye to our nephew.

Jetta 4 Sale...Clambake, and the Skunking of Lama

SATURDAY of LAST was our deadline to sell the Jetta GLX '97, a car which we all loved much, and called 'Shu Di' after the tonifier Chinese herb Shu Di Huang, a black sticky substance that resembles demitasse sized cow poop. Well, we still had the car with us when we departed from our home of the Lipton Tea House on Cortland, Bernal Heights. We were getting desparate, because it was not in our plans to take the extra vehicle into Mexico. ...at the last moment, Saturday we did sell it to a young guy named Art Gonzales, who really loved the car, but had all of his Sr. Gonzaleses (uncle, dad, brother) bargaining hard and fierce for our beloved sportster. We rolled over and gave it up for certainly less than what it was worth to us, but to see the young guy drive off in it with a true smile of enjoyment was acceptable.

We then left Oakland at last to drive all the way to Bodega Dunes Campground. This is one of the areas of our planet we love most, Sonoma County Pacific side in Northern California. It was Bill Beth and Beyond's birthday so we had a clambake and BBQ'd oysters from the Bodega Head area, really marvelous. We also roasted Cod and Rockfish on the campsite grill.

All had fun, and we socialized around the campfire until about 10. Erika put Lama in the Mexi Submarine, and at that moment a sneaky little skunk approached the meal table. Well, Lama was not going to let our friends' campsite be attacked by a rodent, not for a second. In less than 2 seconds, our scene was cleared of all rodent behavior, but Lama took a big hit for the campsites' safety... still feeling and smelling the effects of that (no, Eugene, it does NOT smell like garlic and onions..)