Home at Last
Mood:  happy
Now Playing: Cable TV
I never updated my blog after Tuesday. I lost my motivation completely to even do anything productive.

The trip/drive back was hard, but we did it in a shorter amount of time. Over all i was happy with the trip and this sort of forced relaxation mode i was put in. I guess it's was like self-intervention.

I hope you enjoyed the stories, even if it gave you a couple of good yawns. I missed all of you and writing all of this was my way of convincing myself that I was actually talking to someone. It kinda worked in it's own wierd way.

don't wanna be a UFO
Mood:  not sure
Now Playing: One of Kirsty's playlists on her iPod
8:38 PM

In the past two years, this is the longest of I've gone without exercising. It's been a little over two weeks now and my body feels as if it's a pile of jelly. Disgust. I've been doing lunges, squats, pushups, and sit-ups here, but I need major cardio. If I put my running shoes and went running around town, I'd probably get arrested for acting like a crazy person. I can't even imagine. Not to mention I'd probe suffer a major injury if I tried to run on the roads here. The diet here consists of pan dulce and coffee. In between that, you eat 1-2 meals a day. I'm going to be in serious need of sugar detox when I get home. It will be short of a miracle if I have not gained at least 10 lbs when I return. I feel bloated and flabby. Just gross.

Today was another uneventful day of boredom at it's finest.

I walked to get tortillas, that was a whole 10 minutes of fun.

Oh yeah, I also walked to get pan dulce. Another 8 minutes of joy.

The best yet - I cleaned the bathrooms - two words: Nasty and Disgusting.

I've gone through a handful of magazines, cover to cover, I've typed all of this jibberish here along w/ other stuff; I'm almost done w/ a Anne Rice book (I'm trying to no to go through it too fast and be left with nothing). IPod in ear, I go from the porch to the room to the living room to the porch to the room to the living room... endless cycle of nothingness. You would have found me dead by now if it weren't for the iPod (thanks Kirsty - you saved my life!).

Let's see... yeah, that was it.

So here I am, you guessed it, on the porch, typing. People walk by and see my powerbook and their face is that of someone who just saw a UFO, confusion, and perhaps fear. I'm trying to convince Dad for us to leave tomorrow. But him, unlike me, is having a grand ole time. I guess I'll let him have one more day. Bleh.

It's dinnertime; I guess I will end my night with a stroll to get some tacos for guelito.

Levanten las Manos, los tenemos rodeados cabrones!
Mood:  d'oh
Now Playing: Cop Sirens
7:50 pm

The boredom here is killing me slowly, painfully, and not fast enough. Today I begged my dad to take me to Linares, the next closest town to this little 1968 time capsule. I felt like a desperate housewife who is only allowed a weekly outing. I needed to get the heck out of here SOON. I would drive there alone, but well, we all know my feelings towards Mexican roads. Going into a town with a nice truck and foreign plates is like swimming in piranha-infested waters. Unfortunately, all you hear about Mexico's law enforcement, I'm convinced is mostly very true - corrupt. We did some grocery shopping and just drove around town. On our way out of el Centro (downtown), all of a sudden a cop who controls the traffic told us we had to pull over. Dad was driving and was confused at first - I knew what was going on. I think Dad secretly loves these types of confrontations, he loves getting his feathers ruffled - I'm convinced of that. Before we knew it about 8 or 10 cops surrounded us. You're fucking kidding me, I thought to myself. One of the cops came up to Dad's window and told him he had run a red light. Dad kept his cool and told him that he didn't. They immediately asked for his driver's license and preceded to tell him his license was not valid in Mexico. Son of a Bitch! A Few minutes into the argument with the cop, I quickly picked up on dad's strategy - he was going to play cop's friend. Dad begun a bullshit dialogue on how he appreciated Mexican law enforcement, and without them watching the streets the way they did, the town would be a mess. I wanted to laugh. Dad quickly deviated the conversation and soon enough the cop was talking about him self and his duty and not about the red light - minutes later, he assured dad they were only taking precautions with the tourists, but to have a nice day. Not sure if we got lucky or if we just got an actual honest cop. I'll never know.

No Eggs were Laid today, let me talk about other things.
Mood:  chatty
Now Playing: The Rooster who thinks it can cock-a-fucking-doodle anytime.
Sunday
1:53 PM

Have I mentioned the days are eternal here? The idea of what I've done today, not even 2pm (mind you is only noon back home), can't compare what I would have gotten done at home at the same time.

I got up this morning at 8 am. Sounds early, but a perfect 8 hours of sleep, having gone to bed at midnight or so. Being here with dad and guelito is just like being a lone. I cook for myself, and do my own thing. I'm not sure I expected anything different.

This morning dad got up bright an early, he was going to Montemorelos. This is the first time in 6 days that I'm not around him. That is frightening in it's own way. Oddly enough, I'm here bored to death without him around. It's hard to chat with guelito as he is hard of hearing, and everything needs to be repeated like 3-4 times. With dad I only repeat everything once. Hee hee.

Before dad left, I made him some toast and shared my own eggs/tortillas/aguacate with him. He has this thing where, he will say he doesn't want to eat, picks off your plate, and when he's about a third of the way done with your food, he decides he wants his own. It seems like we are in the kitchen about 50% of the day. I'm pretty anxious to get back to my eating routine.

Later after breakfast and visiting w/ Tia Lupina and gang before they left, I decided to take a shower. , Even taking my time getting ready, the day ticks at an incredibly slow rate. It was about 10 am when I was ready and nowhere to go. Guelito was napping, so I decided to go for a walk. I walked around the dusty town and poked my head into a few stores. I bought some Barajas, and of course some bu?uelos - I am addicted to those things. They are packaged by Bimbo brand, and they are called bimbu?uelos. They come 6 to a package, shaped like a wagon wheel, and dusted w/ granulated sugar. They are the closes to moms' bu?uelos. I don't know if I eat them because I like them so much, or because they remind me of mom.

During my walk I couldn't help but be amazed how people live. Something I don't think about in the hustle and bustle of my own life back home. Ironically enough, this hard life doesn't seem so hard to get used to. It's very simple. People have goats and orange trees in the same space they call a back yard. They maximize their value of the land not by remodeling the kitchen or the bathroom, but by growing fruits, vegetables, and animals. It's a mini-Rancho in every other lot. There is no room for fancy landscapes or fountains. The long houses, a continuous long building mounted on a high sidewalk, separated by only the bright colored exterior walls. Sporadically, nestled between very old homes, are massive homes, some look like mansions. They seem exaggerated and look out of place in its dusty surroundings. People who live in the US, probably live in a home a fraction of the size of these homes they build here.

I got home and sat on the porch and read a magazine, people walk by with the familiar "adios". Guelito was taking a shower and shaving, a long ritual due to his bad knee and ability to get around; surprisingly enough he's extremely self-sufficient. I decided to take a little nap, what else do you do around here? The true reason siestas were invented. You're fucking bored to death, might as well sleep! I got up; I was feeling restless and didn't want to be groggy in the middle of the day. I went to the carniceria to pick up some barbacoa that guelito had ordered, I'm guessing it's for dinner. When I got home, I joined guelito in the kitchen for a cup of coffee while he had his lunch. He told me stories and chatted away, it was a great moment.

Later I went to the back and picked up a bucket full of avocados the wind had shaken off the tree. Guelito grows the best avocados I've ever tasted!!! I helped him take the garbage out, and wash out the can. We fed the rooster, chickens and the turkey - yes this huge turkey that just roams in the back. I am not sure if it's a pet or a meal. I dare not ask.

Now it's not even 2:30 and I am going to watch some TV. Are you as tired as I am? Bored? The choice of programming on a Sunday here is soccer, wrestling, soccer, and soccer. I'm so flipping bored, I could go count dust particles in the corner of the living room and be more excited.

Back later, it's a bright sunny day; maybe I'll go take walk instead. Again.

Saca la Pistola!! - Those aren't just lyrics from a corrido.
Mood:  celebratory
Now Playing: The bumping bass of the passing texas trucks
Saturday

Happy New Year. Yeah, hooray, hooptie dootah - please come join me in my uncontrollable excitement.

For those of you who thought that shooting off your guns to the innocent sky was totally out, ask all the drunk Haulahuise?os and they will argue to their death (some literally i'm sure) that it's a totally in trend still. AJUA, nothing like unloading your fucking 45 without the fear of, oh, i don't know, killing someone maybe? Sheesh! It's as popular of a trend as the lound bumping bass alpine systems with the totally tricked out chevy, ford, and dodge pick up trucks. If you can make the window on the passing houses rattle, you get extra points. Cha Ching.

The weather has been pretty nice these days, nice and sunny. To bad I packed enough winter clothes for a family of 6. Thank God for that one pair of capris and my flip-flops that I did throw in my bag at the last minute.

It's only Saturday and I predict that my boredom will reach an all time high in the next 48 hours. People I've never met stop by all the time to visit. They are strange visits. People just stop by here, I am not particularly crazy about that, but that is the custom here. They also come here and talk about the same thing. Every person that has walked in here has talked about the same people, the same person who died, the same person who has been sick, and some other miscellaneous thing. Sometimes the run out of things to talk about and we all just sit there in the living room in awkward silence. Imagine, these folks haven't seen my dad in 25, 15, or even 5 years, they come and visit and literally catch up in about 8 minutes tops. THAT my friends, is how exciting this town is.

A?o Nuevo Eve
Mood:  chillin'
Now Playing: Oreja de Van Gogh
Friday, New Year's Eve.

After a long 3 days and 3 hours, we got to Hualahuises at around 11 pm last night. We would've gotten here sooner but the map quest that I had printed for the drive screwed us up and led us to Brownsville instead of Rio Grande City. It was about a 2-3 hour deviation (Dad insists it was 4 - whatever), but we got to Rio Grande around 4pm. Before leaving the US, Dad decided he wanted to go to Wal Mart to buy something for guelito. Going to Wal-Mart in a border town is a sight to see. Not only is it jammed packed with people all very obese, but also there is roughly a 3:1 ratio of children to each woman in the store. I'm convinced that the population triples by the day in these towns. Is that mean? There were tons of kids all either screaming, whining, or playing in the store. I couldn't get out of there fast enough. The border crossing itself was a nightmare, extremely bureaucratic. There weren't to many folk in line, and it still took a good hour just to get our personal visas and a vehicle import pass. They actually TYPED my visa info using an archaic pica typewriter. Amazing - they have to do this for every tourist that crosses the border. But I guess if you don't know anything else, you don't really think you're missing out. Some big ass mafia/cartel rich fuck should donate a handful of computers to these places. Do something productive with all that contraband money - instead they are buying trucks by the dozen and building massive homes. Temporarily getting off soapbox, now.


Driving to Hualhuises is supposed to be a 3-hour drive from the border. It took us 5 hours. I drove the whole way and I `m sure I aged at least 3 years and grew a couple of dozen grey hairs in that eternal 5 hour time span. The road conditions were disastrous - just plain horror. There were undivided lines, unfinished construction zones that changed the road from pavement to gravel without warning, speed bumps without reflectors or paint causing me to turn dad's truck into the General Lee. That's not all; there were detours without clear direction, sharp curves, and pitch-dark stretches for miles, semi trucks passing in non-passing zones. I couldn't get paid enough money to do this drive again - Dad is going to have to take it on the way home.

When I arrived to the house here, I was kind of nervous. I hadn't been here in 20 years. The last time I came, I was only 12 years old, barley in puberty. I was in the 7th grade, and we'd come as a family. Tio Jorge had just died, and this is about the time that we'd begun experiencing gueltias bad treatment of us. I was a bit afraid to even go in the house, guelita having died there only months earlier. What if her ghost roams?

The house was still as I'd remembered, almost as if time had forgotten about it. Some things were still in the same exact place they were the last time I was here. The same sheets, the same cobijas, the same dishes, pots, pans, almost everything was the same. The last time I was here with my sisters, we would have a good time. We would eat churritos and ganzitos, and walk around. Funny, the little store two blocks from the house is still there, still selling the same candies and things it was seeing 20 years ago. The plaza looks the same, in front of the church. All the same.

The eternal day
Mood:  down
Now Playing: The buzzing of the passing road
Simply the worst day of this trip. Long drive on Hwy 10 through Texas, not quite the best scenic route in town. Around midnight after passing San Antonio, heading south - Dad was looking pretty bad. He insisted on driving all the way to Mexico. I explained to him that we wouldn't even be at the border for another few hours. I knew that his grouchiness was something beyond fatigue. I realized he had been eating way too much protein, which is like poison for him. The back of his head, where his vein surgery took place was hurting and he was as white as a ghost. I got real scared and this stretch on Hwy 77 didn't have a single stop for miles. I started crying because I didn't know what to do, and Dad was just not all there. I wanted to take him to the hospital, but where would I find one? He was basically fading, really fast. I pulled over on a truck parking area and cut up an apple and a banana for him, get some sugar in him. He ate it with some water and almost immediately looked/felt better. I told him that even if he didn't want to, that we were getting a room at the next hotel I saw. After miles and miles of nothing but pitch darkness and an occasional rest area, we got to a small town with a few hotels. I got Dad in bed, rubbed alcohol on his swollen feet and he passed out. I was so scared that he'd have some kind of stroke (possible in his condition). 11 am rolled around when we got up and took showers. Resting, a shower, followed by a good breakfast made the biggest difference in the world. I had never been so happy to see dad's cheeks so rosy.

time bomb
Mood:  irritated
Now Playing: ramon ayala - duh!

I went until 4 am today - driving for 16 hours straight. Right before El Paso, we decided to get a room in this small town in New Mexico, population 5 or maybe 6 - not kidding. Three hotels were full, and finally thefourth one had one room left. I was delirious, hungry, tired, grouchy, stinky, and just plain unpleasant to be around. We slept until about 11, but it didn't make any of the above things go away. I was simply exhausted. I hate road trips more than I hated them before this one.

Fatigue, exhaustion, and the simple fact of being around someone for almost 48 hours will make you snap in a heartbeat. Right outside of Tucson, Dad and I got in a nasty fight last night. He really pissed me off. The argument, as most, started off silly and it turned into a yelling match. I was really hurt, and I'm sure he was too. I pulled over to gas station and took my bags out of the car. I told him he was on his own for the rest of the trip and that I would find my way home. I wasn't in the mood and I was certainly not going to put up with his childish behavior- there was no reasoning with him. The was a short moment where I was sure he'd leave w/out me. I was ok to get a taxi to the airport and fly home. I just about had it with him at this point. He then apologized to me and told me he didn't want me to leave. We had a long chat (waste more driving time), and I eventually got back in the truck. This was like a dysfunctional relationship. I was quiet for the next few hours, and Dad pretty much slept most of the time. I was literally driving alone. I felt like I was alone, with a child with a lot of needs. I was emotionally drained at this point. Completely.

We still have at least one more day to cover.

Posted by B. at 12:01 AM

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Hit the Road Jack
Mood:  not sure
Now Playing: Something by Tigres I'm sure.
After a very long Monday of trying to leave at a decent hour, we didn't hit the road until about 8pm or so. Dad was very disorganized with some of his stuff and waited until the last minute to do a lot of the trip essentials, such as purchasing his Mexican car insurance (minor detail). It was wet and stormy. Dad drove for the first 1.5 hrs or so, until the anxiety I was feeling with him behind the wheel made me take over. From there I drove until about 4 am, and still only minutes from the Arizona/California border. We decided to get a hotel, I couldn't take the fatigue any more, I was so tired. Dad was not in any condition to drive, he was tired too. I think this was a rude awaking for him, and reminded him that his health is not where it was years ago when he was able to take on a drive like this in 28 hours. The necessity for food and rest is vital in his condition, I think for the first time, this reality sunk in for him. Rest, whether you're ill or not, is also not something you can't get from sitting upright in a truck. We also have been going at a very slow pace; due to the rain and the frequent stops that dad needs - not to mention accidents! We ate ham/cheese sandwiches at the Super 8 Motel before going to bed, we were so hungry. 6 hours of sleep and a Dennys breakfast put us back on the road around noon today (Tuesday). This was going to be a long trip; we're not even out of California yet.

It's also Dad's b-day today, I forgot!!! I bought him a cinnamon roll (low sugar of course) and told him it was his b-day cake. He said it was the best cake he's ever had. Cheap coffee and a cinnamon roll, how can you go wrong?