Links page is live. Small quantity, high quality. Lo-fidelity.
Fight the war and the increasing fascism of the US government. Read my essay and follow the links to find things to do. Wish I was home to pitch in on the issue. At least there are now a lot of Mexican kids well-educated on the subject.
news
I found antique welding goggles at Los Sapos this weekend. This is a sure sign from the gods that I am meant to go to Burning Man this year. Iīve decided to have the glass lenses ground to my perscription so I can keep my cat-eyes safe and sound in the sand storms.
the horn of the bull
I went to Cuernavaca by myself this weekend. This is odd behavior for me. Not that I dislike going places by myself, itīs just that I usually donīt. I find the other layer of perspective and perception worth the compromises. The new place is a tool to understand the person, the person is a tool to understand the place. But tools were otherwise engaged, or have seemed less interested in doing stuff. So I went to the bus station, found a bus, and got on one.
And it was really good. I also discovered that another personīs perceptions can serve can act as a filter that come between the experience and ones self. Also, alone and asking questions, the traveler becomes a lot less intimidating. People let their curiosity overcome their fear of the new. Especially if the is questionee male, the traveler female, and clad in a lycra spaghetti-strap tank top.
Also, Iīm thinking that Cuernavacans are friendlier than your average Mexicans, and clearly more so than your average Poblanos. Saturday, I eat lunch at a nice resturant, ask for map orientation from my waiter, and find myself thronged by white-jacketed seņiors, offering assistance, advice, directions, calls for cabs. Cabbie stops at bank for free on my ride to the hostel. In Puebla, an extra stop would cost me maybe another buck on a 5 buck fare. At the hostel, the two women working also have friends stopping in, and include me naturally in their conversation. They encourage me to ask any questions about anything Cuernavacan. Genuine enthusiasm, not hostel personel responsability.
Shall I continue? I feel the need for a new paragraph. I get bus information from them and hit the zocalo for an elote for dinner. I wander the church square, take in aztec dances, clowns, and old people dancing. I love to watch old people dance. On a quick glance, they were restrained by age in their movements. But if you watched the extacy on their faces, you could tell they were cutting a rug with the best of īem. I ask the peanut man for directions to the bus back. He offers tons of suggestions, and two other guys get into the conversation. (Iīm asking for the wrong bus number, before I check the notes from the hostel ladies)
I walk up what feels the right direction, see no number 13 busses, check my notes, see what I need is a number 12 bus. I ask a random waitress at an empty cafe if she knows where the 12 passes. Not a clue, but she engages me in a 10 minute conversation, and nearly half-nelsons me into letting her call me a cab. I have to wrench myself away from there, treck a block to the right, find the 12 going the wrong direction, flag down a bus driver, and ask him where I can find the 12 going the right direction. He happily answers all my questions, and Iīm on my merry way hostelward.
I have a 4 bunk room with a lock all to myself. I sleep like the proverbial baby, wake up at seven to the sound of ladies in the kitchen, including my friend Gaby from the day before. Theyīre making tortillas, beans, eggs, muffins guava juice, all from scratch. As in, hereīs the corn, now we grind it. Gaby makes sure I eat more than I can of everything.
I have a home away from home. And itīs lush and green with organic lawns and my sheets are washed with collected rainwater. Thereīs a hammoc there with my name on it. It wouldnīt have been as welcoming if Iīd had company.
I am actively listining to aloneness these days. Not solitude, where isolation is sought out and guarded, not loneliness, where one suffers from lack of company. Iīve just rarely had so much time to myself. And Iīm taking the opportunity to try and listen deeply to what itīs got to teach. I have a lot to learn, but the lessons are important, and getting more and more pleasant.