Mexico 2011 - March 11th, 2011

So today I sit in an air conditioned little hole in the wall, typing away on a computer that continually wants to spell-check me into typing in Spanish, and I want to kill it! : ) Anywho, I´m still coughing up a lung every once an awhile from the evil sickness I picked up soon after arriving, but it isn´t holding my entire body hostage like it did for the first week or so. I left Christian back in Manzanillo on Wednesday night after doing some shopping for health-food items to get him through the week of sickness that was looming at his doorstep when I left, but I´m afraid that he´s probably eaten all of the frosted dounuts by now and is moving onto the pasteries. When I got into ¨Z-Town¨ as some the old white folks call it, I caught a cab to the marina area and then rather promptly found a little hotel that isn´t exactly a hotel – but for 150 pesos/night, who can complain¿ I just had to use one of those upside-down question marks – they´re so fun, verdad?¿! Anywho, my ¨hotel¨ has water and power, (and cable in fact), but the shower head I busted off on the first try (it was rather corroded from lack of use) and the lack of opening windows makes it a bit of a hot box when I use the room (so I stay out a fair amount during the day). Anywho, it is a quiet area where I´m staying, near the water and in the artsy-tourist district, so I have lots of chances to buy Mexican bobble-head armadillos and things that say ¨Zihuatanejo¨ on them, and I suppose that is a big bonus for some folks. I, on the other hand, wonder what the heck I´m doing, and often find myself pondering the idea of purpose, and what mine is in life. What to do for work, where to live and why, things to chase, and places to invest myself. Those things are driving me a bit mad, and the armadillos aren´t helping. Vacation for me would be best experienced as a 3 or 4-day weekend at home: I like where I live, and purpose is easier to find there. My lady, boat, work, schooling – they all wait for me at home, and I long for them here. Anywho, I´m hoping to rock out some serious work on Rafiki starting in early May and not stop until the boat is livable and comfy, but in the mean time I´ll just be working on the Wilderness boats, having my cake, and eating it too!ç

I catch an 8:00am bus tomorrow to Acapulco, then have to scramble my way to the airport by 4:00-something in the afternoon to catch my flight back home to Seattle. Sometime between now and Seattle I´ll hopefully be able to get in a meal or two, throw back a cocktail (I attempted to drink a 1.2L bottle of Corona last night, unsuccessfully), and shake off the dust that is continually forming around my ankles and blanket (well, I don´t exactly have a Linus-esque blanket I carry, but you get the idea).

Finally, the pictures:

#1 – North Manzanillo Anchorage, taken from Altair (view from hotel at top is Mind-blowing)

#2 & #3 – Myself and Aimee, taken two weeks ago with my new beauty dish and grid

#4 – Christian with a flash bounced off ceiling (a blue-green ceiling), Melaque

#5 – Cool painting in an empty gallery, ethically bad of me, but had to do it.

#6 – Contorted dog, in a random alley while I was wandering around Zihuatanejo.

#7 – Tree in Melaque, juiced.

#8 - My room, in Zihuatanejo

#9 - Meat, in Zihuatanejo