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

Melaque, Jalisco, Mexico - 2/27/2011

I think I've caught a traveling nervous disorder, although I'm not 100% certain since it hasn't happened in three's just yet. The first symptom occurred on January 4th, 2011, when Aimee and I were held up at customs in super long lines, and our flight left without us (my first missed flight ever). Then this morning, not even two months later, I found myself standing at an empty gate, wondering why my flight wasn't boarding at a mere 5-minutes to the scheduled departure - and the attendant told me that it had boarded at a different gate 25 minutes prior. So much for getting to the airport super early in hopes of blazing through security (which I had). Anywho, I was quickly put on the next available flight which turned out to be only 30 minutes later, and I was on my way once again! International connection crisis averted! Fast forward one gross Burger King breakfast and seven hours later, and you'd find me casually laying on the oddly soft crab grass at the Manzanillo Aeropuerto, waiting for some form of Christian (maybe a Catholic, a Baptist, or even someone resembling the friend I'm meeting) to appear an sweep me away to an aquatic Mexican paradise. But no one was there, so I opened my new TSA locks on my Pelican case (first time traveling with it in a non-work related journey) and snapped off a shot of me on said crabgrass (again, surprisingly soft!), and contemplated nothing - it was great. Minutes later and with a slowly-clearing cache of city-life opening my brain up to more brilliant colors and smells, a Christian tried to creep up from behind me, but I saw him and foiled his plot to startle me (that's Danny - 2, Christian - 0, for the record). After a good embrace, hello, and introduction to the kindly and providing Kip (or Christobol) who was giving us a ride back to Melaque, we cranked the A/C worked our way to the beach. Past the truck filled with maniquins, around the roadside machinegun turrets, to Grandmother's house we go! We arrived at the Bungalows at San Pedro 20-something minutes later, and upon exiting the car Christian began singing "Maria....!" in his best WSS immatation. And yes, I just abbreviated a classic. Anywho, out onto the second story veranda peeks a slender, beautiful woman with a voice like...well, a French-Canadian Chinese Jazz singer. And, low and behold, if she isn't just that! Now this may seem a bit odd here in Mexico, but in fact this small town is nearly run-over by Canadians! Seriously, population density almost puts the local Mexicans in the minority! Seriously? Well, for what it's worth, the tacos are cheap, the language barrier isn't inpenetrable, and the mood is positive and mild. But then again, it IS Sunday night, and we caught the tail end of the 7-o'clock mass as we were strolling the streets looking for a specific pizza joint with a Pink Floyd poster of painted ladies. Fast forward two hours, we ate the pizza, I attempted to teach 13 to Maria and Christian with a non-suited deck of Mexican cards (40 cards, apparently...), and failed. So then it turned to magic tricks using the before-mentioned Mexican cards, followed by more laughs and ultimately, failure. : ) I've got internet access tonight, and some time to unwind, so I thought I'd hit up the ol' blogger before we said off for a few weeks (I have no idea when I'll be in a city again, except for when I fly out of Acapulco on the 12th. In the photos above, you'll see an aerial photo of the bay, and another of the bay we're anchored in. If you look directly south of the "M" in Melaque, where that line meets the beach is where we are, and it's a nice anchorage. Sandy bottom, northern protection, limited swell wrap, and easy-access tacos. Mmm-Mmmm-Good.

Alright, I'm off to watch a movie - peace yo!