mexicooo- part one.

mexico is wonderful!

in great contrast to my first two hours in tijuana, the remainder of mexico has been positively delightful : ) guaymas, a small, uneventful town in the desert of northern mexico, was extraordinarily hot. the first three days i didn't even sleep because the fan was simply recirculating the warmth. not to mention the fact that my taxi driver decided to warn me that i wasn't in the best part of town, so with every strange sound i heard i pulled out my one functioning headphone and listened closely with a wildly beating heart.... not so conducive to a good night's rest. the only thing that saved my sanity was going outside every once in awhile and catching some breeze and staring at the stars and lime and mango trees off the balcony.

went to san carlos- a stupid tourist town with nothing to do... which lead me to just walk and walk and walk in the blistering heat (i didn't see one other person walking in the 3 hours i was there) because i knew there was even less to do in guaymas.

but i was wrong! i returned to guaymas thinking that maybe i could get a bus to el fuerte that same day when, on my way to the internet, i was stopped by a 53-year old flamenco guitarist on a motorcycle that goes by the name of ramon. he asked where i was from and demanded that i come for a beer with him. i politely declined, multiple times, but since my mind was actually screaming "DRINKS WITH THE LOCALS, YOU IDIOT- OPORTUNIDAD MARAVILLOSO!" i eventually gave in. but on the condition that we don't take his motorcycle. so he took my hand and lead me to bar number one. it's like 12:30 in the afternoon and this zero-ambience concrete bar is packed. awesome. the beer bottles were brought in a tin bucket of ice that fit snugly into the hole in our table- that was really neat. too many other old men were hitting on me (in espanol muy rapido so i didn't even understand them), so ramon decided we should switch bars. number two had much more character and it had a mariachi band of sorts! ramon paid for them to play me two songs... we talked about the other women in the bar and it was then that i'm non-chalantly informed that the only other women in the bar are actually prostitutes.

"ah yes, all the girls are here for sex..."
"sex for money?!"
"yes, sex for money."
"well what about me?! do they think i'm a prostitute?!"
"nono, everyone knows foreign women drink and aren't prostitutes."

glad we cleared that up. it was at bar number two that i had to make the "no tocar, no besos" (no touching, no kisses) rule because ramon kept grabbing my hand and kissing it and it was weird and i told him that. so everytime he did it i yelled "nooooo tocar, no besos!"
i still had a hacking cough at this point and ramon felt that tequila was the only thing that could cure that.... so off to the next bar. bar number three was out of tequila so we got another beer instead. bar numero cuatro was a success- not only did i get a cup of good tequila, but we also met more friends and i got to see ramon play guitar. when we left this bar ramon snuck the tequila glass into my bag... "to remember!" he said. so on our way to the next bar with our new friends i finally started to feel the day's bars... at 5:00 in the afternoon the sun is still miigghhhttyy bright. bar number five was by far the best- by the end i was dancing on the stage with the two other guys and screaming into a karaoke microphone to bryan adams. soooooo much fun. we closed the bar. at 6:30. weird. ramon ended up randomly leaving us without a goodbye at the last bar. hm. i got my portrait drawn heh. after that we went for a $3 buffet and then they walked me to my hostel. awesome day. awesome people.

next stop: el fuerte, in the copper canyon of mexico. quiet adorable little colonial town. awesome people owned the hostel and i met a french guy by the name of xavier with whom i ventured to urique with! he was hilarious and we made fun of each other a lot and he spoke most of the spanish in our trip, but thank goodness i was around when we talked about fruits and vegetables... because i was up on my food vocabularly while he knew only meat. anyway, to get to urique we took the train, which is a famous route due to its extraordinary beauty, then we walked awhile and then hitched a couple different beautiful beautiful rides on hay and wet, uncomfortable metal, and then, while waiting next to a drug cartel, we finally caught the bus. when i sat down beside the very old lady she did a little prayer gesture when the bus started up and i got frightened. scariest ride of my life i think- even worse than india, but thankfully slower than india! when i looked out the window all i saw was.. down. it was also probably the most beautiful ride of my life- the sun was just setting and the mountains/canyons of urique dropped straight down and they were striped and coloured and bare and forested and... gorgeous. my damn camera was stuck in the bag in the back.

next morn i saw a donkey versus dog fight. we photocopied a photocopy of a photocopied shit map and headed out into the forest! on the road to the forest there were cacti hedges which i thought was SUPER cool, and we got a few rides, one of which was a 10-year old driver. i loved the ¨normal¨forest meets cacti pictures... interesting and unexpected mix! we had to get redirected a few times, but after a beautiful, extremely strenuous, and ridiculously hot hike we made it to los alisos by 3:30. xavier was so far ahead of me that when i came upon the indigenous raramuri woman with her children in my exhausted state, all i could think to say in spanish was ühhh... white man?¨. they lauhed and told me he was around the corner. this ¨village¨of one house and a mud hut ended up being the ¨village¨we were supposed to rest the first night. so we did! we bathed in the river and ate mangoes straight from the tree and talked to the owner and the others. it was awesome! sat in front of our mud hot, wrote in my journal and watched the sun go down behind the mountains before it started pouring. the owner´s warning of scorpions at night scared the crap out of me and when i finally DID get to sleep, i was just quickly awoken by nightmares of scorpions! psychological torture... fun.

next morn a man with a mule had arrived to the ¨village¨. he was walking our way anyway so he took our packs on his mule for four hours. thank GOD because i don´t know if i would have made it without that animal! it got worse after that though... it was fine for awhile, but then we got lost again and ended up trying to scale a friggin cliffside and i was TERRIFIED. xavier was super far ahead of me so i just let the tears go... i was so very scared! it would have mmaaayybe been a different story if i wasn´t wearing a GIANT, extremely heavy backpack (as an indication for you, every male mexican that puts my bag on a bus or the back of a truck lets out a grunt and tells me i must be very strong!) and if the rocks of the cliff didn´t MOVE... but they did... and it was horrible. i ended up just sliding down half of it on my bum and then sitting on a rock surrounded by bushes, and here i remained, trying to get my act together. what was worse was that xavier yelled at me that we were going the wrong way and we´d have to head back. i could have killed him. but i got back up and we found a different, much less stressful route down the mountain! phew.

we ended up in the village of cerro colorado after that and we slept on the floor of the hallway of a random family! it was beautiful because it was my first night in mexico with serious air flow. also, we got fed, got a shower, had great conversation with the family and two other volunteers from chihuahua who were staying with them, and i got to make tortillas with the brother! who could ask for more? that night i awoke because i felt a quick blunt, moist pressure on my eye. flustered, i opened my eyes to be staring into those of a giant toad. i laughed.. so hard. i´ve been hopped on by a toad. or maybe it was a kiss.

day three of the trek was one of those ¨you have to laugh because if you take it seriously you´ll kill yourself¨kindof days. julia, the old grandmother of the house, told us it was a half hour to the main road, from which we could get a ride to batopilas. five hours later, after trekking through rivers and waterfalls, getting lost, and ending up on my hands n knees climbing under trees... we arrived in batopilas. no road. my feet hurt like hell being soaked and ripped apart by the trek. i was in such pain that i was in a euphoric mood. that trek bruised my shoulders because my pack was so heavy, plus i felt like it was going to break my collarbone and it restricted my airflow. my shit runners were so thin i could feet every rock on the path. i sweat so much it looked like i wet myself and my pigtails were faucets from which the sweat of my skull dripped. in conclusion... not incredibly pleasant. but it just makes the shower and beer and amazing enchilada and pitcher of fresh lemonade and clean clothes feel that much better. batopilas was dull, but it felt victorious. the hotel we stayed at had mango trees everywhere, ad when they hit the tin roofs they sounded like gunshots. it was entertaining.

next day was spent in its entirety waiting for a ride to creel. we had no desire to wake up at 4:00 in the morning for the bus, so this was the only option. after five hours and a game of rock paper scissors, we got a ride to guachochi, which was completely out of the way from creel, but at least we got out of the mountains. they people who gave us a ride were SUPER nice and the ascent out of the canyon was gorgeous. good tunes and good conversation. the beat of his bass was so strong it made me cough. in just 3 hours of driving there was a 20 degree temperature difference! unbelievable.
we arrived in guachochi at 10pm and by 11pm we were hunting the streets for vendors. found an awesome taco vendor who obviously couldn´t feed me meat tacos, but he gave me tacos of fillings! fried onions, cabbage, chilies, lime, salsa. hit the spot heh. then made me feel sick.

next stop was creel. a very touristy town, but a welcome change, and very cute nonetheless. met TONS of people in the hostel and had lots of fun with them. had my first ¨corn with cream and lime and chile¨concoction off the street... delicious. the next day i took a mountain bike and explored the surrounding countryside. saw lake arareko and its beautiful accompanying unique forest, then tons of rock formations with names like ¨valley of the erect penises-monks, valley of the frogs, and valley of the mushrooms¨. the formations were from volcanic eruptions that were than cracked by tectonic activity and then were shaped by water flow! they were gorgeous and the erect penises were extremely serene. loved it. the second night in creel was even more enjoyable than the first. it was a group of people who were all extremely non-judgemental and positive and fun and awesome and we went out for fruit shakes and beer (women and men, respectively) and had a grand time. good vibes. i bought earrings from a woman off the street that night... her sons were calling harry potter on the pay phone.

then took a bus to chihuahua. met one lady who asked me if i had kids. i laughed and said no, i´m only twenty-one. she just blinked and stared at me blankly like ¨your point?¨. sá different world. i also met a lovely lady and her son on the bus. she ended up helping me with my spanish, helping me find my next bus, and then giving me a ride to the centre of chihuahua! she was so sweet. the city was very nice, with a vegetarian restaurant (my GOD i was so excited to eat there... and it delivered- best veggie burger i´ve ever had) and a museo de la revolucion mexicana. the museum was a let-down. i wanted to learn about the revolution but it was just a collection of hats and guns and junk from people that were a part of the revolution. bboooo-ring. i walked back to the centro, past the quinta gamero (a palace built for a fiancee and then she fell in love and married the architect instead.. ouch.. but GORGEOUS and interesting architecture). i was only in chihuahua for 4 hours, then took a bus to zacatecas. there weren´t many people on the bus- maybe nine or so- but we were watching a movie called ¨little man¨or something with the wayans brothers, and at one point of the movie the ENTIRE bus was filled with laughter- like, three minutes, unstoppable, hysterical laughter.. i was crying... we had a moment! i felt like it brought the bus together hehe.

i´m so far behind that i´m going to stop now and post this, even though it´s not up to date. hope all is well,
mucho amor!

alright, california.. it's been nice, but i'm outta here.

tonight anita and i enjoyed quite a bit of wine. south american wine, might i add. and i'm juuust tipsy enough to have the lip-numb-smile-nice-at-everything-let's-write-on-the-bloooggg effect. s'allll good.

so anita is part one of the pair that took me in in los angeles for the past week and a bit! add it to the list of amazing individuals whom have made my stay in california absolutely lovely- larry and anita. larry is a business associate of my uncle's... it wasn't until i was enjoying the ride in his vehicle with him and his brother from west hollywood to westchester that i found out he doesn't even KNOW my uncle, but hell.. they're both fibrenewers (i.e. own a fellow franchise).

i'll get back to larry and anita in a bit. for now i shall continue on with post-vegas. i met an australian, julianne, on the shuttle back from venice beach. i informed julianne of the $1 margaritas from 11-5pm at our hostel. julianne was all for it, especially if i could get them to not ID me (as, at that point, i only had a photocopy of IDs as opposed to anything remotely valid and acceptable as appropriate ID). mission accomplished, since the night before the same russian bartendress had given me beers, so she just gave me a little stare and said, knowing i had no ID, "you're 21, right?", to which i nervously replied "yes i am... i swear!", after which she presented me with a marvelous $1 margarita. mwahaha. VICTORY! anyway.. we downed a coupla those. then 5-6pm FREE champagne time rolled around, so we got her to fill the MARGARITA cups with champagne more than a few times over (we had a one-up on the other since they only got the chincy "free champagne" tester cups). then there was 6-7 free food time. we ate free food and talked to the old couples and the dutch and the british. (previous evenings i had endlessly imitated napoleon dynamite with tom since part of the free food was "tots"... never grew old. but no one could share my napoleon imitations this time). we were surprisingly civil after so many drinks, but it was then that i realized i had an entire bottle of two-buck chuck in my bag! i'd been carrying this damn wine around with me since san francisco. "i don't CARE if it's $2, it's a damn good bottl'a wine and it gets the job done and i'm keeping it, plus it's surprisingly weightless in this big bag o' mine" i kept thinking to myself. (it was then i realized how little the little things affect the weight, {since i barely recognized a difference in pre- and post-wine weight of the bag}.. though at the same time, how every little bit adds up. paradox is a bitch. but i'm happy to say i'm now buying full tubes of toothpaste thanks to this revelation.) anyway, so we wandered our way to my room, bypassing alll the people i'd met on my previous stay at "los angeles backpackers" and we invited every single one of them to my one tiny bottle of $2 wine. by the end we got a decent crew at the picnic table in front of my room. luckily we picked up more alcohol because that bottle wasn't going to last us all. we did a number on my corkscrew. from that eve blossomed wonderful friendships, and the next morn i ventured off with andre, andy and chris to hollywood. i had already been to hollywood and wasn't impressed, but i was sick of just sitting around, and i hadn't technically done hollywood in its entirety...

hollywood still sucks. it was much more fun with others, though. you can see snow white on the walk of fame and say out loud "ha! snow white!" and NOT look like a psycho. or laugh at the name "chubby brocolli" and not be giggling to yourself. or stare blanky at the hand- and footprints of famous people in front of the chinese theater while waiting for... or no, wait.. if i were by myself i wouldn't have had to wait. that's okay. their company was worth it. i randomly ran into a nice guy i danced with a lot in vegas. small world. so that was hollywood. prior to that we walked sunset strip- if you can believe it, it's even less exciting: saw the house of blues- awesome dilapidated building. the comedy show, the laugh factory... woohooooo. it's really awesome just LOOKING at those buildings. (not). we went to a cafe thing and got some really cheap fresh nachos with perfect homemade salsa. thought we'd start the afternoon off right and order a drink. since they were 2-for-1 at 3:00 in the afternoon, we each ordered one, thinking we were getting in on each other's 2-for-1 deal. oh no. we EACH got two of the drinks we ordered. oh boy. i ordered a blood mary, giving that drink one last chance. it had lettuce- big lettuce- and even a slice of tomato- which got my vote..... but it was absolutely disgusting. everyone that tried it choked on it and andre, the gentleman, ended up trading me his orange juice concoction because i guess he felt sorry for me. thank yyooouuu andre.
i had the best apple of my life from an organic food shoppe in hollywood. mmm.

that eve at the hostel *on melrose avenue* (droppin names like they're hot yo) there was a comedy show. even the manager was like "we make NO promises- it's hit or miss with these comedians". i mean, you're practicing at a hostel- you're not going to be a seinfeld or anything. BUT... they were aaammmaaazing!! they were so so funny and they each confirmed my suspicions about hollywood- it's just an over-valued hot-spot with a big sign on a hill and people's footprints and stars in the sidewalk. THANK YOU. there was one act that eventually got kicked off the stage, but there was a swedish girl in the front who was so drunk that she just kept giggling really hysterically but softly after everything he said, which in effect made me laugh really hard because the guy himself was super low-energy... and although it was by far the least-funny act, i think i probably laughed harder at her laughing than at any of the other acts. so anyway, that was really awesome. met a tonne of people that night in the "party room" since we all got kicked out of the main room. myself and "justin from new york" (that was his full name for the eve) were looking for who-knows-what when we opened a door of the hostel and found nothing but toilet paper piled to the door-top. i COLLAPSED in laughter.... apparently THIS was the funniest part of the whole night. i have no explanation... but i do have a picture.

i was the last one to slumber in my dorm, yet the first to wake. the boys were staying another night, but after 10 tries on 7 different pay phones (i have come to loathe pay phones...) i got ahold of larry! so i was off to westchester before 11 am checkout. i never even got to say goodbye *sigh*.

at the melrose avenue (still droppin) 7-11 i purchased a chocolate milk. taking after my mother's hangover remedy, i just wanted un lait du chocolate. i didn't even THINK to look at the % of the milk. after one stomach-turning sip, i took a look at the bottle. HOMOGENIZED CHOCOLATE MILK. who dddoooeeesss that?!? i've never even seen chocolate milk over 2%. i was horrified. yuck... only america. (if you're wondering.... yes, i still drank it. a dollar twenty-nine of my hard-earned money, alright?! and if you're still wondering, yes... it made me feel sick).

larry and his brother jeff were wonderful hosts. that eve was independence day... night... and there were wicked fireworks goin off like thunder all around his house. we took an ice cream run (although i never ended up at the ice cream store) and on the way ran into a personal fireworks display on the street! these guys must've been pros because i've PAID to see worst shows! it probably went on for like 45 mins to an hour and they were amazing. i was freezing, but it was worth it. one of them exploded sideways and shocked the street... pretty awesome. at the house, the dog, max, was found in the bathroom with his tail between his legs and panting harder than i've heard any living thing respire in my life. i was honestly scared he was going to have a lil doggie heart attack. poor thing.

the days after that are kindof a blur... i depressed into a comfortable halt in my travels, but it kindof felt good. got everything straightened out (almost)... got my birth certificate, my credit card, health insurance, my passport (the girl at the consulate yelled, with a big grin, "now staple it to your body!!"). my peggy dearest even hooked me up via internet with an ecuadorian friend which ended up in serious spanish practice which was WICKED and highly necessary! i was going to volunteer somewhere for the time i was stuck in l.a., but a bus driver convinced me out of it- he said i would get bitten by dogs and homeless people. no one wants rabies.

in los angeles for the past week and a bit i explored the surrounding area a little. it's really hard to get around l.a. because it's SO huge and every trip takes like 7 different buses and 18 hours... but that's okay- i had time. one day larry and his well-travelled friend steve and i went out for breakfast at a cute curb-side cafe in steve's town. we then decided to hit laguna beach (it's like an artist's village sorta- full of galleries and art shows and such) because larry, knowing of my artistic inclinations, thought it would be a good place to go. unfortunately everyone else in l.a. felt the same and the traffic was horrendous, so we took a second route and like 5 hours later (alright, i exaggerate)... we arrived! we walked around for an hour and saw some really amazing art in the galleries.... and then walked back! the people in these galleries have MASTERED water.. which is so, SO hard to master. i was impressed. i also learned about making prints of works since steve used to do sell art. that was interesting. we had really good chats in the car ride back.. about life n love heh. it was a good day!
i also was planning on bussing my way to santa monica/venice one day when larry's mom marilyn calls me up and offers to take me instead! beautiful. so she gave me a tour of santa monica- the pier filled with ferris wheels and roller coasters, the old-school carousel that's not a historic landmark, all the little shops in the palisade. i told her i was going to treat her to lunch when she turned the offer right around and told me she was treating ME to lunch... how does that work? anyway we ate at a favourite italian restaurant of hers and it was AMAZING. we had really nice chats- she's about 77 i think and she's travelled ALL over- she's off to vietnam, laos and cambodia next!! i love it- i think it's great that she's still at it. on the walk back we saw an "art car"... this particular piece was made by a recovering alcoholic and was covered in spray foam and foliage and had not only a water fountain on it, but a moving train set!
another day i was invited to the family sunday breakfast with anita, larry, their daughter alyssa, marilyn and two family friends. after breakfast i was dropped off at the bus station. i made my way to the getty center- the place where money goes to die, i feel. this was the prettiest man-made place i've been in california, but it must've cost millions. it sits atop a mini-mountain in los angeles- you take a tram up the side of the hill to this glorious white marblish institution. there's sky on all sides and you geta great view of the city. it has lovely gardens and waterfalls and very elegant posters and everything.... it was almost otherworldly to me for some reason. but the best part was that it was free, and full of art. the artist tim hawkinson was featured and his stuff was SO cool! unfortunately there were only four pieces........ but i can deal with that. one piece was particularly wicked- i looked at it from afar and it just looked like a dinosaur bone masterpiece, but i saw people looking intensely at it so i gave it a closer look and found that each vertebrae of the dinosaur was actually a person that looked like they were rowing, with the ribcage of the dinosaur as oars- each person with their legs around the person in front, which really looked remarkably like a vertebrae. then the head of the dinosaur was actually a man on his knees holding his head with his hands with his elbows on the ground.. it was insane how much the entire sculpture (made of crayola model magic, might i add) resembled dinosaur remains. i was super impressed by this guy. another of his works was the underside of an octopus, but he took pictures of big pursed lips, and those were the suckers haha.... it made me laugh. so in other words, he makes things out of everyday objects that looks normal at first glance, but are quite bizarre upon further inspection. loved it. there was also a sculpture in the "classic works" section of a nude man and woman that really stunned me. they were so intertwined and loving draped on each other in a winding pattern and... i took a 360 degree video of it! i loved it. very well done.
after the getty center i took some buses to venice beach. finally saw muscle beach- sweaty, tanned, rippling musculature in speedos pumpin iron on the beach- love it. also saw a very large, very white male standing topless in front of a boombox waiting for someone to pay him to dance. fascinating. i had so many questions.

the following are random things that i just.. want to say.. but they don't really fit nicely into the above paras:

the family i'm staying with are jus great! larry is very chatty and very willing to help me sort out my messed up travel life, which is very kind of him. anita's a nurse and i always have an immediate soft spot in my heart for nurses- we have nice chats about health things and other things and we both like our red wine chilled. plus she has a cute giggle. and she's the only one cher allows to draw her blood! there's alyssa, their 9-year old daughter, who asked larry if i spoke canadian, and was concerned that i wouldn't be able to understand them, and vice versa. little alyssa is a drama queen and i let her steal my candy and coax me into drawing cher for her and playing math games on the computer and she's highly entertaining. then there's the dogs... max is the biggest german shepherd i've ever seen but he's like a puppy dog (if you ignore the incessant barking), and kasey is a blind and deaf poodle-like doggy who smells like pee and runs into things, but just wants to be loved. they're both really cute.

in vegas i made an intense purchase. i decided i needed a watch. but not just any watch- i needed an alarm, i needed water-resistant, i needed VELCRO. okay i didn't need velcro. and i didn't need "mystery answers" either. but i got them both- i got it ALL... for just $9.99. ages 6 and up. lovin it. and alyssa now lives her life by the randomly selected yes/no answers my watch provides her.
p.s. don't try to set new watch alarms when you're drunk or ALL time is lost.

i experienced the most amazing buffet EVER. larry and i went to "souplantation" which was like 7 soups but then the most salad ingredients you've ever seen in one place.... i was in heaven. all that was going through my head was "just eat til you puke, just eat til you puke". i'm getting hungry just thinking about it. corn, sunflower seeds, beets, oh my!

larry's friend steve's camera got stolen.. but they left the memory card. what a thoughtful bastard.
larry's friend steve is from new york and still has his accent and the way new yorkers say "larry" is hilarious to me and everytime he'd say it i'd laugh hysterically and imitate him. i think i became really annoying.

i wanted to get larry a big bottle of rum because he provided me with a drink or two every eve... so i hit the grocery store, managed to get through the check-out without presenting proper ID, then i'm walking home and i rest the bottle on the bus stop seat... and the SIXTY of rum slips off the seat and shatters to bits on the sidewalk. it was definitely a captain jack sparrow "but the rum!" moment... it killed me.
i returned two days later and purchased another bottle. this time i had ID.

i can't believe i've spent 38 days in the states.

so the plan was to get on a bus to nogales, arizona tonight and take it alll night long and then hop over the border to nogales (walnuts, in spanish), mexico in the morn and hitch a bus to guayamas to arrive tomorrow afternoon. yet, due to today being friday the 13th, and alyssa stressing its imminent presence and that bad things always happen on this day, plus larry convincing me that paying nearly double to take a plane (vs. buses) to get to hermosillo mexico is worth it if i can skip the sketchy border town.... i am now awaiting a 1:30 flight to hermosillo tomorrow afternoon. i love how this was decided 2 hours before i was about to take the bus. i will arrive in guayamas at approximately the same time i would have had i taken the bus.

can´t wait to be somewhere refreshing. i still have my obsession with variety, change, progess, refreshment. the states are still too similar to canada to be thoroughly refreshing.

got me photos on a site now, thanks to philly milly: themillman.com/shayla-g ...
and i'm off!! next stop: mexico : )

much love to all, and I'LL BE SAFE!!!! don't worry, and the next person that tells me to be safe gets a whippin.
(p.s. i forgot to post this before i left, so i am now in mexico, sana y salva ¡entonces no te preocupas! (safe and sound, so don´t worry!)).