Pages

Translate Blog

Monday, September 28, 2009

Learning to Fly (but I ain't got wings)

This coming Tuesday marks three weeks since my arrival! Time flies when you fly in an airplane to a country with lots of flies that fly by in the night in a land of flying time.

A few insightful observations I’ve made so far about Mexico:

-everyone my age is already married and has kids (or is WELL on their way)

-just about everyone speaks Spanish

-mosquitoes love nightly servings of O+ (my blood type)

-emergency blinkers are flashed instead of the brights

-the driver and passengers can be drinking beer in the car while driving without wearing seatbelts

-such drivers ignore flashing emergency blinkers

-your family will always be there. Always. Whether it’s your boisterous 3-year-old “niece” outside your door at 7:30am, or your aunt and cousins to make you a delicious dinner and then sit around convivially and chat for the next 3 hours, they’ll always be there.

-they eat a lot of Mexican food. It’s not just tamale Tuesdays here, or enchilada Mondays, but they actually eat this stuff daily. Three times a day. And it’s really good.

-things here generally aren’t made for people that are/are over six feet tall. One of these days I’m gonna lose an eye or wake up on the ground with a concussion.

-old ladies in line at the store taking their sweet time will be old ladies in line at the store taking their sweet time, whatever country you’re in. Count those pennies. Er, uh, pesos.

For Mexico’s birthday celebrations, everyone actually started fiesta-ing the night before, and counted down until midnight (12:01am of Sep. 16th) and kept the party going. I headed down to the plaza with my cousins and family to watch the festivities having to do with Mexico’s independence: a beauty pagent, and a medieval-genre folk band. The fireworks igniting the night sky was pretty awesome. Right before the final beauty (and last year’s winner) walked the stage, the clouds opened up and down-poured on us. Within less than A minute everyone and everything was soaking wet, and those wanting to keep the party going headed inside, while I stood under a centuries-old church’s awning with my family, trying to keep dry and thinking the rain might lift.

It didn’t.

So I proceeded to walk back to the house with my cousin to get the car, and got the most soaking wet I’ve ever been, and it couldn’t have been better. Soaked to the skin, in the pouring rain, on Mexico’s Independence Day (it was past midnight by now). Call me Ishma…uh…Mexican.

I had my first margarita(s) in Mexico…and man they were delicious. Holy crap it was like an addiction in a glass. And, they were free! It was the opening night of some bar/restaurant, and I went with my cousin, and he is friends with the owner, and so somehow through those connections I didn’t have to pay. I also had buffalo wings which I’m pretty sure permanently removed skin from my lips and tongue they were so spicy. Note to self: downing a margarita attempting to quench the fire in your mouth is not a strategy for (digestive) success.

So I know that these two entries have been largely “this is what I did, here is where I went,” etc., but I promise more reflective-type stuff in the future. It’s just that there’s so much that’s happened, and so little space I’m entitled before I bore you out. But maybe I should write like I don’t care about such things. Ooops, that sounded too close to a reflection. Time to sign off.

3 comments:

  1. Write whatever the heck ya want! I actually enjoyed reading about where you went and what you did. I even laughed a little.

    -Mags

    ReplyDelete
  2. A motorcycle rider saying is, "Ride it like you just stole it"
    A similar saying for writers might indeed be,"Write it like you don't care who reads it"
    You write good stuff, er, very well with excellent content Chris, keep it up. There is a fan base now ya' know. Be responsible, man up and WRITE like you don't care, especially after a few Margaritas, Ole!

    Buen dia, Sobrino

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow! what a ride. I know about the mosquitoes, they love me too. Type o-.
    I really enjoyed your blog. You might have a future in writing. You made me laugh. Is the guitar for serenading. DON'T FALL IN LOVE.
    Enjoy your stay, stay dry, stick to a bland diet, stay well.
    How does that saying go? believe half of what you see and none of what you hear.... something like that.

    ReplyDelete