Back in Monterrey...

I was finally able to escape the horrible and paralyzing grip of the paradise that is known as Florencia. I took flight early thursday morning last week and I made it to Monterrey after 10 hours of long hard driving through semi arid desert and mountains. The van ran great the whole way and I hope I dont have any more problems from it for awhile.

A breakdown of the total costs...

Total in USD $1300

This includes the cost of labor at $5000 pesos, rebuilding the transmission $8000 pesos, new axle on passenger side, new axle bearings, repacked front wheel bearings, new brakes, change motor oil, change diff fluid, new transmission fluid.

That would have easily cost me $3000 USD back in the states.

So now Im back in Monterrey and hanging out with my friends and just learning to live around some of the violence here. Im learning to be like them, you just turn your head and look the other way. There have een several attacks since I have been here but nothing I saw or heard. Only one attack I passed on the main avenue on the way to my friends house about 15 or 20 minutes after it went down.

I went to my first real Mexican soccer game the other day and that was awesome! I went to a Rayados game, which the fans are rabid and super patriotic to their team. I was with my friend Salas and we were sitting in his seats for his season tickets, on the elevated deck. One of the seating sections to my left and down low is where all the super cheap seats are and Im talking CHEAP. Like $2 cheap. Beers in the stadium where at a horrible price of $2.50 a pop (easy $8 to $10 in Houston) and we didnt even have to pay up front, the guy in our section was just handing them out! I asked my friend and he said I have been sitting here for 3 years, he knows me and everyone in this section... we will settle at the end of the game, which we did when he asked how many beers we had. He didnt even know!!! The cheaper seats were a crazy band of mosh pits and singing for the ENTIRE game, and Im talking loud. They were singing songs about the visiting teams goalie, our team, all kinds of stuff with big drums and loud cymbols. I give these guys a super A+ for effort and spirit and Im talking 90 minutes of non stop singing (read yelling) and jumping and going insane.

I have been getting more brave and driving a little in Monterrey in my car and trying to learn the city. I met a really cool guy who is the neighbor of Adriana. His name is Oliver and he speaks english almost perfectly and studied at UT in Austin Texas where he finished with a bachelor in socialogy. He is an incredibly smart guy and runs his own business creating amazing tshirts with art, I think the name is Arte en Movil (Art in Movement).

Last night I faced some of my fears and took a taxi at night by myself to where Adriana works. Ive wanted to see it for quite awhile and last night was as good as any. She works for one of the large media corporations here in Monterrey and edits all the news with some pictures and videos for their websites. So I got to see all of the reporters, the media studios (even saw a live broadcast of a debate show) and their editing, news and radio sections. It was very cool and I really enjoyed it. I was a little nervous being there because the media is under constant attack and threats here in Monterrey and it wasnt too long ago that they threw a grenade into the building where she works.

After the tour we grabbed a taxi to downtown to meet her family for dinner for their customary sunday night dinner at restaraunt "AL". Now there are several funny stories behind this classic little place in downtown Monterrey. This restaraunt is pretty old, around 70 years which is pretty good for a restaraunt and it resembles something I think I would see in New York or some older city. All white classic tile and the building is shaped very long and narrow. Her family has been coming to "AL" for sunday night dinner for over 50years!!!!! Her grandmother and grandfather used to go there when they were just dating!

Now the funny stories about this place. AL in spanish means "to the". So when you say in spanish that you are going to this place, you say "Yo voy al AL"..... al AL. Or literally, to the to the. The name actually comes from the other funny story. It used to be called "Alaska" but after a big storm many many years ago, half of the sign was blown down and all that remained was "AL". So it was much easier (funnier?) to rename the restaraunt which is exactly what they did. I thought that story was one of the most "mexican" stories I have ever heard and I really enjoyed learning it.

Anyways, I gotta get my butt to bed. Im going to try and start running again and tomorrow might be my start. Ugh... who starts an excersize routine on their vacation?????

Headed to Monterrey Mexico this weekend!

Yeaa! Im headed out to Monterrey to visit my friend Adriana. Im super pumped because I have never met her friends and family while she has met most of mine. She is a good friend I met on my first trip when I was on the bus from Monterrey back to Houston. We have kept in touch since that day and she usually visits me while on trips to Houston to visit her other friends.

I havent been to Mexico in 2 years almost to the day when I depart this weekend and I cant explain how excited I am! Ugh Ive just been feeling so damn stuck these past few months and Im ready to get outa here. It would have helped if my damn boss would have let me enjoy a few weeks of vacation but she blocked me on my 2 week request.... apparently I work with a bunch of workaholics. Ill be taking the bus thursday night from the southside of Houston and should arrive in Monterrey by 9am friday morning. Yea its a 12 hour long haul but the $41 ticket sure beats the $350 for a plane ticket... shiet.

I finally got my bike running too. I completely wore out the front tire because I had it a tad overinflated and there was no telling how many miles were on it anyways when I bought the bike. I also had to replace my flywheel gasket as I developed a bad oil leak here but she is running like a top now and Im glad to have her back on the road. Two weeks of being off of her just felt wierd and it was like starting all over again when I finally got to get back on.

I have been searching like a damn madman on craigslist lately for my van. Im looking hard but its tough when I have such a high standard and so many criteria. Im looking for a 90-95 Chevy Custom van with no more than 120K on the clock and less than $2500 bucks. I have found a few Dodges meeting that criteria but they both smoked heavily when running! WTF!?? Well the search continues but I have been pricing batteries and solar panels for the roof along with some roof hatches I plan to install for ventallation and lighting. This is going to be an awesome experiment and Im super excited about this project.