Apollofrost's Blog

[Apollofrost]

Hello, my name is Alex and this is my blog.

Tomorrow morning I'm leaving Merida, Mexico and returning to California after two and a half years living abroad. It wasn't my decision to come to Mexico, but I've made the best of my time here and now I'm ready to move on. My mother, my neighbor, and I are driving back to the states and the trip will take about six days. She's coming back to Mexico, I'm not.

But before I leave for good there's a list of things that I have to do, and most of them are already checked off, but not all.

This morning I visited the local cemetery for the first time ever. I've lived
five blocks away from it my entire time in Mexico and I just never went, but this morning I got up early and did.

The place is huge, maybe seven city blocks long and five wide, or even bigger. I must have spent three or four hours walking around and taking pictures. Some of which I've posted bellow.















































Tomorrow morning the drive home starts, and it's raining.

I think that once I've finished packing up all of my things I'll go to a local cafe, where everybody knows my name, and have a nice glass of white wine as I say goodbye to Merida, to my friends and lovers. I'll drink it down as the rain splashes down on the patio, then I'll walk out into the night and never come back.

[niterider]

Thanx for all the pics.

[Apollofrost]

Day 1:

Woke up at about 8am and had breakfast. I loaded everything into Nick's van and surprisingly it fit with room to spare. Nick showed up just as I was finishing and we talked a bit before heading out. Nick drove, mom was the navigator, and I was in charge of snacks.

We cruised along the highway and made pretty good time because we only had to stop for gas and a bathroom break. We didn't need to stop for lunch because I just slapped together some sandwiches from my seat in the back of the van. The only problem was refilling the water bottles. Ever tried to fill a water bottle from a gallon jug while in a moving vehicle? Well the first time I splashed it all over myself. But hey, cool toes are great on a hot day.

We need to get some more food tomorrow, cheese, meat, and bread. Maybe mayo... or some decent mustard. Maybe something else... but what?

Since we were ahead of schedule we pressed on past our planned stopping point until we reached the city of Veracruz. The first leg was from 10:40am Sunday morning to 12:30am Monday night. We crashed at a “no tell” motel, 300pesos a night (roughly a little under $30). It's nice, but the shower doesn't turn off and somehow my clothes on the opposite side of the bathroom got soaked, that's gonna be fun to try and dry out... but I'll find a way. No internet as of yet, so this post is going to have to be posted the next time I get a connection.

Highlights of the day:

Observing that if human urine could be used as petrol you would never have to stop on long trips. (don't ask, you don't want to know)
Getting our passports checked by Mexican ATF(Which should totally be a convenience store)
Observing that the ATF carried a variety of weaponry ranging from Shotguns to 5.56 Assault rifles (m16 clones I think) and H&K G3 rifles. I made a mental note to not p*** them off.
Seeing some brushfires, couldn't get any good pics though.
Getting lost because the signs were very much wrong.
Laughing at a highway sign that said “Eat with caution” (it was a spelling error)
Laughing at a sign that just had a red circle with a line through it, but nothing in the circle. We took it to mean, "Whatever you're thinking, don't"


PS: Found a wireless hotspot the next day, rock on.

-Kitty

[Apollofrost]

Day 2:

Left Veracruz and everything went well up until Tampico, where we got lost but found our way again. Yay...

The thing with Mexican road signs is there aren't enough of them. It might say "Nuevo Laredo straight ahead" but there won't be another sign telling you where to turn until you're on the highway exiting the city. So at each intersection you're praying that you made the right decision and you won't end up in Guatemala before a sign tells you that's where you are. Also in Monterey, Nuevo Leon they do this thing where they cram everything onto one single sign, in different sized text, with arrows pointing every which way, and even if you can read it before you pass by, the damn thing's wrong because they are doing construction on almost every major road. They also don't get the concept of detour signs. So after wandering around Monterey for about an hour and a half or more we finally found yet another don't tell motel for $35 dollars a night and that's where I am now.

[Apollofrost]

Day 2:

Left Veracruz and everything went well up until Tampico, where we got lost but found our way again. Yay...

The thing with Mexican road signs is there aren't enough of them. It might say "Nuevo Laredo straight ahead" but there won't be another sign telling you where to turn until you're on the highway exiting the city. So at each intersection you're praying that you made the right decision and you won't end up in Guatemala before a sign tells you that's where you are. Also in Monterey, Nuevo Leon they do this thing where they cram everything onto one single sign, in different sized text, with arrows pointing every which way, and even if you can read it before you pass by, the damn thing's wrong because they are doing construction on almost every major road. They also don't get the concept of detour signs. So after wandering around Monterey for about an hour and a half or more we finally found yet another don't tell motel for $35 dollars a night and that's where I am now.

[Apollofrost]

ok, that post kinda got sliced in half because I was on the side of the road with my palm pilot in hand trying to post the second half of that when the cops showed up. Seems you stand on the side of the road at 2:30am wearing a dark sweatshirt and holding a glowing object you will get noticed. Now for the rest of day 2.

There's no internet so I'll post this in the morning if I can find a hotspot.

The room is really nice, it's just that the two 2x3 meter mirrors next to the bed are a bit much, as are the water bottles and "Prudence" brand condoms on the dresser. What's really good is that they have an adjoining garage where we can park the van overnight, definite plus.

The weather is actually getting kinda nippy, however "nippy" for someone who has spent the last two and a half years living in the sub-tropics is 60 degrees Fahrenheit. But I get to wear my coat, which is nice because I just love the feel of it. Three years ago I bought a full length black leather trenchcoat from Wilson's Leather and unless it's raining heavily I don't get any chance to wear it. However it's just perfect for cooler California mornings or visiting the snow. *pats trenchcoat*

Highlights of day 2:

Seeing motorcyclist with a flip-up helmet flipped up while riding in the city, yacking on a cellphone.
Monkeys! There was an actual cage of monkeys!
Bought a sixpack of Mexican cokes, because Mexican coca cola tastes different and I wanted to share some with my sister. Seems that they use actual sugar instead of corn syrup, it tastes better that way.
Getting lost in Tampico.
Getting lost in Monterey, we finally pulled into the hotel at like 2am.
Having someone actually hop into the car and ride with us as he gave directions, then offer to let us stay at his house, we said “no thanks.”

Wrap up:

We're right close to the Mexican border and we've driven 1,300+ miles in two days instead of the expected three. The next leg of the journey should take two to three days, now I'm off to whoop some vampire a** in “Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines”.

[Apollofrost]

Day 3:

Got a good night's rest and headed out from Monterey to Nuevo Laredo. We snagged a bite to eat in a little dinner called “Gorditas” where I had a shredded chicken filled quesedilla. Now you hear a lot of comics ragging on Taco Bell and one of the things they mention is that “Gordita” means fat lady. Well at least I've heard them say that, which is actually wrong. Gordita is an adjective and while it does mean fat, it also means thick. Since the word tortilla is feminine(words have gender in Spanish) the adjective has to be in agreement with what it describes. So Gorda is the feminine version of the word fat and the “-ita” ending makes it diminutive. So the full name is tortillas gorditas (thick little tortillas), not chubby little ladies as I've been told more than once.

I turned in my exit visa at Mexican immigration and the clerk was nice enough to fill out the forms for me, just read it and signed it then went on my way. Nick bought some liquor and cigarettes at the duty free shop and I'm considering picking up a car charger for my laptop when we get to the states. I would have bought one in Mexico but electronics are just so much more expensive there. But is it really worth it? I know I'll get use out of it whenever I travel, but I don't own a car and don't intend to do so any time soon. I'll just check the prices once I get to the border, they wanted $60 for one at a Mexican Radio Shack but that's most likely way more expensive than it would be in the US. So either way I'll wait, I'll check the prices when we get there and decide then, As I write this we're waiting for them to deliver Nick's stuff from the duty free shop. Seems that they deliver it to you right before you cross over the bridge to the American side of the border, just it's been ten minutes and no Duty Frees yet. Crossing the border will be interesting because we've got the car packed with all my worldly possessions and a van full of stuff crossing the Mexican border is bound to get attention from customs. When we reach our next stop I'll be sure to sniff around for another hotspot and see if I can post this along with my photos. I've got them all resized and ready to go, I just need internet.

Ok, border crossing was much easier that I thought it would be. We just got a cursory inspection then headed out into Texas. There was a second checkpoint where they were checking for illegals but we just flashed our passports and they let us pass. Now we're looking for a gas station and- ahah! There's one right here, it's called “Love's” that's interesting. Hmm, wonder if they have wifi...

Yes, they do. But you have to pay for it, and I'm not that desperate for a fix. Yes, I am an information junkie and the internet is my drug of choice. Not really, but I do miss my intenet connection.

There was this swarm of butterflies as drove out of Laredo and they were everywhere, like leaves kicked up by a storm. We pulled into Fort Stockton and wandered around looking for first a gas station then a place to eat. IHOP was actually closed, we were tempted to form an angry mob and demand pancakes but IHOP's pancakes just aren't worth civil unrest.

We stopped at a greasy spoon type dinner and I had a grilled cheese with hot coco, the grilled cheese was really good but the hot coco was so so. Then again I didn't expect much so I'm not complaining. I'm somewhat tempted to upload this to my palm pilot an go in search of wireless internet, if I get permission. So far we've gone 1,900 miles in three days.

I'm posting this from the Fort Stockton public library which actually has a fairly fast internet connection so here are some pics that I finally got to upload.

















Last night I walked around the downtown in search of wireless and found it but ended up standing in the middle of an empty lot checking my mail when the cops showed up. They asked for my ID and I showed them then explained that I was just trying to check my email. The cop looks at me, “You walked all the way down here to check your email?”

“Yeah.”

Kitty signing off.

[Apollofrost]

Ok, I'm in LA now and I'll be home tomorrow evening as our driver wanted to visit some friends before continuing on to the bay area. The rest of the trip was un-eventful except for a wonderful meal I had in a little restaurant on Exit 49 in Texas. It just says "CAFE" and I didn't see any other name but the food was amazingly good, and cheap. Mmmmm... strawberry milkshake.

[logitech104]

hey kitty, glad you are doing well so far. I'm surprised that the police wont get off your back.
wow, I'm impressed, 1900 miles in 3 days? thats driving endurance! be safe

[IcyHound]

I love cemataries. those shots are truly amazing. I wish we where a bit more interested in decorative archetcure as part of our normal building habits still.