Super Amy

I’ve put up another thirty-something pictures, which can be found here, if you’re looking.

It’s still really hot outside, and I think I’m going to go make some coffee.

listening to: Joan as Police Woman – The Ride

Well, I wanted to wait to blog until I had a new batch of pictures up, but I managed to foil that process tonight, so expect them some time tomorrow. But I feel I’m overdue an update, most especially before I forget all the little details of the past week or so.

Most especially since Tuesday, we’ve been going more or less nonstop. Tuesday we went to Xilitla. Some of you may remember my exciting rant about this place last year when I came down, but I’m afraid I’m going to have to indulge in some redundancies. Xilitla is a charming city near Valles, up in the mountains. Its main attraction, for me at least, is Las Pozas. It’s a garden, or maybe an unintentional playground of sorts, designed buy Edward James. He was a surrealist, a contemporary of Dali and Magritte, but instead of painting, he carved his art into the stones and rainforest landscape of the mountains of Xilitla. He was perhaps a little crazy in my favorite kind of way, and I wish I could have met him. Wendy and her dad and I went, and we spent most of our time playing about in the river / waterfall, and all the carvings and pools that went along with it, but we explored the staircases and buildings some, too. We stumbled upon a film crew from Los Angeles, or so they told us, with all the cameras and fixings to create a film about Edward James. That was sort of nifty.

Wednesday, we drove to Tampico, to visit the beach. I like Tampico, because the sand is very soft, and the city is pretty exciting, and luckily, we managed to time things out to where we weren’t on the beach underneath a miserable Mexican afternoon sun. It was a somewhat unfortunate night for me, though, in that I lost my voice, and I’m only just now starting to sound like myself again. Wendy, at least, told me that she liked my scratchy sick-voice, and that made me feel a lot better.

Yesterday was even more swimming. Along with Wendy’s friend Ari, we went to “Las Cascadas” in Tamul, which as you might have guessed, is a large waterfall. We had to hike part of the way, and it was pretty hot, and the river was very low. But we had a nice picnic lunch, and the watefall was very beautiful, and the water felt really, really good.

Today, well today was just plain hot. It was almost 110 degrees when I woke up this morning, and it just kept getting hotter. Wendy and I went downtown this morning, so that I could do a little bit of shopping, and picked Michele up from school and got chongos (wooo!), and after lunch, Wendy’s whole family and I got ready to go to the water park. Sadly, they were not open late enough to accomodate us, so instead we went to a new place… a decision based only on the roadside-attraction sign provided. Even the little boy who charged us to get through the gate didn’t really seem to know what exactly we were paying to get to, but at least assured us that there was some water, which was good enough. So we swam in the river for a while to cool off, and then came home, and then ate tacos. And now, at least as far as I can tell without the aid of photos (yet), you are reasonably caught up.

I got stung by a yellow jacket while we were swimming at Tamul. It irritated me mostly because of timing. We had just decided to get out of the water and to call it a day, and as I grabbed a rock to pull myself up out of the river, it seems that I grabbed a yellow jacket, too, and he was understandably upset. I still haven’t gotten all of the stinger out, because I’m never very good at those things, but it didn’t really swell up much, and stopped hurting after a half hour or so, so I’d say I came out much better than the bug.

I am going to miss the fruit here very much when I leave. The litches and ciruelas, mostly, but also the prices on things like avacados, are things I’ve become accustomed to having around. I just don’t understand why they don’t import these things to the US. I noticed that amongst the two or three flavors of Pom-Wonderful teas they sell at Bi-lo and Walmart and maybe some other places, one is a Pomegranate / “Lychee” tea. It tastes a little bit like litche juice, I guess, and it’s the closest I’ve ever come in Greenwood to the wonderful fruit I never even knew existed before I went to Mexico. *shakes head* It just doesn’t make sense why they’d keep it from me, you know?

Anyway, it’s gotten late, and I’ve kept you long enough not to have any exciting photos. I’ll add a little note when I get them up, hopefully tomorrow afternoon, before the quincinera.

Oh, yeah, one last thing. For those of you expecting me Sunday, you can expect me on Tuesday now. Our plans changed, and I’ll not be leaving Mexico until Monday morning, at which point I’ll be available by phone again — wooo hoo! Barring no problems on Greyhound, I’ll be in Greenwood Tuesday night, well-rested and ready to get on with the next little bit of my life.

listening to: Paleo – Afterlife

My new favorite trick is putting tons of lime juice on everything. Produce is pretty cheap here, so it’s going to be an expensive habit to maintain when I get home, but then what habits aren’t expensive, really, when you think about it.

It’s been so pleasantly rainy for a couple of days, so it’s been pretty cool outside and we’ve been lazy. Wendy and I went to see Michele’s basketball game last night, and to get some tacos rojos and go grocery shopping. We rented some movies to keep us busy. It’s cleared up some today. We went to Wendy’s church this morning. Last year when I came down, we never made it to Wendy’s church, instead going to a bigger church downtown one Sunday, and the following Sunday to a church in Tampico, where we spent the weekend. So it was really nice to get to see the church where her father is working. I understood more of the service than I thought I would, which was a nice surprise, and I really liked how humble and down-to-earth everybody was. It felt like the way a church service should be. For the beginning, though, Wendy and I were in the kitchen with some of the other youth, preparing a meat cake for the Mother’s Day dinner they’re having tonight. I got to chop ham and bacon and things, and help mold the meat cakes, which was actually way more exciting than it sounds.

We still haven’t really gotten to go downtown here in Valles yet, because of the weather mostly. I’m glad it’s clearing up, even though it means terrible things for the heat and for my skin, but I don’t want to miss out on anything exciting just because of the weather. A week from now, I’ll be on the last stretch of my Greyhound bus home, and a week from then, I’ll be savoring my last few hours of pre-full time employment freedom, so I have to be sure to make the most of my time here.

I have a few photos up, mostly sort of self-explanatory but all of them are captioned anyway. You can see them here.

If you haven’t heard yet, my friend Anthony Gravley has a new blog now; an awesome blog which puts the rest of us to shame. You should seriously check it out, including the links to his music on myspace, especially if you’ve never heard it before. The blog is added on the link bar over there <---, albeit incorrectly, making everything all off-balanced. I'll get around to fixing it one day, maybe. But for future reference, there you have it.

listening to: John Prine – Angel from Montgomery

It was raining when we got to Victoria last night, and there was such a nice breeze. Texas was pretty hot, and the wind was hot, and I can’t stand driving through anyway, on account of it’s very flat and pretty much the ugliest state I’ve ever seen (not to offend any Texans). Once we passed through Reynosa, I started seeing mountains and hills, which makes me much more comfortable. I do love Mexico.

Wendy’s older sister’s family lives in Victoria, and we are staying with them for a little while. They’re very nice, and I love this city — it’s a nice size, laid out well, and has beautiful mountains off to one side. They took us out last night for tacos, and they were sooo good. By this time, it had stopped raining.

Wendy and I slept last night out on the roof, looking out at the lights across the mountains. The air was cool, with a nice breeze blowing through, and the faint sounds of music from a party nearby. I slept so well, until it started raining around 3, and we had to drag everything inside.

I’m concerned that maybe I caught something from all those bus stations and busses and the people on them. Either that, or I’m suffering a sinus or an ear infection. I’m taking vitamins and drinking lots of water, and hopefully I can get rid of it before it interferes with trip plans. I never get sick, so of course now is a great time to start.

I’m not really sure of today’s agenda, except that I definitely want to take a shower, and perhaps we’ll go see the mountains around the city (and more tacos? mmm). Thus far, most of my pictures involve myself and/or Wendy at some bus station or another, but once I get a good bunch of interesting photos, they’ll be uploaded and blogged, somehow or other.

I of course love emails, just like everybody else, so keep in touch! (Oh yeah — music recommendations are always welcome, too! I have to fill up this blasted iPod somehow..)

listening to: The Postal Service – Such Great Heights

I don’t understand what people have against bus trips, really. I’ve listened to many an individual over the past few weeks tell me horror stories involving long-distance greyhound, but unless something drastic happens in the next few hours (and oh yeah, that return trip), I’m going to have to throw a different opinion in the pot.

I’m sitting in the Greyhound station in downtown Houston, where miraculously I’ve found a wireless internet connection. Everything at this bus station is a little nicer than the other bus stations. It’s cleaner and much bigger, and they actually moved our luggage to our next bus for us, instead of making us drag it through masses of confused and mean people.

That being said, if you’re looking for fodder to write fiction about, and if the type of fiction you want to write is that of a depressing, dim, hopeless, and lonely nature, then cutting across a corner of the country via Greyhound will certainly give you dozens upon dozens of character sketches from which to pick.

I didn’t know that backpacking was common in the states, because it admittedly seems like too large a place for an easily-distracted European looking for variety. In the US, you can go a very long ways on a bus and not see anything that looks any different. So I’ve been surprised at how many international student-age travelers, presumably backpackers, we’ve seen. Wendy and I like to try to guess where they’re from.

It’s six forty in the morning, and our bus to McAllen just pulled in. Six and a half hours and we’ll be in McAllen, where Wendy’s dad will drive us down to Victoria, then Valles. Should be exciting! I’ll update as I’m able, photos included (if I managed to pack my camera cable… whoops).

Oh, yeah. I went a little crazy yesterday (or day before? what day is it?) and bought an iPod. Exciting times…

listening to: Over the Rhine – Trouble

In retrospect, I probably should have started work full time the day after my last final at Lander. Instead, I told them June, and I’ve spent the last week familiarizing myself with my newfound ability to do whatever I want to. I worked when I felt like working, visited people when I felt like visiting, sought adventure when the mood struck me — I even slept in once or twice. I picked wildflowers, camped in my backyard, and sat around in coffee shops. In short, I spoiled myself into thinking that perhaps life after college can be vacation all the time, and now work certainly won’t be an easy transition.

I hope to have lots of photos and updates while I’m in Mexico — just like last time. I really wanted to change this template before I take off, because this one doesn’t look very summery or anything, and has more of a Belgian feel than a Mexican one. But it doesn’t look like time will permit, so maybe we can just endure together until I return? This whole not having usb thing is getting pretty annoying, because the method of getting photos off my camera becomes a very complicated one. It also means that I can’t get an ipod, because I can’t get music on it without a similar complicated process. Have I mentioned that I have a 26 hour bus trip on Tuesday, just to get to the border? An iPod would be nice. I should think of these things ahead of time.

I turned 22 a bit ago, and had a nice birthday. It’s the first birthday of my collegiate career that hasn’t involved at least one or two finals on the actual day, so that was nice. Last Saturday, Wendy, Jessi and Ryan came over, along with Mandy and Brian since it was their birthdays too, and they brought a pinata for everybody to bash in the front yard, so of course we had fun. My own birthday is always a bit stressful, because somehow, the days surrounding May 1st are almost always very hectic anyway, and not convenient to have birthday celebrations on, so it was nice to have something more low key, but still involving cupcakes and punch.

Oh, yeah. I graduated yesterday. (Why, I wonder, is this an afterthought?) The ceremony went well, no tripping or anything like that, and afterwards my wonderful sister and wonderful Liz put together a party at the park for me to celebrate. There was cake and punch and music, and I felt very celebrated and nice, so thanks to all of you that came. They gave me Summa Cum Laude honors, though I’m still not sure how they calculate those, because I was pretty sure I couldn’t still get them with a B in history this semester, and my Winch grades, including the wrongly-given C in poetry writing which they didn’t seem to fix in time to go on my Lander transcript. Anyway, that was very much a surprise and a blessing. Graduation day photos are here, excepting the party pictures — lovely Liz took all of those, and they’ll be up as soon as I get around to getting them from her.

Really, this is just a quick little update to share some photos and information, and to get these rusty blogging-fingers back into practice before Mexico. There are more new photos up on my Picasa page, including some of the spring break pictures I forgot weren’t up yet. I’m leaving from Greenville bright and early Tuesday morning, along with Wendy and possibly another friend of hers. We’re going Greyhound straight down through to the bottom of Texas, and then to Victoria, where Wendy’s sister and her husband live, and then to Valles. Exciting times, indeed. I’ll be taking a laptop this time, and posting pictures and things, so stop by if you want to take a look, ok?

I’m off to start packing and cleaning and whatnot. If you have any brilliant suggestions on how to spend a 26 hour bus trip, I’d love to hear them!

Listening to: my new love! Gogol Bordello – Through the Roof and Underground