2-17-05

It was a bad day yesterday. Being garroted by the electrical wire (I kept thinking ii was going to get electrocuted as well) I limped off about a hundred yards to the shade of a bandstand. I lay there for about a half hour and made it as far as the Internet café where I sent the road log files. I was in the middle of sending those when I became very dizzy and  had to lay down again on the concrete floor and rest for a while. That must have been around noon or so. I went up and crawled into lil red and lay there dozing and resting until about four when I shit my pants big time. I cleaned up best I could and put on another pair of pants and went to the internet café which is four blocks and used their restroom again. On the way back I stopped at a portapotty and used that. I could see I was in trouble and needed to get out of town.  I made it out to a big wash where construction guys have been dumping concrete and such and proceeded to squirt at both ends. I’m not sure if the fish taco 24 hrs earlier had anything to do with it or if I just caught Montezuma’s revenge, but I was a sick puppy. My body ached and I chilled, sweated, threw up and shit until late that night. My head was hurting from the concussion and it was a rough night.

It had been recommended by Oscar, Anna’s husband, who is a doctor to take along some ORS or oral rehydration salts, but I could never find any in the US. He said I could use table salt and sugar that would do the same thing but tasted nasty. Another possibility would be to drink Gatoraid. I found Gatoraid in a powder form at the store before I left and I mixed up several coke bottles that I had water stored in with it. It really doesn’t taste too bad and I have been able to keep it down. I tried drinking tea, but that came right back up.

I hung around out in the dump until around noon and I could see I was going to be OK. I thought I would go cruise around town and find a Laundromat and wash my clothes as I only have a pair of swim trunks left for the bottom end. I didn’t have any luck finding a laundry but as I was going along I kept checking to see if I could get a wifi connection. I find quite a few secured connections in big town but few unsecured. I was in a place near a university or something when it said an unsecured was available. I hooked it back around and parked in the shade of a tree and checked my email. I finally got a message back from my website host support telling me how to fix the problem I was having. I got  the recent road logs uploaded and answered a few emails. I know it has been a problem for some to have had to deal with those huge files and now they will not be cussing me, I hope.

I headed back  to my camp spot as it really isn’t far from the carnival site and took a nap. When I got up I hear that there is going to be some sort of concert tonight next door. I hope I will still have a place to camp here, but it will be music all night. They have been checking out the sound system and playing music and it might be rock, just have to see.

It is five o’clock now and I think I will go down and check out the carnival. I want to get a photo or two before it gets dark.

2-18-05

It was already starting to get crowed but this is only the start as later it was almost shoulder to shoulder in spots. Some of the sights to see were the freak shows.

I should have gone in to see this gal. It looks pretty amazing, no?

I wonder if they really had a dead baby in there.

There were several of these bread stalls. They sure looked good.

There were a few of these candy/treat stalls. The small sellers also had some of these items but this had quite a range of treats.

I couldn’t identify what any of the stuff was but with the flies walking all over them they lost some of their appeal.

I was watching this guy press hunks of sugar cane in this cool little roller mill. You can see the small stream of juice that is running into the yellow handle strainer and bucket below. The stall next to him is where I bought a fried banana. They had a few in plastic dishes with a plastic fork in them on display and I thought that  I would get one. I remember my dad saying that a banana was good for diarrhea and since these were fried in hot oil, they must be safe to eat. I couldn’t understand how much but he looked through my change and I see that it was 15 pesos or a buck and  a half which I thought was high for a banana but what the hell, it is a fried one and I wanted to try it. after he got the money I picked up one of the bananas on display and was about to dig in  when he yelled “No senor”. And indicated that  he would make me one ‘un momento.’ Well it turned out to be a big project and well worth the price. He first picked out a huge very ripe banana and tore the top off and slipped his thumb inside and scooped out the innards in his hand mostly in good shape as this was a very soft ripe banana. He laid that in the hot oil kettle and I think he added about four or five more to the pot. As that was cooking they were having a problem with a sausage stuffer thing that they trying to get a bolt tightened. I got out my little vice grips and offered them. they got a big kick out of  the ‘poquito’ vice grips, but they came through again in a pinch and got the bolt tightened. After about five minutes the banana was judged done and was fished out with a large strainer, put on a little plastic dish and I though that I would get it then. Nope. He then took a big knife and slit it lengthwise and then cross ways into bite size pieces. Next he smeared it with butter or margarine with a small brush. Then he took a container of what looked like red syrup, maybe strawberry and poured that over the whole thing. Then he grabbed a can of condensed sweetened mild and poured some of that on it and was handed the whole shebang with a big smile. I would have been happier with a plain fried banana, but it wasn’t bad but very sweet.

One of the restaurants had these goats roasting over the coals. There was almost everything you can imagine being cooked along the strip. It is just so real to see things like this which you never get to see in the US. Thek food that these folks put out is really beautiful to see.  I wish I had a better digestive tract to handle more of it.

This was one of the biggest bars going but there were quite a few smaller ones going on as well. After the night progressed there wasn’t a place that wasn’t occupied by someone selling something. how long has it been since you have seen a Rubik cube for sale? well you could buy one here. The part I liked the best was the fun that the kids and parents were having together. The kids had masks and party hats on and the glitter and confetti everywhere. There were several games of chance and the old pea under the shell fast hand work.

the deformed animal exhibits were popular. I don’t remember seeing them since I was a little kid in the US. They may have all come down south of the border.

I stopped to see some of the displays and bands that were playing. One group I wish now I had taken my camera with me for all you guys out there. There were eight gals dressed in very short feather skirts and they had coconut shell halves on for bras. They all had an extensive headdress on. They danced in somewhat the same method as Haitian dancers with their arms telling a story(?). Their little feather skirts were very attractive when they wiggled their bottoms!!!

Later on it must have been around ten or so I was watching another group of dancers at the main stage. I was in the middle of a pretty good size crowd and it got way more crowded when the cops that were in front of me opened up a route for a marching band to come through. Next in line were a bunch of military guys in their whites followed by a procession of gorgeous ladies all dressed in gowns with long tails that often had someone holding them up, the tails not the dresses. It seemed to be some sort of king and queen competition as there would be a guy with the ‘queen candidate’ either dressed in military whites or in a jeweled costume with ornate headdress. I was pressed in this crowd and I don’t like crowds and finally had to be rude and almost pushed my way the hell out of there. Fortunately when those little people see a big gringo headed their way, they give ground. With all the drinking and the crowd, I never saw any fights or altercations. These are really nice people and  they get along.

After the crowd deal I had had enough and headed for my spot that I camped at the night before. As I thought  there was some sort of concert going on at the big arena but I went wide of it and headed back on the little road to a place way in the back. I had just gotten lil red set in a good spot when I noticed a pair of headlights coming up the little road with someone holding a spotlight on me. I figured it must be the Policia and sure enough it was. Two guys that spoke no English and I don’t know much Spanish. One of the guys was running the show and he wanted to search the car. Si I said. He looked around and went through the glove box and some of the other stuff I have on the floor. Lil red is a mess but it is easy to see I am camping in it. I said I am ‘campo’. He  asked if I was drinking ‘cervesa’ but I said no cervesa. And then he wanted to know if I had marijuana, ‘no marijuana senor.’ Then he had the other guy search my pockets.

I asked if they were going to take my ‘dinero’ (money). No, but they found my pocket knife and took it. yikes! My dads pocket knife! They got out my wallet and went through that. I had just read Dr Gregg Frazier’s account of loosing his  wallet in Colombia and I had my fake wallet in my pants. Fortunately they didn’t find the real one hidden in lil red. Then the guy kept pointing to his hand emphatically. I don’t understand, I kept saying until I finally got the picture. I had been warned to have a bill handy to fold up and slip the police when there was a problem and this is what he wanted. He kept saying ‘Aqui’ and pointing to his hand. I finally got out my dinero and he held the flashlight and I selected a 100 peso note and ‘aqui’ed it in his hand. The satisfied them right away and he had the guy give me back my knife. I was putting in back in my pants when he stopped me and indicated in the car, not in pants. So the might be a law against a pocket knife here. I indicated I wanted to campo but they said it was not safe and to go down to the playa which I did.

It was quiet most of the night but in the morning I see I was parked next to a restaurant frequented by truck drivers and there must have been ten trucks around on the road. As it got light I could see three dogs sitting on the steps of the restaurant that looked to be regulars. They sat on the steps and scratched and scratched themselves. After awhile one of the dogs came over to see me. She looked so pitiful and was sitting outside the car shaking. She knows how to get the grub for sure. It looks like she has  mange and has a batch of pups somewhere. She got some of a loaf of bread I have. She is a very strange looking dog as are many of the dogs around Mexico. These town dogs are very smart and cruise through traffic like you wouldn’t believe. 

I am out looking for that chicken store and stopped outside the little café that has a wifi connection that I found by accident yesterday. I will get some grub and more toilet paper and hopefully catch the boat for the mainland this afternoon.