Hey hey from Monterrey

Monterrey, what can I say?
Beautiful, mountainous Mexican cit-ay.
Lots of friendly folks,
And a whole lotta spanish -
A different style of life,
Where I've made a plan...ish.



"Ish" is how I roll though, so that should be no surprise. Tomorrow I'm going to be heading for a small little mountain town called Real de Catorce. It was recommended to me by a few friends, one of whom described it (and this is the clincher) as a "hippy oasis in the mountains." Time will tell.

But as for Monterrey, it's been a great experience, a great introduction to Mexico. Am I *ever* glad that I studied some spanish before coming here. When I got off the bus in Monterrey, and had no idea where I was going, and nobody spoke any english -- an old Mexican man (grand total english words spoken: 0) took me under his wing and ushered me into his taxi, and from what I can gather, the street that I was asking about was on the way to his house, so he dropped me off. Perhaps some people might think it's not a great idea to get into a cab with a total stranger who you can't communicate with (other than a bunch of smiling and laughing, and a few weeks worth of audio tape lessons) in a huge city that you have no information about (other than a map with 3 street names on it, made in MS Paint and a hostel address where you may or may not have a reservation). But I picked him very carefully. I easily could've kicked his ass had el shitto hit el fanno, which made him a perfect aide.

Right, so I got to the hostel after a wee walk, and it turned out there was a room for me, after a few hour wait. Bonus. I dropped my bag and headed out to see the town. WIthout the details, I spent the day walking around with complete strangers who spoke no english (it's a trend), learning spanish, and seeing the town. At night I met a local girl, a friend of the hostel owner, who took me out for a walk and too see one of the most spectacular rock guitar-Gods that I'd ever seen.

The next day, yesterday, was incredible. I took a bus way outside of town to go and see "la huesteca" (the canyon).




Ancient peoples here believed that it is the bellybutton of the earth, and used to pilgrammage there by the 1000s, and walk 1000s of kilometers to get there. When I got there, I walked with a Mexican guy into the canyon (it's a few kilometers). He spoke english. It turns out that he works there, as an artist who makes sculptures out of marble. He took me into their studio, and introduced me to his friends, who were all very much my kind of people. So there I was learning to chip marble at an artists oasis in a canyon between the mountains. Awesome.

I had to let my new friends do some work, so next I climbed the smallest, safest looking mountain I could find. As I was leaving for the hike, my friend said "look, don't trust anybody, watch out for robbers and rattlesnakes, and be careful of the cactus'."




"Suuure," I thought to myself. Well, I didn't get robbed, rattlesnakes are not in season, and...


(cactus' are sharp)

The energy level there was incredible, it's like the whole place was vibrating. The mountain breeze blows music into your soul, if you just listen to it.



Later on, I took the bus with my new friend to visit one of his co-workers that I really got on with at a cultural event at the Government Palace. Before the event, we came back to my hostel so that I could get the blood off my legs, and it turned out that the hostel owner and he have known each other for 15 years... wild! We show up at the cultural event, dressed in our daily-wear.. nobody told us it was completely fee-fee-foo-foo -- everybody else, and I mean everybody, was in suit and tie or an evening gown. There was free booze, food, and a tonne of traditional Mexican music. Nobody looked at us unpleasently though, perhaps because I was the only non-local at the event, and they couldn't get past my face and hair to notice my clothes. A smile goes a long, long way. And being drop dead sexy helps too.



From there we went on a bar tour, until 4 am. What I'll remember from the day is this: If you drink beer, regardless of how cool it looks to light hand sanitizer on fire (that you've spread on your hands) before eating your pizza, DON'T. Burnt hair stinks.



Ciao!