March 04, 2006
Hola!
(have a fast connection at the moment, so doing some posting)
3/4/06
Wow, what a trip so far. By the time I got to Mexico city last night, I was to tired to write anything. After I finished my last entry I watched my movie, or half of it anyway (the original 1925 "Metropolis"), chatted with the people seated across from me (a middle-aged woman, and a maybe-twenty year old college student, who both happened to be named Lorna. Ended up getting in to Bakersfield almost 20 minutes early, but luckily Chuck was just walking up as I stepped off the train. We stopped to have dinner at a little burger joint called Zorbas (in Oildale?), and then we drove to his house - which happens to be something like 37 miles outside of Bakersfield, way out in the country, with windy roads almost the whole way. Chuck knows the way well though, and just flew over it, with which lane he was in being quite an arbitrary thing - luckily, there was hardly anyone else on the road (now that I'm down in Mexico, I understand why he drives the way he does). Got to his house by 8:30 or 9:00, met Ramona his wife, and she sat me down and told me what to expect while traveling Chuck - I guess he has a tendency to push hard, but I'm doing good so far. Got to my room, but of course didn't get to sleep till late (about 1:00), and then had to get up at four to get everything in the car and get back down to Bakersfield to catch a 6AM train to LAX to catch a 10:30 flight. Everything was going fine until I tried to check in, and the birth certificate that I had brought was not a "legal" birth certificate (it was issued by the hospital, no the state). So, we had to do a mad dash to a different terminal, find the notary republic, and have him make me an affidavit of citizenship. We made it to the plane ten minutes before it backed away from the gate. Lucky us - they can cancel your reservation a half hour before take-off if you're not there. I had started to stress over it when she said "This isn't acceptable," but then as we were running I just stopped and let go because I realized God was in control, and if I didn't go, I didn't go. But...it all worked out...I hope....I'll find out for sure when I try to reenter the states.
Anyway, we finally got on our way, had a perfectly fine flight (only a little bit of crying from one baby), got in a little late, (about four in the afternoon, or about two in California), got a taxi (which only cost 20 dollars - really good for how far we went), and made our way across Mexico City to the seminary (you know, I'm still tired - I just typed "cemetery" without realizing it), settled in, got some dinner, and went back to the seminary. It's an interesting place - it used to be a lot bigger, but it has slowly shrunk over the years, and only has a couple buildings now. Where we stayed is at the top of a 10 story apartment building of very unique design. It was designed many years ago by a young architect just starting out, who has since become quite well known. Basically is a round shape, and very narrow, with only three rooms one each of the first 9 floors, which are rented out to generate income. The tenth floor houses some of the people who are involved in the ministry. I got to go up on the roof and could see the cement water storage tanks on the roof, and see the city from that high vantage point as well. On one side, just a couple blocks away, I could see the old Olympic Stadium (from 1968 I think?), and further away a huge soccer stadium that Michael Jackson has filled multiple times, that holds something like 150,000 people. I haven't downloaded my pics yet, but hopefully I got some to turn out.
After dinner, I was just so tired, that while Chuck talked with Noe about memorial plans and related stuff for Emeliano, I ended up going to my room, and fairly quickly falling asleep - I had a cot that I put a blanket and a sleeping bag on and slept soundly till Chuck woke me up a little before 5AM. Took a shower (quite interesting - I didn't think I was going to get any hot water, but just as I had gritted my teeth and plunged in, it started to warm up. That was a huge thank you God, cause that water was C-O-L-D. I also broke my shampoo bottle, but whatever...), finished getting ready, and we were on our way by about 6AM. A short stop to have breakfast about two hours out in Peubla, and then 600 miles and twelve hours later, we drove into San Cristobal de las Casas, in Chiapas (Mexico City is in Districto Federal, which is kind of like Washington D.C. - the other states we drove through on our journey included Estado de Mexico, Veracruz, and Tabasco). We didn't take the most direct route, but rather the fastest one, because we used toll roads, which are (for the most part) in fairly good repair. They are crazy expensive though - to drive that six hundred miles the tolls (casetas) were well over a hundred bucks. The cheapest one was like $1.30, and the most expensive one $14.50. But, they kept coming and coming, what seemed like every few miles. If there weren't other circumstances that required a vehicle, it would be much cheaper to simply fly down here. Oh, I got to drive in Mexico - about 430 of the 1,000ish kilometer trip. Fun times. Driving out in the country is fine, but to drive in Mexico City... I think you need to have titanium-reinforced steel cajones, with a Kevlar coating. Seriously, the people in town drive insane. It's like the lane markers don't mean anything, and the color of the light means just a little more. Forget about a speed limit, or using your blinkers, or waiting for the light to turn green before honking for the person in front of you to go. I'm telling you, our cabbie knew the light was going to turn green a half-second before the light itself did. Yet, somehow, the people are surprisingly courteous as well.
The food down here is really quite good, but you don't get anything that you associate with Mexican food back home - like burritos, for example. They really don't have the same thing down here. They do have Burger King, McDonald's, and Starbucks though, as well as Costco and Wal-Mart. I just had some home-cooked food though,, here at Ricardo Mayol's house (he's one smart guy - went to MIT for his masters in Urban Planning, and he has a PhD also). His wife Doris (also incredibly smart, and finishing up her PhD right now I believe) made some refried beans and rice, with some tortillas, as well as a cauliflower (?) and cheese soup. She just made me some coffee, some café con leche, to drink as I type this. The speak English, but most conversation is with Chuck in Spanish, so I follow along as I can, picking out words here and there to get 20-30% of the gist of the conversation. It's real fun not knowing the language when you go into a restaurant and try to order from a menu that doesn't have any pictures. Basically, I'm just trying to find something that has some words that I recognize in it, and order that, hoping for the best. Maybe my Spanish will be better before I leave. I can already puzzle out most of the road signs.
The ride was a great time to talk with Chuck and get to know him, hitting on all the fun hot-button topics like politics and religion. Got a little past-history stuff from him as well, from back when he knew my parents before they were married. Tomorrow's going to be another early day - we'll be going to Yajalon for church, and also we'll be spending the next couple of days there, and in Chilon, which are both Tzeltal towns (Tzeltal is one of the indigenous languages, along with Tzotzil and Ch'ol, in this area).
I don't want to get too much into our plans until they happen, plus this is getting really long, so I'll end here for now. Just to post this (Ricardo has a fast connection), download my pictures, and try to get a good night's rest. Hasta Manana.
3/4/06
Wow, what a trip so far. By the time I got to Mexico city last night, I was to tired to write anything. After I finished my last entry I watched my movie, or half of it anyway (the original 1925 "Metropolis"), chatted with the people seated across from me (a middle-aged woman, and a maybe-twenty year old college student, who both happened to be named Lorna. Ended up getting in to Bakersfield almost 20 minutes early, but luckily Chuck was just walking up as I stepped off the train. We stopped to have dinner at a little burger joint called Zorbas (in Oildale?), and then we drove to his house - which happens to be something like 37 miles outside of Bakersfield, way out in the country, with windy roads almost the whole way. Chuck knows the way well though, and just flew over it, with which lane he was in being quite an arbitrary thing - luckily, there was hardly anyone else on the road (now that I'm down in Mexico, I understand why he drives the way he does). Got to his house by 8:30 or 9:00, met Ramona his wife, and she sat me down and told me what to expect while traveling Chuck - I guess he has a tendency to push hard, but I'm doing good so far. Got to my room, but of course didn't get to sleep till late (about 1:00), and then had to get up at four to get everything in the car and get back down to Bakersfield to catch a 6AM train to LAX to catch a 10:30 flight. Everything was going fine until I tried to check in, and the birth certificate that I had brought was not a "legal" birth certificate (it was issued by the hospital, no the state). So, we had to do a mad dash to a different terminal, find the notary republic, and have him make me an affidavit of citizenship. We made it to the plane ten minutes before it backed away from the gate. Lucky us - they can cancel your reservation a half hour before take-off if you're not there. I had started to stress over it when she said "This isn't acceptable," but then as we were running I just stopped and let go because I realized God was in control, and if I didn't go, I didn't go. But...it all worked out...I hope....I'll find out for sure when I try to reenter the states.
Anyway, we finally got on our way, had a perfectly fine flight (only a little bit of crying from one baby), got in a little late, (about four in the afternoon, or about two in California), got a taxi (which only cost 20 dollars - really good for how far we went), and made our way across Mexico City to the seminary (you know, I'm still tired - I just typed "cemetery" without realizing it), settled in, got some dinner, and went back to the seminary. It's an interesting place - it used to be a lot bigger, but it has slowly shrunk over the years, and only has a couple buildings now. Where we stayed is at the top of a 10 story apartment building of very unique design. It was designed many years ago by a young architect just starting out, who has since become quite well known. Basically is a round shape, and very narrow, with only three rooms one each of the first 9 floors, which are rented out to generate income. The tenth floor houses some of the people who are involved in the ministry. I got to go up on the roof and could see the cement water storage tanks on the roof, and see the city from that high vantage point as well. On one side, just a couple blocks away, I could see the old Olympic Stadium (from 1968 I think?), and further away a huge soccer stadium that Michael Jackson has filled multiple times, that holds something like 150,000 people. I haven't downloaded my pics yet, but hopefully I got some to turn out.
After dinner, I was just so tired, that while Chuck talked with Noe about memorial plans and related stuff for Emeliano, I ended up going to my room, and fairly quickly falling asleep - I had a cot that I put a blanket and a sleeping bag on and slept soundly till Chuck woke me up a little before 5AM. Took a shower (quite interesting - I didn't think I was going to get any hot water, but just as I had gritted my teeth and plunged in, it started to warm up. That was a huge thank you God, cause that water was C-O-L-D. I also broke my shampoo bottle, but whatever...), finished getting ready, and we were on our way by about 6AM. A short stop to have breakfast about two hours out in Peubla, and then 600 miles and twelve hours later, we drove into San Cristobal de las Casas, in Chiapas (Mexico City is in Districto Federal, which is kind of like Washington D.C. - the other states we drove through on our journey included Estado de Mexico, Veracruz, and Tabasco). We didn't take the most direct route, but rather the fastest one, because we used toll roads, which are (for the most part) in fairly good repair. They are crazy expensive though - to drive that six hundred miles the tolls (casetas) were well over a hundred bucks. The cheapest one was like $1.30, and the most expensive one $14.50. But, they kept coming and coming, what seemed like every few miles. If there weren't other circumstances that required a vehicle, it would be much cheaper to simply fly down here. Oh, I got to drive in Mexico - about 430 of the 1,000ish kilometer trip. Fun times. Driving out in the country is fine, but to drive in Mexico City... I think you need to have titanium-reinforced steel cajones, with a Kevlar coating. Seriously, the people in town drive insane. It's like the lane markers don't mean anything, and the color of the light means just a little more. Forget about a speed limit, or using your blinkers, or waiting for the light to turn green before honking for the person in front of you to go. I'm telling you, our cabbie knew the light was going to turn green a half-second before the light itself did. Yet, somehow, the people are surprisingly courteous as well.
The food down here is really quite good, but you don't get anything that you associate with Mexican food back home - like burritos, for example. They really don't have the same thing down here. They do have Burger King, McDonald's, and Starbucks though, as well as Costco and Wal-Mart. I just had some home-cooked food though,, here at Ricardo Mayol's house (he's one smart guy - went to MIT for his masters in Urban Planning, and he has a PhD also). His wife Doris (also incredibly smart, and finishing up her PhD right now I believe) made some refried beans and rice, with some tortillas, as well as a cauliflower (?) and cheese soup. She just made me some coffee, some café con leche, to drink as I type this. The speak English, but most conversation is with Chuck in Spanish, so I follow along as I can, picking out words here and there to get 20-30% of the gist of the conversation. It's real fun not knowing the language when you go into a restaurant and try to order from a menu that doesn't have any pictures. Basically, I'm just trying to find something that has some words that I recognize in it, and order that, hoping for the best. Maybe my Spanish will be better before I leave. I can already puzzle out most of the road signs.
The ride was a great time to talk with Chuck and get to know him, hitting on all the fun hot-button topics like politics and religion. Got a little past-history stuff from him as well, from back when he knew my parents before they were married. Tomorrow's going to be another early day - we'll be going to Yajalon for church, and also we'll be spending the next couple of days there, and in Chilon, which are both Tzeltal towns (Tzeltal is one of the indigenous languages, along with Tzotzil and Ch'ol, in this area).
I don't want to get too much into our plans until they happen, plus this is getting really long, so I'll end here for now. Just to post this (Ricardo has a fast connection), download my pictures, and try to get a good night's rest. Hasta Manana.
