I've been in Tampico for one week now and this is a long post, a mixture of what has happened since I've been here and my thoughts on everything. This one is super long and even more random than normal, there's Mexico in general, the war on drugs, and a bit about the family I've been staying with.
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It's still loud. I haven't been able to get it on video yet, but several times a day there is a guy that rides around on a bike/food stand. He has an amplifier, of course, and it plays some weird music, with rapid Spanish and every so often he makes a weird noise into the microphone that to me sounds like he is trying to imitate a cow moo? It makes the dog next door howl anyway. They compliment each other nicely.
There are VW bugs EVERYWHERE. I have pictures where you can see 3 of them along one street. They are mostly the old herby the love bug kind; some look to have traveled about 3 million miles, others look brand new somehow and modified to be convertibles, and then there are some of the stupid new ones mixed in as well. I made a game the other day, with myself haha, but I was trying to see if there was any 4way stop I could stand at and not see one.. I think I found 2 intersections all day. No joke.
The car situation over here in general is very confusing.. along one block you can pass a couple VW bugs, a truck with 3 wheels and a boulder holding it up, some regular nice sedans, and a brand new Mercedes. No real segregation as far as cars go. Driving is NUTS. How many lanes is a given street? Well that depends, how determined are the drivers feeling and how many cars can fit side by side? Swerving across 4 'lanes' and darting in between buses to a fanfare of car horns is par for making most exits. Speed limits.. I saw signs here and there, and in places I hear they enforce it, but basically its down to drive as fast as you feel is ok. Pass people whenever they are in your way, small city street or major 'highway' it doesn't matter. Evidentially the traffic enforcement is a separate police department than the regular police, I haven't seen them anywhere yet but did talk to someone that received a speeding ticket.. so they do exist. Basically though, whenever you want someone to slow down in your neighborhood, you install insane car shattering speed bumps. People will slow down. Don't have the materials to put in a proper speed bump? Grab some thick-ass rope.
The buildings are something else. Everything is that weird concrete type material. Tecate and Corona signs or entire buildings painted with their colors and trademarks are as common as Volkswagons here. I'm not sure if ALL of them are actually bars, it seems like the ratio of people to bars would be 10:1, and I've never actually seen anyone going in or out of these places.. but it makes for an interesting looking place. The downtown area is my favorite so far, if not a bit overwhelming. Its similar to a mall, most shops are opened to the street and they pull down a gate when closed. The almost everything building is painted up as an advertisement for the shop on the ground floor or other things around the city and it just looks like nothing I've come across in America. Tons of people shopping everywhere, for everything. There was one stretch with a bunch of little food shops, selling things like hotdogs, bananas, corn, etc, but in front they had employees too, trying to flag people down. I didn't realize this at first and thought that one guy wanted me to come over to him for some reason, so I started walking that way before the dad told me we were going to eat later. My confusion must have been apparent on my face because he started laughing and explained that guy just wanted to sell me corndogs or whatever it was. I went to the touristico zone later.. it was just like any city in America, with the exception of crazy ass roads- Burger King, Blockbuster, Pizza Hut, Hilton, Marriott, and the like. Everything was priced similar to America, usually MORE.. I guess they figure if the gringos are going to insist on American everywhere they go, they might as well capitalize on it. There is one sign I wish I had gotten a picture of, the signs hanging over the highway pointing toward different cities, one had Ciudad Victoria, Veracruz, and APPLEBEES! Complete with their little apple graphic.
Speaking of food, its amazing. I've had beans and tortillas each atleast once per day in some form. And I'm not getting tired of them at all. They just happen to have a lot of dishes that incorporate them, in different ways. The mother here is seemingly always cooking something, I ate breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, supper, and dessert one day I think. The food prepared on the little street carts is insanely cheap, and much much better than all the American chains anyway (I haven't actually ate at one down here, just scoped out prices, I'm sure it McD's Mexico isn't much tastier than the American version). Tap water is not drinking friendly, and I actually made the mistake of drinking two glasses before someone caught what I was doing and stopped me. They have giant bottles of water that are delivered by bicycle, and the empties taken away. I had one small case of the Mexican mud butt but I'm fine now haha. It turned out to be an embarrassing ordeal, they did not have a plunger in the bathroom and I needed one.. so I had to stop people from going to the bathroom while at the same time trying to think of relevant Spanish words and trying to charade that I needed a plunger.. when they figured it out they all laughed and laughed and imitated my charading.. Anyway, the food is top notch. Nice juxtaposition.
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You don't have to look far to see signs of the drug war. Morning television, newspapers, or army troops- its very 'felt'. I've already heard of several drug busts, gun seizures, and murders. Most of this is among the cartels and whatever branch is trying to stop them, but there are civilians that get caught up in it. Everyone can tell you about it here too, read up on the Los Zetas or any of the other cartels or wiki articles for some crazy info on it. People can tell you the back story on the different cartels, which are feuding, where they are based etc. Drug use is far far less here than I thought it would be too, I've barely met anyone that drinks, no drug use whatsoever. The corruption is rampant and I've been told to keep 50-100 pesos in a separate pocket with my ID-- if I am stopped for anything I've been told to explain thats the last of my money, they will take it, and I'm free to go. This is with street cops. I had a discussion talking about the cartels and it seems everyones opinion is that the war on drugs, with all the money coming from America, is making things far worse. Typically the money and guns coming from America end up with corrupt officials or military personnel and the cartels. They have rocket launchers. Assault rifles- not the old AK47s, but the newest shit, like what our troops use. And helicopters. Woah. These are the bad guys, in real life, not some movie. Between what I've read and heard here I see why Texas and Arizona called for National Guard support, in case the Mexican government collapses and they are keeping the cartel armies from running across the border.
Seems like the opinions are pretty polar on legalizing drugs, I brought up the idea that if just marijuana and cocaine- which seems to be the main traffic- was legalized and regulated, cartels wouldn't have the income to continue doing what they are doing. That would in turn cut back the kidnappings, the bribing and corruption, and everything else. Some people agreed, some didn't, but everyone said it was America's fault. Between their retarded efforts of throwing more money, equipment and training at it hoping the military here will stop them (which really just seems to beef up the cartels more) and the American people for using all the drugs. At least according to the people I've met so far, most civilians don't use drugs here and all this is because of all the demand in America. Even when America DOES manage to grab one of the kingpins, it just stirs up so much shit that its much more dangerous than before. So they capture one of the main guys from a cartel, that just means that now you possibly have 5 guys all fighting for the new vacancy. You can read online and see the huge increase in violence along with the capture of key cartel men, new groups fight to replace him and retaliate against the government. The Mexican Navy had a huge shootout and got one of the top dogs (nicknamed the boss of bosses) here recently, only thing that happened was that a mafia SQUAD went to one of the police officers homes and killed his wife, daughters, mother, anyone related to the officer. OK I've went on long enough with that, but its so damn stupid. Anyone north of the border finding it any more difficult to find drugs?
There is a lot of fear, from the cartel as well as the army. Two houses down from where I'm staying was raided by the miltary, they had the assault rifles, 8-10 soldiers, and two vehicles with the monster machine guns mounted on them. I tried to take a picture and again everyone was quickly said no no no. I noticed that all the soldiers but one did have a face mask on, makes it harder for the cartels to go and wipe out their family like the guy recently. But I am still determined to chat a soldier up atleast if not get a good picture. I did manage to walk past and slyly slip my camera out of my pocket to get a shitty pic, another from the roof of the house where you can see a guy manning the mounted gun. Everyone here is very against my hitch hiking, somewhat against my travel to specific parts of Mexico in general. However, they haven't even seen most of the places I want to see. In that respect it's kind of similar to America, I remember getting picked up hitching to Chicago, and they asked me why on earth I would want to go there and I must be crazy its so dangerous.. when I asked, they had never actually BEEN to Chicago. It's a shame that the cartels and all that are going on down here because there is some amazing stuff I've already seen, and I'm psyched as hell thinking about the places I'm going to see, and there are people that live with this stuff in their backyard here and they might never go out and see it.
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The family that I'm staying with has been awesome. 3 daughters, 1 son, and the 2 parents. Everyone has picked up a noticable amount of English since I've been here. The father speaks it fairly well but everyday he'll ask me several words and their meaning- he'll then write them down on a list he's keeping to learn the new words. The oldest daughter can understand english pretty well when I talk to her but she doesn't speak it so much- when she does she has almost no accent, pretty impressive. The mother doesn't really know very much english at all but she tries the most and is the sweetest woman. She's retired now, she did something downtown with the local government. They explained it kind of like a secretary but I saw her picture on a billboard downtown so I don't know. Anyway, she gave me a little bracelet today with all the Mexican Saints on it, like a souvenir she said and to stay safe :) The dad here wears the pants pretty hardcore, the middle daughter (she's 17 I think) had snuck out one night to see her boyfriend and she sneaks out to the clubs etc, but the mother asked me not to tell the father, which I didn't.
The father is pretty cool though, he likes learning English as often as possible and I downloaded a copy of Rosetta Stone for them. I was traveling with a bottle of jaegarmiester and I broke it out one evening telling him it was German liquor. He kept calling it German wine though and drank it from a wine glass with some ice? He ended up getting pretty drunk that evening which was funny. I've had maybe 3 or 4 shots since I've been here, but with New Years Eve coming up and a couple things I have planned I'll be seeing the party side of Mexico.
damn theres more to write but this is longgg and I'm tired. I need to keep a proper journal then I can look everything over and write down the interesting parts in a shorter and more coherent blog.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Saturday, December 26, 2009
to Mexico, part dos
Crossing into America the first time was pretty surprising. The Mexican side of the bridge had a full on army and everything but I didn't have to stop to talk to anyone, I just walked on through. I knew it obviously wouldn't be like that going into America, but I didn't have anything with me, wearing just a t-shirt and jeans with my passport in my backpocket, so I thought it'd be a trivial thing. Not so.
Walking into the building that handles the people crossing on foot, there were two lines leading to border patrol agents. Off to the right was a room with somewhere north of 20 hispanic people sitting, waiting to be processed further or searched I do not know. Further down was a closed door with no window and no label like all the others, just an agent standing at the door with the big blue latex gloves on. I could guess pretty easily what that was all about.
I was still thinking about the man that had hissed at me and if Mexico was such a great idea when it was my turn in line to see someone. The agent wasted no time in making the intense atmosphere worse. I told him I had just crossed into Mexico earlier to see what it was like. He asked what pharmacy I went to- he opened with that. I decided it'd probably be best if I didn't mention that I actually did go to a pharmacy with my friend and just said I didn't. Well what drugs am I smuggling across? 'None, sir.' I had no bags or anything to search. I thought about the ominous man in blue gloves and unlabeled door just a dozen feet away or so and made a point not to look over there. 'Well why the hell is an American walking INTO Mexico, then an hour later just walking back out?' My voice actually jumped when I answered next as I told him I ate lunch with my friend. 'Who's your friend?' I messed up and said Rodrigo, the guy behind me in line. He called Rodrigo over and put together that I spoke basically no Spanish and he spoke basically no English. 'How the fuck are you friends if you can't even speak the same language? What's going on here?' I knew I hadn't done anything wrong but I was replaying all the horror stories I'd read about dealing with crossing US borders and the intensity of the dude questioning me and the room full of people taken to the side and the damn guy with the latex gloves.. I said we just met, then Rodrigo chimed in and talked to the guy for a solid couple of minutes in Spanish and we were free to pass. I assume he just explained everything, but unfortunately I couldn't communicate enough to figure that out.
We ate an interesting lunch and tried to talk a little more. He told me he has no family and he lives out of his truck. He works pretty constant though and makes about $800 week so I'm not sure where he spends his money. Well at that time I wasn't sure. I spent the rest of the daylight hours walking around with him asking random questions I could put together with my book while he visted various people throughout the town. I did manage to indirectly get some details on my future friend taking me to Tampico too and that it wouldn't just be a free ride.
Back in the truck Rodrigo tells me he is going to a whorehouse in Mexico. He told me his girl was 36 years old and cost $30. I was very curious to see what the place was like, and what a $30 girl looked like, but didn't think they would like nonpaying guests, so respectfully declined even when he offered to pay for me. I did need to take care of a tourist card, its basically like a travel visa for Mexico, so I told him I'd walk with him part way. We paid our 65cents and walked back across the bridge, this time taking an immediate right into the Mexican immigrations, not a requirement like the US. I was kind of surprised- and I almost suspect the attendant was being a dick to spite me- but I get up to the guy there, and upon learning I don't speak English, he huffs and says no espanol, why are you coming to Mexico. Evidentally he wants me to think thats the only English phrase he learned because after that he would do nothing but speak rapid Spanish to me while I stared at him blankly. WTF guy, its a border, with America, that means its probably going to be Americans that need to see your ass time to time to travel into Mexico. Good thing Rodrigo came, he saw my dilemma and came up to the booth and talked to the guy. I know the amigo part came into question again, but I coudn't pick up much else, eventually I was given a form to fill out for 180 days in Mexico. Thats the most you can get and its the same price as a shorer stay so might as well I guess. I then found out that 7days or less meant you didn't have to pay any fees and you could have it renewed? When I got back to the front I lucked out and got the same angry guy. He was NOT going to let me switch to 7 days and I insisted that I was only going to be there a week. He said something about 6 months to 7 days, and motioned for me to follow him. More drama with this damn border crossing. I tried to just repeat una semana and he demanded I 'pay NOW'. $267 pesos. Odd amount, I only had dollars so we walked back out to the front and into the next little area where they had a bank setup. I paid my US dollars, $21 I believe, and the man stamped my passport and told me to wait there while he went back to his little area. Rodrigo was motioning fairly animated at this point to go to him and so I quickly walked over as he started walking out the door. He said 'go back now' so I did haha. The US side was pretty tame this time, I just said I was coming back from dinner with a friend from Mexico. And no sir, no drugs.
I'm not sure if my friend paid $30 per hour for his lady or for the session, but I guess he got his moneys worth, I waited around in his truck for solid few hours before he came back. I was asleep on the top bunk when he got in and started to drive, ookk then. We stopped outside of an animal clinic, thats the only thing with an advertised sign anyway. He said we could get showers there and he went to get his first. HOURS went by. It was into the AM when he came back, evidentally he had another girl there somewhere. I didn't take a shower. I went back to sleep.
4 AM and it's time to head to Mexico. I was dropped off in the middle of nowhere, alone, and fearing that I had been tricked for whatever reason. About an hour later the next guy finally shows up and we cross into Mexico. Another guy is picked up and I move to the bed of the truck. Driving around the border town on the Mexico side in the bed of a truck was definitely something else, I got a couple of pictures and some video but I seemed to have a lot of people looking at me, on the street and in cars behind us, and I got scared and put it away. Some more switches took place, people getting in and out, ask me about all that sometime... we stopped at a couple places along the way when we were in route to Tampico, got my first food from a roadside shop on wheels, they are everywhere, and cheap. We went to a friends of the driver, who runs a funeral home. I didn't know this at the time and I was lead into a room with coffins stacked up and he told me to choose one. They found my reaction hilarious evidentally. The guy actually liked scaring me the best he could for most of the ride, telling me all the bad things that happen in Mexico, about possibly getting kidnapped and not having the ransom money then they'd sell my organs on the black market one by one till I died. Every town we stopped in was a 'mafia town' unless it was extra rundown and sketchy, then he'd say 'ok we are here Tampico.' There was a huge bunch of mountains you could see for over an hour as we approached, it looked amazing but he swore that there were lions or tigers there and it was unsafe. I flat out did not believe that, but he never admitted to making that up like a lot of the other things he told me. He still today will tell me I can't go there because lions and tigers. We arrived at my new friends house at about 5pm.
Walking into the building that handles the people crossing on foot, there were two lines leading to border patrol agents. Off to the right was a room with somewhere north of 20 hispanic people sitting, waiting to be processed further or searched I do not know. Further down was a closed door with no window and no label like all the others, just an agent standing at the door with the big blue latex gloves on. I could guess pretty easily what that was all about.
I was still thinking about the man that had hissed at me and if Mexico was such a great idea when it was my turn in line to see someone. The agent wasted no time in making the intense atmosphere worse. I told him I had just crossed into Mexico earlier to see what it was like. He asked what pharmacy I went to- he opened with that. I decided it'd probably be best if I didn't mention that I actually did go to a pharmacy with my friend and just said I didn't. Well what drugs am I smuggling across? 'None, sir.' I had no bags or anything to search. I thought about the ominous man in blue gloves and unlabeled door just a dozen feet away or so and made a point not to look over there. 'Well why the hell is an American walking INTO Mexico, then an hour later just walking back out?' My voice actually jumped when I answered next as I told him I ate lunch with my friend. 'Who's your friend?' I messed up and said Rodrigo, the guy behind me in line. He called Rodrigo over and put together that I spoke basically no Spanish and he spoke basically no English. 'How the fuck are you friends if you can't even speak the same language? What's going on here?' I knew I hadn't done anything wrong but I was replaying all the horror stories I'd read about dealing with crossing US borders and the intensity of the dude questioning me and the room full of people taken to the side and the damn guy with the latex gloves.. I said we just met, then Rodrigo chimed in and talked to the guy for a solid couple of minutes in Spanish and we were free to pass. I assume he just explained everything, but unfortunately I couldn't communicate enough to figure that out.
We ate an interesting lunch and tried to talk a little more. He told me he has no family and he lives out of his truck. He works pretty constant though and makes about $800 week so I'm not sure where he spends his money. Well at that time I wasn't sure. I spent the rest of the daylight hours walking around with him asking random questions I could put together with my book while he visted various people throughout the town. I did manage to indirectly get some details on my future friend taking me to Tampico too and that it wouldn't just be a free ride.
Back in the truck Rodrigo tells me he is going to a whorehouse in Mexico. He told me his girl was 36 years old and cost $30. I was very curious to see what the place was like, and what a $30 girl looked like, but didn't think they would like nonpaying guests, so respectfully declined even when he offered to pay for me. I did need to take care of a tourist card, its basically like a travel visa for Mexico, so I told him I'd walk with him part way. We paid our 65cents and walked back across the bridge, this time taking an immediate right into the Mexican immigrations, not a requirement like the US. I was kind of surprised- and I almost suspect the attendant was being a dick to spite me- but I get up to the guy there, and upon learning I don't speak English, he huffs and says no espanol, why are you coming to Mexico. Evidentally he wants me to think thats the only English phrase he learned because after that he would do nothing but speak rapid Spanish to me while I stared at him blankly. WTF guy, its a border, with America, that means its probably going to be Americans that need to see your ass time to time to travel into Mexico. Good thing Rodrigo came, he saw my dilemma and came up to the booth and talked to the guy. I know the amigo part came into question again, but I coudn't pick up much else, eventually I was given a form to fill out for 180 days in Mexico. Thats the most you can get and its the same price as a shorer stay so might as well I guess. I then found out that 7days or less meant you didn't have to pay any fees and you could have it renewed? When I got back to the front I lucked out and got the same angry guy. He was NOT going to let me switch to 7 days and I insisted that I was only going to be there a week. He said something about 6 months to 7 days, and motioned for me to follow him. More drama with this damn border crossing. I tried to just repeat una semana and he demanded I 'pay NOW'. $267 pesos. Odd amount, I only had dollars so we walked back out to the front and into the next little area where they had a bank setup. I paid my US dollars, $21 I believe, and the man stamped my passport and told me to wait there while he went back to his little area. Rodrigo was motioning fairly animated at this point to go to him and so I quickly walked over as he started walking out the door. He said 'go back now' so I did haha. The US side was pretty tame this time, I just said I was coming back from dinner with a friend from Mexico. And no sir, no drugs.
I'm not sure if my friend paid $30 per hour for his lady or for the session, but I guess he got his moneys worth, I waited around in his truck for solid few hours before he came back. I was asleep on the top bunk when he got in and started to drive, ookk then. We stopped outside of an animal clinic, thats the only thing with an advertised sign anyway. He said we could get showers there and he went to get his first. HOURS went by. It was into the AM when he came back, evidentally he had another girl there somewhere. I didn't take a shower. I went back to sleep.
4 AM and it's time to head to Mexico. I was dropped off in the middle of nowhere, alone, and fearing that I had been tricked for whatever reason. About an hour later the next guy finally shows up and we cross into Mexico. Another guy is picked up and I move to the bed of the truck. Driving around the border town on the Mexico side in the bed of a truck was definitely something else, I got a couple of pictures and some video but I seemed to have a lot of people looking at me, on the street and in cars behind us, and I got scared and put it away. Some more switches took place, people getting in and out, ask me about all that sometime... we stopped at a couple places along the way when we were in route to Tampico, got my first food from a roadside shop on wheels, they are everywhere, and cheap. We went to a friends of the driver, who runs a funeral home. I didn't know this at the time and I was lead into a room with coffins stacked up and he told me to choose one. They found my reaction hilarious evidentally. The guy actually liked scaring me the best he could for most of the ride, telling me all the bad things that happen in Mexico, about possibly getting kidnapped and not having the ransom money then they'd sell my organs on the black market one by one till I died. Every town we stopped in was a 'mafia town' unless it was extra rundown and sketchy, then he'd say 'ok we are here Tampico.' There was a huge bunch of mountains you could see for over an hour as we approached, it looked amazing but he swore that there were lions or tigers there and it was unsafe. I flat out did not believe that, but he never admitted to making that up like a lot of the other things he told me. He still today will tell me I can't go there because lions and tigers. We arrived at my new friends house at about 5pm.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
to Mexico, part 1.
Evansville, Chicago, St.Louis, Oklahoma City, Dallas, Louisiana, Henderson, Austin.. lots of excitement in the USA that will be written about sooner or later, but I gotta go with whats fresh now.
to Mexico
I left Austin Saturday morning planning to go to Laredo TX and camp out somewhere, wake up early, cross into Mexico, and be in Monterrey before dark. My Austin host, Katherine, took me with her to San Marcos where she dropped me off. I got some supplies at the stores and started walking toward a good spot to pick up a ride. Amazingly a truck pulled over in front of me, a guy with his 2 daughters. He said he figured I was going somewhere long distance because of my pack and he was feeling Christmasy. I was dropped off at a truck stop with a built in McDonalds, so I went in and got a cup of water and ate some snacks I carry in my pack and decided to walk back to the interstate because there weren't many truckers going in or out of there. No sooner than I sat my pack down and stuck my thumb out I had another ride. And I had heard Texans were dicks as far as hitch hiking and those things were concerned ha. This ride was a bit further, probably a half hour, and he even went out of his way to get me to a bunch of giant truck stops outside of San Antonio. I met a couple my age that had hitched from Seattle with a truck carrying a trailer loaded with cars. Evidentally he let them sleep in one of the cars and eveything.. I have yet to get a ride like that. Anyhow, we chatted for about 10 minutes or so and they managed to find a ride to Houston about the same time I found one going south.
My driver, Rodrigo, knew very little English. I had bought a pocket spanish book earlier in San Marcos and that was practically all the Spanish I knew. Turns out he wasn{t heading to Laredo, but Brownsville, and he said he could take me right to the border. We rolled into town about 9pm, well after dark. I had been scanning the area for a covert place to setup camp for the night but I was feeling pretty nervous. Luckily, Rodrigo said I could sleep in the top bunk of his truck. He seemed like a nice guy, from what little bit we managed to converse, and I decided that was the best option so I took it. He woke me up at 8am to take me to breakfast. My first authenic Mexican meal- granted still on US soil, but I was the first English speaker they seemed to have had in quite awhile. I ordered bacon and eggs, one of the few things I knew how to say, and got scambled eggs, cheese and bacon together, french fries, refried beans, and a stack of tortillas. It was AMAZING. Sounds odd, but I loved it. It's funny, I had just heard from someone who spent time in Mexico that after they ate the real deal, Mexican food in America was disappointing. I see where they were coming from. After breakfast, Rodrigo said he had to go meet a friend and that I could go back to his truck and sleep some more if I wanted.
I explored the city a bit, walked toward the border, and met a couple of homeless guys along the way. Americans that slept on the street, the only English speakers I met in Brownsville. I'm not sure why they were there, I guess it's a warm place to be homeless. I chatted up a few, one guy told me he was about to cross the border and walk across Mexico to train for Iron Man. Another, said he lost his passport and was considering crossing and having it mailed to him in Mexico to cross back to America. The entire area was pretty sketchy I thought at the time, bars on things and run down buildings. Border patrol was everywhere. When I got back to the truck I could not get the truck door open, the handles were messed up, you had to stick yourhand in through the window and slam on the door while pulling to open it.. I got a few looks doing that and decided that with nothing on me as far as ID, I didn't want to get in trouble with the police or anyone else, so, I decide to call everyone in my phone and update them on the happenings.
3 hours passed. I finally managed to get in the truck and was charging my cellphone, planning to walk across the border as soon as it was decently charged. Again I got lucky and Rodrigo pulled up in a pickup while I was waiting on the phone to charge. He had a friend that was going to Tampico, a good 6-7 hours south into Mexico, the next morning and he could take me with him. I thanked them both very much and the plan was set.
Rodrigo asked if I wanted to walk into Mexico with him, which of course I did. We paid 0.65 to walk across the bridge and into Mexico. I was taking pictures until we hit the Mexican side of the bridge and walked down to the gates- there were soldiers in full out gear, assault rifles, etc. I wanted to get some pictures of them but Rodrigo insisted immediately I put my camera away. A bit freaked out, I did. My first impression of Mexico still stands, at least as far as cities and villages, and that is that it is LOUD. I couldn't help but think of a Mitch Hedburg bit about limiting everyones use to 3 car honks per month. I wonder if he ever went to Mexico? This wasn't even a big city, but there was almost constantly a sund of a horn somewhere, and the music haha. We went into a tiny one room pharmacy so Rodrigo could pick up some medicine, and they had at least 6 speakers pointing out into the street, BLASTING some Michael Jackson. This was the typical business setup.. interesting. The buildings all have a distinct look to them also.. flat roof, flat sides, that weird concrete with metal bars running through which you can often see due to the broken concrete. I pulled out my phones and sent a couple of text messages, which drew the attention of a nearby guy while Rodrigo chatted with someone he knew. The guy was staring me down and I quickly put the phone in my pocket, he was not deterred. I walked closer to Rodrigo and not sure if I should make a big deal about this or not just asked Que Pasa to get in the conversation with Rodrigo and his friend. The glarring man then hissed at me. Like a cat. I was feeling pretty fucking nervous and immediately walked back to the boarder and all the men with guns.
I'll pick up soon, I'm helping with dinner tonight.
Feliz Navidad!
to Mexico
I left Austin Saturday morning planning to go to Laredo TX and camp out somewhere, wake up early, cross into Mexico, and be in Monterrey before dark. My Austin host, Katherine, took me with her to San Marcos where she dropped me off. I got some supplies at the stores and started walking toward a good spot to pick up a ride. Amazingly a truck pulled over in front of me, a guy with his 2 daughters. He said he figured I was going somewhere long distance because of my pack and he was feeling Christmasy. I was dropped off at a truck stop with a built in McDonalds, so I went in and got a cup of water and ate some snacks I carry in my pack and decided to walk back to the interstate because there weren't many truckers going in or out of there. No sooner than I sat my pack down and stuck my thumb out I had another ride. And I had heard Texans were dicks as far as hitch hiking and those things were concerned ha. This ride was a bit further, probably a half hour, and he even went out of his way to get me to a bunch of giant truck stops outside of San Antonio. I met a couple my age that had hitched from Seattle with a truck carrying a trailer loaded with cars. Evidentally he let them sleep in one of the cars and eveything.. I have yet to get a ride like that. Anyhow, we chatted for about 10 minutes or so and they managed to find a ride to Houston about the same time I found one going south.
My driver, Rodrigo, knew very little English. I had bought a pocket spanish book earlier in San Marcos and that was practically all the Spanish I knew. Turns out he wasn{t heading to Laredo, but Brownsville, and he said he could take me right to the border. We rolled into town about 9pm, well after dark. I had been scanning the area for a covert place to setup camp for the night but I was feeling pretty nervous. Luckily, Rodrigo said I could sleep in the top bunk of his truck. He seemed like a nice guy, from what little bit we managed to converse, and I decided that was the best option so I took it. He woke me up at 8am to take me to breakfast. My first authenic Mexican meal- granted still on US soil, but I was the first English speaker they seemed to have had in quite awhile. I ordered bacon and eggs, one of the few things I knew how to say, and got scambled eggs, cheese and bacon together, french fries, refried beans, and a stack of tortillas. It was AMAZING. Sounds odd, but I loved it. It's funny, I had just heard from someone who spent time in Mexico that after they ate the real deal, Mexican food in America was disappointing. I see where they were coming from. After breakfast, Rodrigo said he had to go meet a friend and that I could go back to his truck and sleep some more if I wanted.
I explored the city a bit, walked toward the border, and met a couple of homeless guys along the way. Americans that slept on the street, the only English speakers I met in Brownsville. I'm not sure why they were there, I guess it's a warm place to be homeless. I chatted up a few, one guy told me he was about to cross the border and walk across Mexico to train for Iron Man. Another, said he lost his passport and was considering crossing and having it mailed to him in Mexico to cross back to America. The entire area was pretty sketchy I thought at the time, bars on things and run down buildings. Border patrol was everywhere. When I got back to the truck I could not get the truck door open, the handles were messed up, you had to stick yourhand in through the window and slam on the door while pulling to open it.. I got a few looks doing that and decided that with nothing on me as far as ID, I didn't want to get in trouble with the police or anyone else, so, I decide to call everyone in my phone and update them on the happenings.
3 hours passed. I finally managed to get in the truck and was charging my cellphone, planning to walk across the border as soon as it was decently charged. Again I got lucky and Rodrigo pulled up in a pickup while I was waiting on the phone to charge. He had a friend that was going to Tampico, a good 6-7 hours south into Mexico, the next morning and he could take me with him. I thanked them both very much and the plan was set.
Rodrigo asked if I wanted to walk into Mexico with him, which of course I did. We paid 0.65 to walk across the bridge and into Mexico. I was taking pictures until we hit the Mexican side of the bridge and walked down to the gates- there were soldiers in full out gear, assault rifles, etc. I wanted to get some pictures of them but Rodrigo insisted immediately I put my camera away. A bit freaked out, I did. My first impression of Mexico still stands, at least as far as cities and villages, and that is that it is LOUD. I couldn't help but think of a Mitch Hedburg bit about limiting everyones use to 3 car honks per month. I wonder if he ever went to Mexico? This wasn't even a big city, but there was almost constantly a sund of a horn somewhere, and the music haha. We went into a tiny one room pharmacy so Rodrigo could pick up some medicine, and they had at least 6 speakers pointing out into the street, BLASTING some Michael Jackson. This was the typical business setup.. interesting. The buildings all have a distinct look to them also.. flat roof, flat sides, that weird concrete with metal bars running through which you can often see due to the broken concrete. I pulled out my phones and sent a couple of text messages, which drew the attention of a nearby guy while Rodrigo chatted with someone he knew. The guy was staring me down and I quickly put the phone in my pocket, he was not deterred. I walked closer to Rodrigo and not sure if I should make a big deal about this or not just asked Que Pasa to get in the conversation with Rodrigo and his friend. The glarring man then hissed at me. Like a cat. I was feeling pretty fucking nervous and immediately walked back to the boarder and all the men with guns.
I'll pick up soon, I'm helping with dinner tonight.
Feliz Navidad!
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Louisiana to Evansville
I have been unable to resurrect my laptop so I'm finally rewriting what's happened up until this point.
Oct 25th- I put on my headphones and headed out the door in Cotton Valley, LA sometime much later than I had hoped. I walked to the edge of 'town' and found a spot in the shade for what I thought would be a long wait. Luckily I was only there for a couple of songs before I had a prison guard stop and take me to Dixie Inn, about 20 miles south and right on the interstate. There I waited FOREVER on the east bound on ramp as a half dozen cars or so maybe went by over the course of more than an hour. Eventually someone headed west stopped and told me that most people from Minden (the town a couple of miles up the road) got on at the next exit and I should try there. A solid two and a half hours to and through the town and I was at another on ramp, in the dark. Pretty exhausted and disappointed in traveling 25miles or so total for the day I didn't even bother trying to get a ride in the dark. The local highway, the interstate and the on ramp formed a triangle which was raised up enough that I was confident that no one would see me without looking for me so I setup a tent on the top of the hill and got on my laptop for a little bit and fell asleep. I did manage to find an interesting souvener beside the road, right at the beginning of the on ramp.
Oct 26th- This new exit wasn't a lot better. After about an hour of no rides again, I walk down the exit and stand along the interstate where all the passing traffic can see me- illegal in most states. It paid off. Not more than 10 minutes along the interstate I got a ride from David, he was on his way to Nashville TN to see his kids. Perfect example of why I like hitch hiking, we ended up having some very interesting conversations, exchanged emails and we still keep in touch. He ended up altering his route drastically to take me through Memphis where we would part ways. That ended up being somewhere in the neighborhood of a 7 hour ride. By chance my dad was coming south and passing right through West Memphis so I met him at a truck stop and we got to chat and eat some dinner. At this point it was going to be dark soon so I walked down the road to another truck stop and went into the driver's lounge. I watched some tv and dosed off there.
Oct 27th- At about 5am or so a larger Mexican guy sit down beside me and woke me up. It was still early so I was trying to go back to sleep but he wanted to make small talk so I sat up for a minute to chat. When I told him what I was doing he told me he was leaving in about 20 minutes going the same direction I was and he offered me a ride, I didn't even have to ask. That seemed kind of odd but I had been talking to him enough that he seemed cool and I had a knife and pepper spray on me. Unfortunately he was either not very good with directions or was trying to dodge a scale I'm not sure, but he was getting off the interstate after only about 40 miles to cut across some state road which I did not want to bother with so we parted ways there. Now the sun is just beginning to rise and its raining. It was not the best start to a day, I was tired and now wet and cold. I contemplated waiting the rain out in the Walmart nearby but after checking the weather saw it wasn't expected to stop anytime soon. So I sucked it up, put my hood up and blasted the ipod. I got a ride fairly quickly there, from another guy named David, who I would also ride with for a couple hundred miles, and we also keep in touch. What are the odds? David let me out right near the Illinois/Indiana border where I got a ride from a wild old guy named Tom. He was a war vet, paratrooper with a ton of jumps under his belt. He had gotten kicked out of the army and was on his way into Evansville (my destination) to party and meet up with his black stripper girlfriend. Very interesting guy. Tom dropped me off at a gas station downtown where I was picked up by my couchsurfing host Blake.
Oct 25th- I put on my headphones and headed out the door in Cotton Valley, LA sometime much later than I had hoped. I walked to the edge of 'town' and found a spot in the shade for what I thought would be a long wait. Luckily I was only there for a couple of songs before I had a prison guard stop and take me to Dixie Inn, about 20 miles south and right on the interstate. There I waited FOREVER on the east bound on ramp as a half dozen cars or so maybe went by over the course of more than an hour. Eventually someone headed west stopped and told me that most people from Minden (the town a couple of miles up the road) got on at the next exit and I should try there. A solid two and a half hours to and through the town and I was at another on ramp, in the dark. Pretty exhausted and disappointed in traveling 25miles or so total for the day I didn't even bother trying to get a ride in the dark. The local highway, the interstate and the on ramp formed a triangle which was raised up enough that I was confident that no one would see me without looking for me so I setup a tent on the top of the hill and got on my laptop for a little bit and fell asleep. I did manage to find an interesting souvener beside the road, right at the beginning of the on ramp.
Oct 26th- This new exit wasn't a lot better. After about an hour of no rides again, I walk down the exit and stand along the interstate where all the passing traffic can see me- illegal in most states. It paid off. Not more than 10 minutes along the interstate I got a ride from David, he was on his way to Nashville TN to see his kids. Perfect example of why I like hitch hiking, we ended up having some very interesting conversations, exchanged emails and we still keep in touch. He ended up altering his route drastically to take me through Memphis where we would part ways. That ended up being somewhere in the neighborhood of a 7 hour ride. By chance my dad was coming south and passing right through West Memphis so I met him at a truck stop and we got to chat and eat some dinner. At this point it was going to be dark soon so I walked down the road to another truck stop and went into the driver's lounge. I watched some tv and dosed off there.
Oct 27th- At about 5am or so a larger Mexican guy sit down beside me and woke me up. It was still early so I was trying to go back to sleep but he wanted to make small talk so I sat up for a minute to chat. When I told him what I was doing he told me he was leaving in about 20 minutes going the same direction I was and he offered me a ride, I didn't even have to ask. That seemed kind of odd but I had been talking to him enough that he seemed cool and I had a knife and pepper spray on me. Unfortunately he was either not very good with directions or was trying to dodge a scale I'm not sure, but he was getting off the interstate after only about 40 miles to cut across some state road which I did not want to bother with so we parted ways there. Now the sun is just beginning to rise and its raining. It was not the best start to a day, I was tired and now wet and cold. I contemplated waiting the rain out in the Walmart nearby but after checking the weather saw it wasn't expected to stop anytime soon. So I sucked it up, put my hood up and blasted the ipod. I got a ride fairly quickly there, from another guy named David, who I would also ride with for a couple hundred miles, and we also keep in touch. What are the odds? David let me out right near the Illinois/Indiana border where I got a ride from a wild old guy named Tom. He was a war vet, paratrooper with a ton of jumps under his belt. He had gotten kicked out of the army and was on his way into Evansville (my destination) to party and meet up with his black stripper girlfriend. Very interesting guy. Tom dropped me off at a gas station downtown where I was picked up by my couchsurfing host Blake.
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