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!
feliz navidad!
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