Crew Evaluation and Yaxchilan/Bonampak Ruins

Kickin' back in San Cristobal for the time being. We had three nights here and I took advantage of the "free days" to catch up on sleep and paperwork.

Things have been rolling steadily along with the group. I paralleled the first week of the trip with another tour guide named Kevin that works for a company tied close to ours. He pretty much runs one trip back to back through the year... it just so happens that the trip is several months long from Panama to Anchorage, Alaska! Pretty hardcore trip. It was cool hanging out with him and getting some tips for my upcoming trips south to Guatemala, Belize and Honduras. Plus the man's a dancing machine and tore it up all night to Reggae grooves with my group in San Cristobal!

The trip has been OK so far. We've had a couple of good nights and checked out some places I haven't seen up till this trip, but I'm lacking a really tight connection to the group. I know that they are having a good time and that's all that counts.

Having a little bit of cultural differences with the American on my trip (a little bit of an oxymoron it seems). On the surface it one would think that we would be friends - we both collect transformers. What are the chances that 2 transformer collecting nerds would unite on a Mexican adventure tour? Almost 0. But yes, he is a collector and from our conversation I came to realize a much more eagar collector than I. He only collects MISB (mint in sealed box) transformers and stores them in a room equipted with airtight cases and a motion detection alarm system. I just have mine tossed in a rubbermade bucket labeled "Transformers". And that my friends is where the similarities end. I have a hard time with people that: 1. Tell me how I should run my own show. I know that sounds a little controling but I hate telling a group how we're going to do something and then having someone say "Yeah... that sounds ok but it would be better if you did it like this..." 2. Speaks "at" Mexican people in English loudly and then doesn't get it when they don't understand him... and who's Spanish vocabulary goes no further than yelling "Que pasa!" at people and asking them where "el toileto" is at and 3. Has the balls to say "I'm not racist but it's the niggers that always shit all over the toilet seat". This my friends is just the tip of the iceburg. Anyways... I'm trying my hardest to keep my smile on with this guy and just keep moving. Intrestingly enough I think he thinks that we're homies because he hangs out around me and showers me with stories about how hardcore of a pimp he is in Poland and how he's been hackin' databases since age 4.

Big Boy Boston

Anyways, at least Bong is proving to be pretty hilarious. Pretty much what I would expect from a guy whose namesake is a waterpipe. He makes time pass quickly in the van by asking everyone really personal questions and sharing his own quirky personal experiences - ie. the Mexican guy that snuck into his bed the night before the trip. It's interesting to see Bong hold court with the crew and I also gotta respect the fact that he's hilarious in a second language.

The highlight of the trip for me was a day trip south from Palenque to visit the ruins of Yaxchilan and Bonampak on the Mexico/Guatemala border. Driving south from Palenque it took 3 hours to reach the Usumacinta river launch point for the ruins of Yaxchilan. In order to visit the ruins you have to rent a lancha (boat) from the Hotel Escudo Jaguar and chug 45 minutes up river. The boat ride was quite an experience as the boat itself was long and thin and weight had to be distributed evenly so as not to tip. Even still I found myself gripping the edge on every turn as the sides of the boat wobbled within inches of submersion! Plus with the addition of the big guy, things got a little tricky. The trip up river was nice... we saw quite a bit of wildlife - crocodiles, howler monkeys and macaws. I was really impressed by the macaws as it was the first time that I have seen them in Mexico. Called "Guacamayas" in Spanish, these birds used to be fairly common in the southern jungle region of Mexico but have all but disappeared. While we were making are way up river about 5 flew over our heads in the boat and I was super pumped. My group on the other hand didn't seem so impressed and showed about as much enthusiasum deemed worthy of a squirrel sighting at SqurrielTown USA.

Anyways... made our way to the drop off point, unloaded and climbed the river bank up to the entrance. The ruins themselves were pretty impressive. There is a large acropolis that sits closest to the river and a couple of smaller acropolis' that rest on increasingly higher hills overlooking the main set of temples. Most of the temples are still in great condition, some still adorned with crests on the roofs. There are a couple of impressive stellae and the stonework on the walls of the temple are still detailed in many places. To me though, the main attaction of these ruins is the setting. Still surrounded by lush jungle the ruins seemed to be more alive, more mysterious than others I have visited. And the setting itself makes it harder to get to, thus it is less populated with teeming hordes of day-tripping ruins "touristas". There's something to be said about exploring the moss-slicked temples in semi-seclusion and absorbing the mystic Mayan vibes while the screams of howlers and the clicking "cree-cree" of toucans fill the humid air. I really enjoyed it.

Chillin' @ Yaxchilan


The Sleepy Boat Ride Back


The Boat Launch on Rio Usumacinta

After a sleepy return trip to the van we made our way to Bonampak. These ruins are about 30 minutes inland from the river. They are most well known for the incredibly well preserved wall paintings discovered in three rooms in the main temple there. It is the only site in all of the Mayan world that has paintings that have survived the humid tropical weather and 100's of years since their creation. The group wasn't so excited about the place (and were less excited about the mandatory $70 peso "bus" - read dilapatated van - ride that we had to take to enter the site) but I think that they were oblivious to the importance of the paintings. They are incredible to see. It is the only surviving example that in vivid color display the costumes, cerimonal dress and rituals of the Mayan people. Quite incredible to see I must say.

The Crew @ Bonampak

On the way back we saw something crossing the road. It was quick, slinky, long and black, with a long tail. It looked cat-like to me and the person in the front seat but it was so fast that we didn't have time to accurately i.d. it. When I got back to MayaBell and asked Candelario (the groundskeeper) and El Rojo (resident hippie/pirate) about it, they told me that it was probably "Una pantera" - a panther. Not quite sure because to me it didn't look tall enough to be a jungle cat... but if anyone asks it's going to go down in history as my panther sighting!

Trip 1 - Yucatan Adventure

Began my first trip down here on Sunday. A 2 week Yucatan Aventure... basically a quick circle to visit the highlights of the Yucatan. The trip is as follows:

Sun. - Merida
Mon. - Beach near Cuidad del Carmen
Tue. - Palenque
Wed. - Palenque (Palenque Ruins)
Thu. - Palenque (visit Bonampak & Yaxchillan)
Fri. - San Cristobal (Aqua Azul)
Sat. - San Cristobal
Sun. - San Cristobal (visit San Juan Chamula)
Mon. - Calakmul (camp in Jungle)
Tues. - Laguna Bacalar
Wed. - Xpu-Ha (Near Tulum)
Thu. - Xpu-Ha (Tulum ruins and Cavern Snorkel)
Fri. - Xpu-Ha (Jungle ATVs and Playa)
Sat. - Cancun

Got a pretty eclectic group. 2 girls from Germany, 1 guy from the UK, a couple (American guy and a Polish girl) from Boston, 1 Aussie girl, 2 Koren guys and a French girl. I had to laugh when I saw that one of the Korean guys was named ¨Bong¨ and the French girl was named ¨Fanny¨. I mentioned this to an English girl who works at my office in LA and she said, ¨A Bong and a Fanny... that´s all you need!¨ (My British readers should get a laugh out of that, I know I did).

Anyway the crew seems good enough. Gotta roll and meet up with them though, so I´ll have to elaborate more at a later date. Already a couple of gems to share.

PS... I have seen a couple of comments, but overall you guys are still weak sauce in that department. Thanks Gemma and Fitz (my man!) for leaving me some feedback. Fitz - I´ll be posting you site on my links asap. Peace!

Parte Dos: D.F. and Wet Tortas

Hola...

Thought that I´d add to my sprint experience post before the memories fade and before I get into my new trip.

Second day in Mexico was incredibly successful. Woke up at the gas station I crashed at and cruised to Mexico D.F. As I approached the city I realized that luck was on my side. The city is normally a smog filled basin, thicker than Los Angeles on the worst of worst days. But the day I rolled in it was the clearest I had ever seen. Descending into the valley I could see the entire city (and what an ENORMOUS city it is!) sprawled before me. It was so clear that entering in the northeast I could see Popo and Itza the two resident volcanoes that make the southern border of D.F. their home. With the sun shining on me I knew nothing could go wrong... which is expecting a lot in the headquarters of some of the most money grubbin´ policia in Mexico. Rarely do you pass through the city without a cop pulling you over for a mordida (bribe). The reasons can be various and ridiculous: tinted windows, you look like a American movie star (as one officer once told me - Brad Pitt he said. Not too much of a stretch if you ask me :) so I kindly padded his pocket with a crisp 50 peso note.) or just looking like a gringo. This day though was an exception and I made it through without a wrong turn or a cop encounter.

On the other side of D.F. I saw a motley bunch of Mexi-hippies hitching for a ride and decided a little company might be nice... and also a good way to practice my Spanish. I pulled over and all 4 of them ran over to the van, dreads flapping as they dragged all their goods my way. They piled into the back with all their equiptment which was comprised of 4 big packs and 4 HUGE drums. They had a couple of jambays and 2 hugies that they called ¨doon-doon¨drums. They were about the size of oil drums and reminded me of the daddy drums that the slavemaster in the back of viking oarships used to maintain paddle rhythm... ¨doon-doon, doon-doon, doon-doon¨.

They where an ok bunch of kids... 3 Chilangos (slang for people from Mexico City) and a Costa Rican girl all in there early twenties. We talked for a little bit about everything... Music, where they were from, politics. It was nice to spit a little Spanish and get into the groove. After a couple of hours we got into a driving groove... music and highway lines. They wanted a ride to Palenque which took 12 hours and seeing as though I met them at 1:30 pm that would mean that I would be on the road that day for almost 18 hours... a long day!

It got pretty dark out and things were quiet for a while. Then Arife offered me a sandwich. I was a little apprehensive about what kind of sandwich these guys would throw together so I refused. But then a little later I saw him eating his and my stomach intervened. I accepted. He handed me the white bread bag with the last sandwich inside and I dug in and grabbed it. It was moist and heavy, but at this point, as he was watching me intently, I realized that I was in it for the long haul. My mind was telling me that a wet, sloppy, brick of sandwich thrown together on the side of the road by a 20 year old Mexi-hippie was probably something you should stay away from altogether... but out of respect I bit in. And it was... DELICIOUS. Not sure exactly what it was, but from the fact that there were chunks of meat in it I´m fairly certain it was a cold hotdog, mayonaise and jalepeno sandwich. Normally 2 of those ingredients I would avoid like the plague, but with their powers combined they form the super-sandwich!

Eventually I pulled off the drive and we arrived in Palenque about 1:00 am. Slept like a rock and was up when the steamy tropical weather enveloped me at about 8:00. Dropped the hippie quartet off at some commune where they were going to play drums for the week and then pushed onto Laguna Bacalar for a short day of driving (9 hours).

My final sprint day I made my way up to the Mayan Riviera and rolled into the campground in Xpu-ha where we stay with our groups. A couple of tour guide friends of mine were there as well as the same familiar residents doing what they were doing last year when I left (sitting in lawn chairs, drinking beers and eating sun sandwiches). I was good to see a couple of familiar faces as it had been some time but I didn´t get to enjoy it too long as the carnitas tacos from the roadside stand in Puerto Adventuras were doing a number on my stomach.

And so I had a arrived to my destination. Spent the next day getting the ends tied and making my way to the gateway hotel in Cancun.

The transition began... The end of the sprint and the beginning of my fourth season in Mexico. How will it go? Vamos a ver!

Map Feature, Counter and Where are My Damned Comments People!

Ok... So I added a couple of features to my blog recently to aid in tracking my following. Yes, yes... I know. It's a stretch to say that I have a following - a little narcissistic and hopeful. Anywho... I have added the features to promote interaction between you ("The Readers") and me ("The writer") and as of yet I have seen little to no interaction.

Some of you have started to post a pin up on my little Frappr Map that I put on the sidebar. It's cool and I know that most of you don't have the time to read the posts that I leave and only want to look at pretty pictures. Therefore I have seen some people toying with that feature but not nearly enough. I mean, I've had like 1 billion Brits on my tours and I think about three are representing... weak sauce! Where are my Italians, where are my Africans, where are my Kyrgyztanis? Most importantly... where are my fellow Americans? Comeon people.... stop watching "Dancing with the Stars" and get off your ass and give me some love! It's a stretch to call Joey Lawrence a star and who wants to see his bald ass dance anyways. Now if it was "Boxing with the Stars" and it was a cage match between the ugly younger brother from "Growing Pains" and Cheri from "Punky Brewster" I'd be sitting next to you betting on the spread, but Slater & Mario Van Peebles... c'mon. So give me some love and pop a pin on my map.

Also... I know that people have been here. I slyly posted a counter to let me know how many people are in and out. And since I added that handy feature on Dec. 31st I have had 306 hits... that's like 20 everyday! But how many comments? Two... and both from Fitz. And I think that's because I am the only one leaving him comments on his blog so he has to reciprocate. C'mon people. Show the love... if you're gonna read it leave me a little shout out! I don't know if it's my friends reading this blog or a bunch of Taiwanese school children who did a google search for: "Mexi-hippie", "Crazy", "Beard", "Coconut", "Travel" and end up with this page. So if you come... leave me something... I'll like you more, I promise.

I'm done yelling... You can go back to "Dancing with the Stars" now.

La Carretera

I begin by waxing poetic -

Eighteen Hours A Day
Highway, How You Transfix Me
My Ass Is So Sore

I hoped you all enjoyed my Haiku. New Year's Resolutions - Write more Haikus. Awesome... I am such a doer!

Yes, yes... I am in the midst of my ever dreaded (and sometimes loved) sprint from Los Angeles to Cancun to begin my 4th season leading tours in Mexico. Oh how the time flys... and when you're driving... Oh how the time laaaaaaaaggggs on!

Left LA on Sat. in the midst of some of the most Ass weather that they have encountered in ages (freezing temps) and it seems as thought the weather followed me! Drove 18 straight hours the first night... LA to Van Horn, Texas. Van Horn is a gem, let me tell you. Nothing there but 22 hotels, meth-heads and dirt (sorry if I offend and of my Van Horn readers). After a crappy night sleep at the cousin of a Days Inn Express I had a short drive (8 hours) to San Antonio. There, as I posted in my last entry, I stayed 2 nights at my buddy Mike's house. Always nice to chill out with Mike and his family. The most gracious of hosts, they have put me up for the past couple years each time I pass through. And they always take me out for a delicious dinner - this time a blue cheese covered filet! Thanks so much again.

Then on Tues. began my Mexodus. I left in the midst of a winter storm warning. It had been raining for a couple of days and then the temperature dropped below freezing. In Wisconsin we call this Tuesday. In San Antonio on the other hand they treat it like a terrorist attack. I left in the morning thinking it would be a quick jump to the highway that took me to the border only to find out that they had closed the highway. They had closed all the highways! So I had to scramble down frontage roads and side streets to make my way south. Finally made it after too much time (and a little slidin's I must admit) to 35 south and cruised to Nuevo Laredo.

Got to the border early afternoon and there were a couple of hiccups there that prevented a smooth crossing. Most of my problems came from a mustachioed border control agent that had it out for me. He had a furrowed, "Bert"-style unibrow and was treating me as if he just discovered that I was a mule trying to smuggle pellets of black tar heroin in my belly. But of course I wasn't... I just was trying to sort out the paperwork to get my van across legally. After a little shimmy-sham-sham I was able to dance my way around the problem and crossed la frontera at about 4 pm.

I was a little behind schedule but things were working out ok. Until about 5 hours later. I had just made my way around Monterray and was heading south towards Saltillo when a mucous thick fog enveloped the Van. Couldn't see 15 feet in front of me. Not the type of weather that you want to encounter when you're driving through the mountains! I couldn't see the road signs and because of this took a wrong turn that shot me into Saltillo and off the highway to Mexico City. I was spun around through detours and side streets... completely lost! And what made matters worse was... It started snowing! Here I am 6 hours south of the border and it's snowing on my me. My sprint was turning out to be less "Easy Rider" and more "The Day After Tomorrow". Asked for directions at a 7-11 and finally got back on course.

To Be Continued...

Preview of Part II - "Mexico DF - Still Alive and Without Paying Bribes" & "Mexi-Hippies and Wet Sandwiches"

Voy a la Frontera

It's early morning in San Antonio, TX and I'm about to brave a "Winter Storm Advisery" to head south to the Mexican/US Border. It's been raining for the past 2 days and then the temperature suddenly dropped below freezing and everything froze. Not your typical South Central Texas weather.

Haven't had much time this week to post much of anything. It's been a whirlwind week of preparations for my Spring season in Mexico. Flew out to LA last Monday and I've barely had time to come up for air since. Spent most of the week getting my gear ready, driving back and forth to San Diego a couple of times for to get my Mexican work visa, sorting through phone plans to get a new phone that will work in Mexico, pre-season paperwork, studying for the retesting for my commercial drivers license, physicals and pee tests, shopping for food and necessities I won't be able to find in Mexico and getting all the odds and ends sorted out. About 2 weeks worth of stuff to do in less than 4 days!

Once I got all my stuff wound up in California then it was time to hit the highways and head south(east). Braving some unusual weather (30's in LA... Ice storms and snow in Texas) I drove about 2 days straight to San Antonio. My buddy Mike, my roommate while I studied in Mexico, lives here and almost everytime I head to Mexico I stop through to get in some Texas Time.

Although Mike's going to medical school at the moment, he was able to squeeze in a couple of nights of hanging. Sunday we went to an English pub... drank guiness and played dominoes. Had a good night except for the shitty service and mushy mint peas that came with my meal. I guess it was really staying true to the English theme then... and the peas, man... I don't know what that was all about. I've heard English passengers come on my trips boasting about the mushy peas... tasted like herbed baby food. Mmmmm, gotta love English cookery! Last night went out with Mike and his parents and got some steaks. Mike and his family have got to be the most hospitable people.... everytime I come they give me a place to stay and take me out for some delicious meals! Thanks so much for all the Texas love!

Anyways.... I better wrap this one up. I'm sitting in the driver's seat of my van waiting for the ice to melt off of the windshield and it's almost defrosted now. Gotta get moving so that I can get all the offical jibber-jabber done at the border and make it as close to (or through) Mexico City as I can get.

Adios Amigos!

Dave's Ho'made Likkers

Every year for the Holiday Gift Giving season I decide to make my friends some sort of gift. Some of the past creations were a CD mixes and "Falsetti Super Soap". This year I decided to step it up a notch by making my own infused liquor.

The idea popped into my head at the end of my season when I went to a bar in the Lower East Side in Mahattan that used homemade infused vodka for most of it's specialty drinks. After a couple of drinks and a quick question and answer session I made the decision to make my own infussions for my holiday gifts.

When I got back to Wisconsin I did a little bit of independent research on the internet. There are a couple of websites out there that help and many recommended a book called "Viva Vodka" which I picked up at the local library. The book told me basically the same thing that the bartender in NYC told me... making your own infused liquor is really easy.

These are the basics. You can infuse pretty much any liquor but vodka is probably the easiest due to it's neutral flavor. Infusing is as easy as picking the flavors you want, buying the ingredients, adding it to the liquor and waiting for the flavors to "infuse" into the liquor. There are a couple of variations and more intricate recipes but that's really the long and short of it.

I chose to start by trying out raspberry, lemon, ginger, watermelon, pineapple and chili. The book and several websites that I consulted recommended different lengths of time for the infusions, so I checked them daily to make sure that they were ok. The amount of time that you leave it in really affects some infusions and barely affects others. For example... to make lemon vodka the book recommends using the zest or rind of the lemon and letting it infuse for 2-3 days. I let mine sit for almost a week and when I tasted it, it was almost too strong and bitter. The pepper vodka as well is one that needs to be checked for strength almost daily. I soaked habenero, jalepeno and serrano peppers in both vodka and tequila. I left the peppers in the tequila for about 4 days and in the vodka for about 8. The tequila was tolerably spicy, but the vodka was rip-ass hot.... I almost choked! Perfect for bloodys!

The conclusion that I came to is that you can rely on books and the internet for ideas for recipes but you really have to rely on your own taste buds to dictate how long you let it marinate. Some fruits and vegetables flavors just worked better than others. I really liked the ginger, raspberry, vanilla and chili vodkas. I also brewed up a chili tequila that made some killer hot-ritas! I had a harder time with the really sweet fruits (watermelon, pineapple, pomegrantate)... it seemed as if the sugars in the fruit made the vodka go off a little. Guess I'll have to experiment a little with those for next year.

Overall, the infusion experiment went quite well. I created my own labels, slapped it on some imported flip-top bottles and through them in some gift baskets with some mixin's. I made a couple of margarita baskets, a couple bloody mary baskets and the rest I gave out solo. I distributed most of the liquor on Christmas and New Years Eve. The response was pretty damn good. My brother brewed up some hot pomegranate margaritas for some work friends a couple days after Christmas. According to them, they burned like lava but were hard to put down. I mixed up some friends a couple of cranberry vodka cosmos and they were diggin'. But I think that the true testament to the deliciousness of my vodka was that Erin drank so much of it on New Years that she was having a public face-melting makeout jam with D-Money in the middle of the Kitchen. If that not testament to tastyness, I don't know what is!





A couple of the labels that I made for my infusions

New Year Jumpin's

Video 1

Lately my friend Jason has been taking a bunch of photos in rapid succesion and then stringing them all together to make it look like a movie.

On New Year's day it was a in the mid 40's and very sunny outside so we decide to take advantage of the day by having a little boche ball / frisbee jammer in the park.

Jason started taking some photos of people's silhouettes in the sunset and then I started jumping around and soon everyone was jumping and showing off their skills (you know, like vertical jumping skills and ninja skills).

These are the results of the photo shoot.

Video 2

I took the photos that Jason shot, layed them out in order, speed up the video and pasted some music in.

The first video here is all of us (Steve, Melanie, Christine, Jason, Melissa, Max & Emily) jumping around. The second video is the bonus feature of just Steve, Spencer and I getting extra ninja!

Just a little experiment with this cool effect.

Jason also took a bunch of photos of the New Year's Party that we went too & Spencer smashing a pie in my face (videos will be posted soon).

Thanks Jason for the help and all your photos!!

Happy New Years!

Hope the transition from 2006 to 2007 was a smooth one for all out there!

This is the first time that I've been back home for New Year's since 2002/2003... so 4 years since I celebrated with my hometown crew.

It was pretty nice evening that started with a huge meal at a surprisingly not too ghetto Chinese Restaurant - some lotus flower and garlic string beans. Everyone cruised to a James Bond themed party in the burbs of Madison. The night started with a limp game of Hold 'Em (limp cause I lost my ass!) and then transformed into a hog-jam hootenanny fueled my Ho'made Liquor (more about that in a future email). Capped off the night with a little robot dancin' and a freestyle battle in the garage. Gotta say, nothing like letting loose a little with some of my closest old school friends to start up '07.

So... I sent out a big ol' email with my 2006 holiday shout out to all me friends and family around the world yesterday and hope it reached everyone. I'm assuming by the fact that I've had 65 hits on my blog since last night that it made it.... So if you check out my page, let me know that you popped in by leaving me a comment or two... that's the fuel that let's me keep up on my posting!