Back in Portland <--------- (lame title I know)

Hi everyone, sorry I haven't really updated this lately.  I did make it back to Portland, where everything is just peachy.  I do want to go back to Mexico in September, if the stock market will just cooperate.  I haven't really played poker in about a month and a half.  I have been trading stock options and that has been going pretty good lately.

Hmm I have been doing alot and should write alot, but sometimes you just don't feel like it you know?  My ninety-one and a half year old grandpa is in town and that definately is a hoot.  He is still the funniest guy I know, I don't understand how he can make so many jokes all the time.  He's awesome.  Apparently he still walks a mile and a half every day.  Scary.

Well I will write more soon.  I think if I tell people more about the stock market and what I do to make money, I will put you all to sleep.  I really love investing and trading, but I don't think many people have the same passion. 

Thanks for stopping by, I'll put some pictures up later.
Mateo

3:02 PM - 1 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Pocos Fotos de Boda y Callejonada

Having some issues per usual, but I wanted to get some fotos up.  Tomorrrow I leave Zacatecas, muy sad, no?  My roommate Eric came down to visit me and we have been doing the blitz tour of Zac.  Here are some wedding links  followed by random fotos and a video of the callejonada, which consists of hiring a band and a donkey to carry barrels of Mezcal, and then much dancing in the streets and plazas.

11:49 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Opinion were like Kittens- I was givin' em away

Hola folks!  This is really tardy!!!  Sorry!!!  I hope my exclamation marks will ease your pain.  I have been having a really crazy time down here.  Oh before I forget the blog title comes from a favorite Modest Mouse song.  Pretty funny stuff.  So anyhow everyone needs to check out my new and updated profile as while as my new featured artist, mi mujer, Elan.  She's de bomb.  I have new photos up and I put 2 videos in my video area too.  Yeah, that's right, I actually am on top of things around here. 

OK so maybe I'll start with some pictures.  I did finally get a camera.  Let's see if it works.

The first 2 are from a park in Zac

The Ladies cooked me up some yummy Japanese food.  Who knew you could get Octopus in the middle of the Mexican mountains/desert.  Fish, steak, and shrimp were also welcome additions.  Thanks again Tomoko, Yukari, Chieko, Mayumi, and Aki!

Did you see those MANGOES?  Yeah I always have Jumbo mangoes in my fruit bowl.  Makes my house smell like Hawaii.  The guavas smell great too, I usually have a few of those around. 

Now who doesn't love puppies?  This little guy is still wobbley on his feet, just 20 days old.  Say hello to Lola, Dulce's pride and joy:

Well that's some for starters.  If you want to see some of my house then check out my videos on my profile page.  I am going to a wedding in less than an hour so I gotta keep this short.  Still gotta clean up and stuff, maybe shave. 

I feel like I should have more to say since it has been so long since I have blogged.  My comp recharger broke, but I was able to get it fixed this week, which was awesome.  Chalchihuites is still the same, just got back from there on Wednesday.  I will be playing in a poker tournie on June 3rd.  That's pretty exciting.  The winner gets almost 1500 bucks, so I think I will decide to win. 

Well I better get this thing posted.  And get all prettied up, you can imagine how long that would take, were it possible...

11:54 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Mexico is Like a Good Steak; It's Only Halfway Done

That's right, I return to the States in less than 2 months.  I have done a lot but sometimes it seems like there is so much more I want to do.  I spent the last week in Chalchihuites, taking spanish classes and living with the family.  I have taken 2 and a half weeks of classes so far with at least a couple more weeks to go.  Now I am back in Zacatecas, chillin' in my little apartment.  Lemme give a run down of some of the things I have done the last 2 weeks.  Keep in mind the week before Easter is the Cultural Festival Week here in Zacatecas and the internet PDF was 32 pages of events.  This year also featured the first annual Countercultural Week concurrently.

-To start things off I hiked up to the bluff with my friend Itzel to see the Tibetan Monks.  That's right Tibetan monks have returned to Zacatecas after six years to bless the city once again and they brought with them the oracle who told the Dali Lama he needed to flee Tibet for his life.  They chanted their purification ceremony as people lay their mentally retarded children on the stage, to be entranced by the bright colors of the robes and the murmuring like a highly caffeinated washing machine.  A local orphanage also brought wheelchairs full of grinning, drooling retards to the monks.  It was beautiful really.  And they gave me a handful of blessed rice, now who wouldn't want that?

-I went to a photo exhibition where 2 of my friends had photographs on display.  It was also to commemorate the first anniversary of the opening of the Fototeca of Zacatecas.  It turn out to be quite the posh political event, and had me wishing I wore my nice shoes (I shoulda known). There was white wine and appetizers, speeches by the Gobierna of Zacatecas (a lady in charge, how progressive!) and Mayor as well, lots of press, dancers, bongo drum band, and one Rodrigo Moya, who was being honored at the event.  The dancers were interesting, it wasn't until afterward that I realized that one of them was a friend who I had talked to the night before.  They brought out giant fans and did interpretive dances to the didgeridoo while their hair made art.  Then they threw baskets of pastel confetti into the fans until the night sky was clouded with Easter's finest colors and then they danced some more.  I waited for the opportunity to exchange pleasantries with Senor Moya (that's right, I called him "Maestro"), who is especially famous for some fotos of Che Guevara and Gabriel Garcia Marquez.  I got to meet him just a few days after a story by the NY Times came out about him.  My friends were on the way to another museum, but I was beat and headed back home.  I had been to that one anyhow, part of it was in a tall, long building, but it was very narrow, not very deep.  I learned it was converted into a museum from and old prison where inmates had really tiny rooms.

..

-I went to a few other concerts throughout the week, they were free in every square in the city.  They had concerts in the theaters, churches, plazas, and museums.  They had foreigners and locals, drum circles and jazz circles, classic guitarist and modern rockers, orchestras in the streets and symphonies in the park.  I got to hear Frenchman Yann Tiersen, who wrote the music for the Movie Amelie.  Lots of my friends here (including the 4 frenchies of course) are crazy about him, and he did do an awesome show.

-During all the festivities here in Zacatecas, I went back to Chalchihuites the day before Good Friday so I could celebrate with the fam.  The town has a festival on Friday, where the crucify a giant plastic Jesus.  There are more than a hundred actors involved and they (and all the onlookers) go to various parts in the plaza and act out their scenes on make shift stages.  All of Miguel's siblings were in town and his cute nephews and nieces too.  One day we drove out to the country where part of Miguel's family had a reunion of sorts.  It basically involved cutting up a giant pig and cooking it in a vat of oil while the kids got lost in the woods.  Hmmmmm carnitas!  Muy rica!

-I only spent one day at the ranch, as I had school from Monday to Friday.  I have been studying mucho espanol.  School starts at the ungodly hour of 9 and goes until 2:30. Then I usually go back for 2 or 3 more hours in the evening.  I completed all my homework this week, even though sometimes I had to stay up until 1:30 to do so.  I have also been working out of a spanish workbook that I brought from the states, so my brain is pretty much fried most of the time.  I am taking the next week off to trade stock options, play poker, and recuperate.  Then it's back to Chalchihuites to go to school and hang with the Japones estudiantes.  I have had classes with 6 Japanese students who are really fun to hangout with.  In May they are coming to study in Zacatecas to study at the campus here for 2 weeks, so I can show 'em around town. 

-I haven't talked too much about my stock market goings ons.  That is basically my preferred mode of work right now.  Everyday I am researching the stock market and the economy and I trade options weekly.  Sometime I will write a blog about trading stocks and it will be titled "How to turn $2800.75 into Fifty cents in Just 4 WEEKS!"  I did this recently, and while I do know how to do it, I actually wouldn't recommend it for most people's retirement portfolio.  Most of my investments workout a little better (because really how could they be worse?) and in the two and a half months I have been doing it I have returned better than 35% on my money.  Still it was pretty painful to watch my portfolio go from 31k to 14k in a week and a half.  Oh well, live and learn right?  If you thought my investing was less risky than my poker, then guess again.

Well that's plenty for now, I need to get to the cantina for happy hour.  Three delicious courses (soup, salad, and an artfully presented main dish) for less than a dollar.  That's right, ten pesos!  Provecho!

PS  In retrospect this is one of the lamest blog titles I have ever seen, and would like to now state that it is not mine, someone else made me do it, and I am in fact being held hostage by a band of lame-blog-titlemakers.  Sad times my friends, sad times.

9:29 AM - 2 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Where the Sun DOES Shine-Equinox Festival 2007

Quick note from here in Chalchihuites.  I have been enjoying the spring equinox (I´m having hyperlink issues, here is the link if you speak spanish) http://www.elsiglodedurango.com.mx/regional/124453.nace-el-astro-rey-en-chalchihuites.siglo   

Anyhoo, it was kinda wierd.  I mean, I liked the traditional dancers and all, and the ceremony.  But I am not a big fan of laying in the middle of a field to go to sleep anymore.  Miguel insisted that I do it, that it was part of the experience, so he sent me out with the neighbors with a sweatshirt for protection against the chilly air.  I did get to sleep about half of the night inside a tent (which turned out to be a couple of hours).  So needless to say I didn´t get very much rest, and the tequila I had to help me sleep didn´t leave me feeling too great the next day.  You are supposed to wake up and take in the rays or something, but I was more concerned with getting back to town and finding a bed.

I did have a good time though overall.  Since I was from the Pacific Northwest I took it upon myself help others with their tents.  I never have been very handy, but most of these ¨campers¨ look like they had no idea where to put their poles, so I was happy to lend a hand.  The folks I camped with were actually pretty prepared.  After we got the fire started we roasted sausages and marshmellows.  Classic.  I was actually a little nervous when I called one of the stubby sausages a hotdog and the immediately corrected me.  They told me I was eating ¨puros chichis.¨  Now a chichi on a cow is a teat, I know from milking them.  So I started looking at these sausages and the were the exact shape and density as a cow´s milky come outty thing.  I thought I might be eating one, but Magdalena allayed my fears the next day with many laughs inbetween. 

I will write more later this weekend when I get back to Zacatecas, where I am the proud renter of one awesome apartment.  I´ll get a camera soon, then I will put up some cool pics.  ¡Hasta Luego!

6:58 PM - 1 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Milkin Cow´s and Other Leisure Time Fun!

What does good Mexican sushi have in common with unicorns?......

Neither one exists, though you could make a case for unicorns...

Just a quick note from Chalchihuites.  Things are going great, they have upgraded from dial-up internet to satellite, but it is still slower than Zacatecas´ high speed.  I also don´t use my laptop here, so who knows what this will look like.  I think I will just post it and clean it up tomorrow when I go back to Zacatecas.

Yes, I did milk cows yesterday with my bare hands.  I put in a good days work at the ranch, and my back is feeling it.  I´m not the spry whippersnapper that I was when I was here 7 and a half years ago.  My forearms are definately feeling it.  The best hand and forearm workout in the world, I promise.  Reason being: you really can´t quit until it´s done, and we´ve got 30 cows to milk on the ranch. 

After we milk we begin making cheese.  It´s pretty cool; I really missed the queso ranchero.  Being with the fam again is wonderful.  It feels like home.  For those who don´t know, I lived with them for 2 years in Portland.  There were 6 of us in a 2 bedroom 1 bathroom ghetto apartment.  I really, really loved it.  I helped raise the kids as they had 2 jobs alot of the time.  Now those kids are huge (that was like 10 years ago that I lived with them), and they have 2 more that I have finally met.

Well I am really excited to get back to Zacatecas and settle into my apartment.  I think I have decided on one.  I got alot of offers from Miquel´s extended family to live with them, but I am excited about living alone (off and on when I´m not with the fam here in Chalchi).  It is 200 kilometers between the two, which, if you are anything like me, means nothing.  OK I am gonna post and bolt.  Peace.

7:09 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Shots From Zacatecas: Fotos Not Tequila

So I thought I would post some pictures from my time in Zac.  Since I don't have a camera it is not as easy as it sounds.  I must really on the good nature and good talents of some fellow travelers.  The first few pictures are from Josh and John, a couple of crazy kiwis traveling to Argentina on motorcycles.  The last ones are from a German gal I met, we went to a creepy mask museum together. 


In Mexico is important to note that clowns are also creepy, perhaps a little sad, and employed by shoe stores on days of big sales.  But I'm sure you already knew that intuitively.


This is the view from the terrace where I am staying in Zacatecas.  It is also known as the view from my room, one story down.  We were up on the roof smoking some Cuban mini cigars and playing guitar.  Pretty tough life sometimes eh?


One of the many Colonial Spanish Cathedrals around town.


View from the Teleferico (cable car).  We have one in Portland now too!  I'm glad we finally caught up with Zac.  Now if I can just find somewhere that makes as good a tortilla soup...


Cool building near where I live, cathedral in the back ground.


Various pictures and what not.

OK that should be enough for now.  Not bad for a guy without a camera though.  I hustle my laptop and it's free internet for pictures.  For those worried about my diet (i.e. parental units), Zacatecas Centro doesn't have bad restaurants.  I eat really good here.  I am 3 days running having Aztec tortilla soup and capuccino at the Acropolis Cafe.  It really is good soup.  The tortilla strips are thick and homemade so they don't lose their crunchiness, they put a avocado on the top with hot chipotle spread and sometimes some sour cream.  The solids in my soup today were actually breaking the liquid plane.  That sounds wierd.  I wanted to say the solids were overflowing, but solids don't really flow so much.

Anyway, I eat good soup and really good capuccinos.  That's about it for now.  Tomorrow or Tuesday I go to see the fam in Chalchihuites.  Right on!!!

10:20 PM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Mexican Sushi Es No Bueno

My last day in Maz I decided to try some bad Mexican sushi and follow it up with a really really scary hamburguesa.  I always talk about eating stuff that defies sanity, logic etcetera, but I was time to put my money where my mouth is.  Which would inevitably lead me to put my mouth where el tolieto is.

Before I expound on the subject of bad Mexican Sushi and otherwise, I want to make sure you know that there is lots of good Mexican food out there.  I love the food here, everthing has so much flavor.  There are many many good, clean places to eat.  I have found one local joint that I go to everyday.  Even amongst the sushi genre there are many clean, high quality places to go with fresh, delicious fish.  I went to none of them.

I purposefully went to the place with only one table (metal picnic bench) and the people who worked there looked as suprised as the people walking by that someone was actually eating there.  I was pretty nervous.  They were so excited by an actual customer that they brought me out TWO bottles of the milky brown substance that was supposed to be "soy sauce."  the drink they brought me was sugar water as far as I could tell.  I thought "there is something wrong with this sugar water."  Actually it was fine, I think I'm just not used to drinking sugar.

It didn't look like they had anything fresh, but there were lots of safe choices on the menu: California Rolls and lots of other rolls that didn't contain any raw fish.  I ordered none of these.  I ordered the Sashimi.  Pure raw fish.  None of that rice to buffer it "exotic" flavors.  Let's just say I as much as I could stomach.  I didn't think it would be too polite to yack all over the guy's only table.  As I left he offered me more tea...so that's what it was...

The main reason I went in search of bad Mexican sushi  is so that I could tell some of the many bad mexican sushi jokes I have been accumulating in my mind.  Whether the "bad" refers to the sushi or the joke... I'll leave that up to you.  How can you tell youv'e had bad Mexican Sushi????.......you can't but the coronor can.  BADUM CHING!

So after that extravaganza I needed to wash it down with greasy-streetside-stand-burger.  So walked up to this place; it looked decent enough, if a little sparse.   I order my hamburguesa and coke and watch and wait.  While there may be some of you wondering why I would want to eat a hamburger in Mexico, I must say they are one of my favorite foods here.  Americans take other countries favorite food and mutate it and sometimes improve it, sometimes not.  I'm a big big fan of American pizza for example.  So it should be OK for Mexico to take our hamburgers and use fresh bread (both sides grilled and very greasy), lots of spices (sometimes peppers), wide and thin patties, and really good cheese.  I did not have one of these, however.

While my burger was cooking the lady sent a boy away with a plastic cup.  Awhile later he came back and it was filled with ice for my drink.  Wow, I thought, that was really nice.  So she pulls a can of Coke out the clear-doored refrigerator and hands it to me.  This is when I got gradually less impressed.  I realize she had to give me ice because the fridge doesn't actually work.  Then I saw the pile of hamburgers inside the fridge that doesn't work.  At first that didn't bother me too much either because the hamburgers were already brown, maybe they didn't need too much cookin' or something.  Then I started to think, I am going to eat un refridgerated brown meat.  I mean it was brown when it was totally raw, and I don't think it was from ghetto sushi soy sauce either.

I was actually pretty grossed out, and it usually takes alot to gross me out.  I bit into the hamburger and it was really pretty disgusting.  It tasted like rotten sasauge, which is my way of saying, I ate it all.  After I fleed the Burger Stand of Death I had a sudden desire to go swimming in the ocean.  I thought maybe if I violated the half hour rule, I would throw up or die or whatever the consequences may be.  I thought the worst thing that could happen was that I would digest the sushi and burger. 

But I came out of it OK.  I believe that you should occasionally put yourself on the brink of death.  My body always has it's defenses up.  It never knows when brutal punishment is right around the corner.  That's why I'll never get sick.  But if I should die before the week is out, eat some raw fish and brown meat for me!  Bien Apetit!





 

8:16 PM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

I'm Healthy and Happy in Mexico, Well One Out of Two Anyhow

I definitely am enjoying myself, but as for the healthy...  You see it's more of a choice.  I have long been a fan of the low low cost of health care here.  So I am making it a point to get sick as often as I can (appendectomy anyone?).  I mean if I get sick in the States it will probably break the bank, so good thing I almost never do.  The exception being was when I got pink eye a few weeks back.  I took out my contacts and let my eyes heal and wore my cool specs for awhile. 

Right before I left I put my old contacts back in (I gave em' a good rinse mind you).  Low and behold I got pink eye again, I can hardly believe my good fortune.  But that still isn't really enough send me to the hospital, so I have been on a diet of Mexican Sushi and half-cooked, mystery-meated, street-vendored hamburguesas.  Don't worry though, I'm not hospitalized yet.  I'll get there though, even if I have to chop off my finger.  My I'll get a Colonoscopy;  I've always wondered what it looked like in there.

That reminds me of Carnival.  I got here on Fat Tuesday so I thought I should check it out.  Wiki says Mazatlan has the biggest one outside of Rio, but I started walking around and couldn't find it for awhile.  I walked from the hotel zone to the the other side of town, it was really far.  Along the way I hung out with some YWAM missionaries.  They were pretty cool, thanks for the hot chocolate amigos!  Then it was into the fray.  I really was pretty chill, I know some people would think it was crazy or something, but I would probably feel more comfortable taking my children to it then to the Rose Festival on the waterfront afterdark. 

I was expecting to see some carnival games, but there were few.  There was only one game where you threw softballs and it was quite horrific.  It was called THROW AT THE BLACK (traslated) and you got to throw a ball at this blackfaced character.  He had big white eyes and a huge mouth with big white lips.  His mouth was open wide enough to cut a hole out someone was back there taunting the contestants.  It was pretty bad.

There must have been a 6 or 7 hundred musicians in there.  There was a stage every 50 yards, with groups of mariachi inbetween the main stages.  I hung out at the rock stage; the played Pink Floyd and the whole crowd knew the words.  I only saw 3 other tourists, they were gaping at the blackface game too.  There were so many people I am amazed no one got hurt.  It's a good thing Latinos invented the Conga line, because that's the only way to move from one end to the other.  Just shimmy.  It was like 2 conga line armies meeting, trying to get by one another, while another whole group of people wanted to stay put.  You like personal space?  I think I had negative personal space.

But I really didn't have to worry about being pickpocketed or harrassed at all.  I have the key, the great secret to not being messed with and I shall now tell all of you.  You need only 2 things to ensure your safety:  a skull cap and a half stache (mustache that is).  This works equally well for women, sometimes better so.  With my tight black skull cap and my weeks worth of stache, I truly had nothing to worry about.  I mean none of them know I do it because I am balding and lazy. 

Actually it's really safe here.  This is a nice place but I am ready to get inland.  I really want to ship one of my bags, to Zacatecas, they are so stinking heavy!  One good thing about packing at the last minute like I usually do is that I pack lighter.  I did way too good a job this time.

OK gotta sign off
Matt

11:25 AM - 3 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

Mexico Bound (and Gagged)

Hey, whose going to Mexico for 4 months!!!  That's right: yours truly.  And since I'm not going until 4 am, then I still have 9 hours to put off packing and moving out.  Sweet.  Good thing I have such Lubbable roommates.

I am going to be gone Feb 20th to June 20th, so don't bother calling, do write and send spacemails (is that what myspace messages are called?  I donno).  I am going to be living part time in the city of Zacatecas, (I'm The blinking red dot on the left side) and part time in the country helping out on a ranch.  We make our own cheese, queso ranchero!  Hmmmmmmmm yum.  I was here a long time ago, in the fall of 99' for 10 weeks.  I can't wait to see the fam again!

The city is amazing, it's so pretty.  It reminds me of the best of Europe.  Here is a
picture of the 400 year old cathedral.  Pretty good review of the city and it's attractions, including a picture of the glorious bull fighting arena turned hotel is found here.

I really got to get back to packin',  I'll post updates and photos when I get down there.  Love ya all, Bubbye.

6:51 PM - 5 Comments - 1 Kudos - Add Comment