ZacParker.com
Design. Music. Art. Portland.
Archive for November, 2006
November 21, 2006 at 11:12 am · Filed under words
Five days later and I’m still here. I’d expected to be gone by now, but will stay yet another night. On arrival here in Livingston, we were greeted by an old Garifuna man, offering to show us a hotel just around the corner. No pressure, if we don’t like it, we don’t have to stay. It was cheap, at 25Q per person. It had a kitchen, showers, bathrooms, hammocks to hang out in.. it was perfect. As we were being shown the room, I heard from the next room over two voices speaking Japanese. Two very familiar voices. I shouted “Akira!?” and sure enough, Akira and Takara come out of the room. Two Japanese kids I had met and lived with for almost a month in San Cristobal, Chiapas. I had known that at some time they would be in Livingston, but never thought we would be here at the same time, let alone in the same hotel, in the next room over.
This of course led to a huge reunion party which required a complete day of recovery. Read the rest of this entry »
November 17, 2006 at 9:17 am · Filed under words
After another full day of travel, I have to make it to Livingston. It took 10 hours of travel, and 95 Quetzales in transportation costs, to get from Xela, to Puerto Barrios, around 10:30pm last night. We bargained our Hotel room down from 100Q to 80Q. 40Q per person, for a room with private bathroom.Not horrible. about 60 pesos, or six dollars. Still a bit rich for my blood. Today we are just a boat ride away from Livingston and are on our way to get some cash, check the internet and then hop on the boat to hang with the Garifunas, A black, very rasta community that speaks a language which is compiled from French, English, Spanish and African.
November 15, 2006 at 9:48 pm · Filed under words
After two and half months in Mexico, I finally made it out of North America, and into Guatemala. My experience so far has been less than thrilling. It started with a terrible exchange rate of 6 Quetzales to 10 pesos. It was followed by 4 hours on chicken busses over flowing with people, only to be dropped off in a town we didn’t want to be in, with rain pouring down hard enough to completely soak a person to the morrow in their bones in a matter of seconds. Topping that off, we come the wonderful discovery that hotels in Guatemala average about double that of those in Mexico. Oh, no hostels here either. Tomorrow is another full day of travel before we arrive at our destination of Livingston, GUA. Wish us luck.
November 5, 2006 at 9:13 pm · Filed under words
I’ve made it back. I’ve finally arrived back In Mexico City. I got back about 40 hours ago, 11am, the morning of Dec 17 2007, after a 14 hour bus ride from Rio Grande, Oaxaca. I’ve been camping along the coast for the past several weeks, and for the most part without internet. I’ve so much to catch up on, now that I’ve reunited with my laptop. Its a wonderful feeling being back in the city. I finally feel like I’m home. I can finally settle in. Take a hot shower. Use spices in my food. Make friends that I won’t say goodbye to tomorrow. Buy more food than I’ll eat in one day. Unpack my backpack without packing it back up the next day. Stay inside all day, just because I want to. All the things you do, when you are at home. What a wonderful feeling. Having departed the traveller’s life, and arrived in DF, I’ve other arrivals and departures to announce. Wednesday, January 17th, I will leave Mexico City, and arrive in Portland, Or. I’ve missed my city and my friends in which it houses, quite terribly. My money has come to an end, without much possibility of work in the near future, thus my life in Mexico comes to an end. While I am thrilled to see my friends and family and return to my favorite city in the whole of the United States, it will be a difficult departure, and I will be planning my next visit to this incredible country the second I place my left foot on the floor of the Boeing. In other news, I plan to update my page with some older writings in the next few days. Also perhaps you’ve noticed that there is a new google search bar, and advertisements on my page. These allow me to make some (extremely little) revenue from my webpage when people search via my search bar, or click the advertisements. It is a violation of my contract however to encourage people to click on my advertisements, so with that in mind, please, absolutely DO NOT click them. Hasta la proxima vez!
November 4, 2006 at 8:10 pm · Filed under words
It’s Saturday, 8pm and the music from the living room is making it’s way through my bedroom walls with ease. The pounding of the bass is coinciding with the pounding in my head. It’s not any fun being sick. It’s even less fun being sick in a foreign country. There’s nobody here to bring me vegan noodle soup. No computer in my room to pass the time (my laptop is out of commission until I get back to DF). No art store to buy supplies to keep me occupied. Just unreasonably loud music in the living room to remind me I have a headache.
Things here in Mexico never cease to be interesting. In three days I participated in two marches and one highway blockade. Read the rest of this entry »
