ZacParker.com
Design. Music. Art. Portland.
November 17, 2006 at 9:17 am · Filed under Blogroll
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 Blogroll
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 Blogroll
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 Blogroll
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 »
October 29, 2006 at 8:06 pm · Filed under Blogroll
The spot where I write here the most is my bed. It’s these moments before sleep that I find most accommodating for releasing the thoughts trapped between my brain and my fingers. Right now the owner of the posada is drinking a beer with money I lent him. Currently he owes me 65 pesos. About $6 US, but a decent chunk of change here in Mexico. Also he has my key. If I want to get out, he has to let me out. I doubt I’ll get my money back, or my key for that matter. Not to worry however. I’ll survive, for sure.
I just got back from a four day mini-vacation to the beach here in Chiapas. Really quite beautiful, and very relaxing. I needed it. Read the rest of this entry »
October 16, 2006 at 12:45 pm · Filed under Blogroll
I currently have zero dollars. Zero pesos. Zero centavos. I have had zero for three days now. I’m even in the hole some. The last few days it wasn’t a problem, excet for yesterday we ran out of gas. I wasnt able to cook any of my food, or go out and buy any. Now however, I am worried. I have no money, and my food is running out. My only real saving grace, is this huge bag of soya I bought at the nutrition store. I think its really similar to TVP. Other than that however, my only food is two limes, about a cup of rice, and maybe a cup of prepared black beans. The soya will last several days if necessary. I quite enjoy however the idea of being broke and hungry in a foreign country. Its not like its permanent. Interenet is free at the library. I just need to wait for my new PIN to arrive in my email. Shouldn’t be more than a day or two. For the time being however, its the pobre life for me.
October 15, 2006 at 12:00 pm · Filed under Blogroll
I havent written here in quite some time, however, not for lack of anything to say. More that in the past I was overwhelmed with alone time. Now it would seem that I am almost always accompanied by someone. In the mornings, I wake up and have coffee with whoever is awake in the posada. After breakfast I usually hang out with Vincente, a French-Canadian from Montreal, for awhile until lunch, which is often with, or at least surrounded by the other people living or hanging out in the hostal. Often times, part of my day is spent with Kamei, a girl from Hong Kong who I met in my school. Dinner is at times made a cooperative effort between Vincente and I. Before the TV was stolen, everone in the hostal would usually sit around for a couple hours and watch Los Simpson (The Simpsons, in spanish!) and then go to bed. This is my day.
October 11, 2006 at 1:42 pm · Filed under Blogroll
I’ve just been incredibly busy, and slacking. I’ll write, I swear. So much to catch up on…..
Quick update:
I live in San Cristobal, Chiapas.
I recieved a new hole in my body.
I’ve played in the jungle with monkeys.
I am taking spanish classes, and loving it.
My rent is really, really cheap.
I lost my debit card, but am ok.
I don’t have a towel, and really wish I did.
Its common to spend more on a cup of coffee than on dinner.
Mexican beer is bad.
September 17, 2006 at 5:53 pm · Filed under Blogroll
Hitch hiking is an excellent form of transportation. Free. Usually more comfortable than the bus. People who pick up hitchers are usually quite interesting. Did I mention free? I had only heard the vast tales of my father’s hitch hiking journeys back and forth across the US, before arriving in Mexico. Never before had I actually attempted it. Jessica and I hopped a bus for the first portion of our trip, Making it as far as Querretaro before braving the freeway. Upon arrival at the bus station, we spent of great deal of time looking for food that was without meat. Finally we settled for tortas(Mexico’s version of the panini) that while did not have any meat in them… had the distinct taste of pork. From there we made the short walk from the bus station, to the freeway. As soon as we made it up the onramp, we passed a man in a truck that had pulled over to rearrange his things in the back. We took perhaps another two hundred steps before getting out our “DF” sign. About 3 minutes later, the same man in the pickup with the things in the back, now neatly arranged and securely tied down, pulled over in front of us, and said he wasn’t going as far as Mexico city, but could get us a lot closer. Read the rest of this entry »
September 16, 2006 at 1:04 pm · Filed under Blogroll
We eventually get ahold of Megan via payphone. She comes to meet us, and we sit and chat while Megan has some pizza from a hole in a false colonial brick wall. From there we hit Alcatraz, where the music is blasting, and conversation is roaring like a California forest fire in August. We walk to a table full of her friends, who are all sitting around a bucket full of sunshine, imbibing its rays. Read the rest of this entry »
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