I remembered last nite something I forgot to mention about Escondido - we met a few american ex-pats who were working at a surf shop on the beach. We started talking and it turns out one of them went to the same High School i did! Bizarre, small world. But not so weird - i don't think you could throw a rock in Escondido and NOT hit an American (or, at the very least, a foriegner of some sort).

Off to find Subcommandante Marcos - Fred tells me that he plays a mean hand of poker.

22nd of July 2003 01:15:07 PM
San Cristobal
We made the drive into San Cristobal de las Casas yesterday afternoon. The Lonely Planet says that the drive into San Cristobal seems like it goes straight into the clouds and they weren't kidding. The drive from Tuxtla took one hour and almost the entire drive was up and over a mountain and, sure enough, through the clouds.

San Cristobal is everything we hoped it would be. It is a maze of narrow streets and old buildings, and is decidedly untouristy. We are staying at a hostel called Posada 5, and while there are mushrooms growing in the shower, the place is quite charming. It is run by this shistey old mexican woman named Dona Rosita, and i can't shake the feeling that beneath her charming grandmotherly exterior she is plotting some evil scheme to sell us as sausage ingredients. At the very least she is the ringleader in some mysterious scam.

Toilets in mexico universally lack seats, to the point that we considered purchasing a toilet seat to schlep around with us.

When we arrived at Posada 5 we met a girl named Sarah who went to Brown and knows several people I am friends with there. And this morning I met a girl from Yale with whom I share mutual friends. Lets not forget the guy i theoretically went to high school with. I imagine i will run into all of my ex-girlfriends having coffee at Posada 5 tomorrow morning, judging by the way things have been going thus far. The ammount of trippy small-world crap happening on this trip needs to end or i'm leaving.

We ran into an unfortunate situation last nite when we went out. Whenever we ordered a beer, we got two. Ditto with tequila. The kicker is it didn't cost anymore than one beer.

The Zapatista revolutionaries announced recently that they have broken off communication with the mexican government, citing a variety of problems with negotiations.

23rd of July 2003 01:14:51 PM
San Cristobal Day 3
I swear there is a constant party in this town, and it is composed entirely of a very transient traveler population. We hung out at this amazing bar last nite called La Revolucion. I did not see a single local in the place, despite the fact that the drinks were cheap and the music amazing. They had a live jazz band with some girl at the helm that could scat like an mf.

I was awakened again this morning by the fireworks/gunshots that have awakened me both mornings here. We have been unable to ascertain what the story behind them is, except that they happen each morning around 6 AM. I thought gunshots initially since there are kevlar-vested M16 toting cops on every street corner, but one of the other girls at the hostel thinks they explode in lieu of church bells to wake people up.

Oh and there is a damn annoying rooster next door that calls every five minutes starting around 7 AM, and can generally still be heard at around 1 in the afternoon.

We are off to see crazy native church rituals now. More pictures later....

24th of July 2003 01:27:00 PM
Johnny Cochran
Yesterday was kind of a down day because of rain. We had planned to go to the hyper religous community of Chomula in the afternoon, but a heavy downpour kept us inside reading. In the evening, we went and saw live salsa bands at two different clubs. The first was awful. Lured in by the promise of a free drink, we saw Johnny Cochran's twin brother (no, not really) singing with a band composed of two drummers, an electric keyboard, and a bass. The mix was waaaay off and this guy kept talking about things being "tasty". It was veerrrryy loungey and not very good.

The second place, however, was amazing. After listening to a DJ play mexican discohouse and american hiphop for an hour to an empty floor, things finally got going when he dropped "Stayin' Alive". Three tracks later (including "Tailfeatha" - HOLLA!) the band came on and things got really out of hand. We had perfect seats to watch the most amazing dancers i have ever seen. These kids must have been salsaing since the age of two - they were seriously talented. We quickly picked out our favorites. 'Leather-jacket guy' and 'Curly-haired girl' were the top runners and we were schemeing on how to get them to dance together. They kept getting close but someone else would always jump in. After six or eight songs they finally found each other and the result was amazing. We were literally standing on our seats watching them. Someone needs to do some reality-tv type thing with salsa dancers 'cause that is the hot shit.

This afternoon we are driving to Chomula and then coming back to San Cristobal and taking a nite bus to Playa del Carmen. It's a 16 hour ride but it saves us a few days by not having to drive there and back. We are back in SC on the 27th and we will probably head back toward the US on the 28th. We are recrossing the border in Texas and taking American highways back to Arizona so we don't have to take Mexican highways across the god-forsaken and desolate middle areas of Mexico.

24th of July 2003 01:30:44 PM
other pictures
You can check out Lenhart's mexican gallery here and his mexican blog here.

24th of July 2003 05:04:53 PM
Chomula
Picture a small mayan villiage on a hillside. The center of the town is dominated by an enormous square which contains a large white church. Signs at the entrace to the town warn tourists of "punishment" for photographing the inside of the church or anyone in ceremonial garb. The inside of the church is laid out like any other, except it is completely devoid of pews. Along the walls, handpainted statues of various saints (dressed in real clothes) glare at visitors, while (literally) thousands of candles light the middle and sides of the room, stretching from the door to the altar.

As tourists mill about, Mayan families kneel in front of groups of these candles praying, rubbing each other with eggs (and sometimes live chickens, apparently), and drinking Coca Cola, completely oblivious to the staring tourists. The floor is covered with straw, which occasionally catches on fire as the candles burn low, and those in prayer chant rhythmically.

This is La Iglesia de San Juan de Batista at Chomula. The religous practitioners believe (among other things) that belching in church rids the body of evil spirits, hence the Coca Cola. Not sure about the chickens or eggs, but the entire experience is creepy at best. There are stories of tourists being beaten and killed for taking pictures so I am unfortunately unable to provide pictures of the rituals, but take my word that the whole town is extrememly creepy. We are killing time now waiting for our bus to Playa del Carmen.....

25th of July 2003 09:06:32 PM
Playa Del Carmen
We arrived on the night bus at 1 PM this afternoon. The bus was supposed to take 16 hours to reach here from San Cristobal, but it took 19. This significantly cut into our day, but we still managed to go snorkeling on a reef and find a place to stay before it got dark. Unfortuntely we have to be back on another bus tomorrow (same deal - all night to San Cristobal) so we can catch some of the ruins before we start head back toward the US.

The beach here really is exactly what you hear about the Carribean - cool white sand, electric blue water, visibility to around 75 feet down (from the surface). In short it is absolutely amazing. Too bad we picked a beach town that caters more to tourists than anyone else. There are more restaraunt menus here written in English than there are in Spanish. I can say i am particularly upset to bounce on such short notice but I would have liked an extra day on the beach.

Using the internet in mexico is an odd experience. There are a plethora of internet cafes and internet bars. This in and of itself is not so strange, but i think it is indicitive of an odd phenomenon here. If an establishment as a spare wall and some chairs, it seems common to stick some computers on the wall and offer internet access. I have been in internet bookstores, internet laundromats, and internet cellphone stores. I would be absolutely unsurprised to find an internet strip club or barber shop at this point in the trip....

26th of July 2003 05:09:09 PM
Leaving Playa Del Carmen
Forget anything I said about Playa Del Carmen being cool. The Carribean is cool, reefs are cool, but Playa Del Carmen definitely sucks. Aside from being completely gringo-rific, everything is inordinantly expensive. We had a tough time finding a meal for under 10$ US, and having grown accustomed to eating for under 2$ US this was a bit pants.

One upside is that we met some good people staying at the hostel. As a whole, the americans i have met down here have all been good people doing good things, and not simply traveling in mexico to get drunk for cheap.

It is time for (i hope) the last bus ride i will take in mexico. 17 hours back to San Cristobal. Pinches autobuses.

28th of July 2003 12:12:05 PM
Pinche Autobus
If the bus to Playa del Carmen was mildly unplesaant, the bus back to San Cristobal was hell. There is only one thing worse than taking a night bus with no reading lights. That one thing is being forced to watch Reign of Fire and Armageddon on tiny flickering TV monitors with no option to turn the audio off. This bus was cold, rickety, and while we had more legroom than the previous bus I think this one was far less comfortable.

The upside is that we made it back to SC at a reasonable hour, grabbed breakfast, and were checked into our (much better than Rosita's) hostel by 1 PM. After running around in the market, we grabbed some dinner and stumbled on this rad bar called the Maguey.

Things started out reasonably when they brought us some olives and peanuts to munch on. Sarah was translating for us, and the waiter came out to suggest something that Sarah passionately refused. I asked what it was and she told us "Bugs". I told the waiter to bring 'em out and we got to snack on traditional Oaxacan snack of spiced, roasted grasshoppers!!!!

28th of July 2003 08:28:49 PM
Urchins and Palenque
Mexico is plagued with street urchins trying to sell you shoddy jewelery and shoddier "crafts". San Cristobal was the worst I have seen yet - one kid would tries to sell something, is refused, and immediately another kid moves in for the sale. The worst part of it is that, as they thrust their hastily assembled products in your face (in restaurants, bars, markets, laundromats) they say in a singsong voice "Compraaaaalo. Compraaaaaaaaalo". This translates literally to "Buyyyyyy it. Buyyyyyyyyy it". It is annoying as hell. The number one rule when dealing with them (unless, god forbid, you want to purchase their bit of third-world tripe) is to say "No thanks" and then ignore them. After this, they generally disappear after a few minutes.

When we went snorkelling at Playa del Carmen we were allowed to keep our snorkels. Cheap plastic snorkels, but still snorkels. Yesterday, while eating breakfast in San Cristobal, Lenhart and I were eating breakfast at a small cafe and we were approached by two urchins peddling imitation silver necklaces. Transcript (spanish in italics, english in parens) follows:

Urchins: Compraaaaaalo. Compraaaaaaaaalo. Cinco pesos.(Buy it. Buy it. Five pesos.)
Me: Uno momento. (One moment.)

ed: At this point I reached into my bag and grabbed my snorkel, brandishing it like a billy club

Me: Compraaaaaalo. Compraaaaaaaaalo. Cinco pesos.

The poor bastards were utterly at a loss for words. Judging from the stunned expressions on their faces no one had ever pulled this stunt in their short memories. As the little rascals huddled in the doorframe, I popped the snorkel in my mouth and began breathing through it. One of them thrust a filfthy hand into his pants pocket and produced a coin and thrust it at me. Having been dealing with mexican currency exclusively for the past two weeks, I quickly recognized it as a one peso coin. I looked at him skeptically, shook my head, and said simply "Compraaaaalo. Cinco pesos". The poor kids turned tail and fled, undoubtably amazed and astounded at this tube-lipped freak trying to sell them a bit of pipe, but without a clue how to respond.

Tonite and tomorrow we are in Palenque. This is our only chance to see ruins in mexico (since it took us a little longer to get down the coast than we anticipated) so we are getting up at the crack of down and heading over to them.

29th of July 2003 07:29:10 PM
British Girls Redux
Lenhart and I had thought about seeing a movie in Palenque yesterday since, other than the ruins, there doesn't seem to be anything else to do. For a town with such a rich tourist draw not five miles away, you'd think there'd be more things for stupid gringo tourists to do. You'd think. Alas, Palenque has no movie theatre, so we decided to retire to our hotel room to read and rest up for our trek in the morning.

We arrived and I flopped down on the bed. Lenhart was five paces behind me and as he entered the room he stopped to pick something up off the floor. It was a note. The contents said, in a nutshell: "Hi! We recognized your car and thought we thought we say hello. We are at the [place with the cabanas] and we will be at Don Mucho's [a restaurant] after 8 PM if you want to come hang out.". It was signed by the lovely ladies that rode with us from Zihuatanejo to Puerto Escondido. Teeth!

It turns out that their bus into Palenque dropped them off in the wrong place and as they were walking to grab a cab they saw Lenhart's very distinctive car. After cajoling the hotel staff at our hotel they figured out which room was ours and left the note. very strange....

Don Mucho's is in a whole compound of cabanas, and is a pleasant (if not loud) open air bar. We met the girls there and were treated to a variety of spectacles including fire dancers, live music, and a large trout that stands as evidence that this world is entirely too small.

It turns out that our original british friends know a the girl that was going to ride with us from San Cristobal to Palenque, as well as the girl that did end up riding with us to Palenque. This adventure to Don Mucho's was not all fun and games though - we ended up getting stranded at the cabanas since cabs apparently do not run after midnite in Palenque. The british girls were absolute saints though - the three of them packed into a double bed to free up two singles for lenhart and I. We awoke bright and early this morning and headed for the ruins...

...which were breathtaking. Lenhart and I, dumb gringo tourists till the end, took the back entrance into the ruins. This involved climbing 200 ft almost straight up some mossy stone stairs. After poking around some smaller excavations, we made our way toward what looked like (on the map) the largest site. As we emerged from the jungle (cause this really was in the jungle) we laid eyes on several towering stone ziggarauts. These temples are easily 200 feet high, with some even higher, and the mexican government cares not that you could plunge to your death down the sheer rock sides of some of them because anyone has free run of the entire site. No ropes, guardrails, or warning signs. We spent the morning clambering all over every temple we could find, and then had a pleasant afternoon rehydrating in the shade of a jungle tree with the british girls. We went exploring in the jungle and then decided to call it a day....

Extra: Vic (the guy that has my iPod) just emailed me to say that he will be dropping it in the post when he gets to Oaxaca (wednesday). Pictures from San Cristobal, the jungle, and the fire dancing should be up tonite. And I passed my credit application (shock, surprise) for my apt in Rhode Island, so I guess I am officially moving to RI.

31st of July 2003 06:06:44 PM
Stuck in the Asshole of Mexico
We made amazing time leaving Palenque yesterday. Absolutely stunning. We almost made the 500+ kilometer trip to Veracruz in under 8 hours. I say almost because approximately 70 kilometers from Veracruz the car began to overheat. A quick check of fluid levels confirmed that everything was in order. The fans did not seem to be working however, so after some poking around we decided to short the fan relay to make 'em work. Same problem though - after 5 kilometers the engine overheated again. A strange knocking also began to develop, and a bad, bad smell. Each time we stopped to allow the engine to cool, it got harder and harder to start it again. A friendly but stupid Federal Police Officer stopped to "help" but his only advice was to continue to Veracruz. Finally the car would start no longer and we were stranded for about an hour before a cab driver found us.

After much adventuring we got the car towed (tied to the back of a police pickup with a rope) to a mechanic and ourselves dropped at a hotel. This town is absolutely the asshole of Mexico. It sits at the intersection of three highways, has no visible source of food save a 'Cocina Economica across from our absolutely gash Hotel, and is generally dusty and depressing.

The mechanic we dropped the car at met us at the crack of dawn this morning. From what I understood, the head gasket was bad but this guy didn't work on Hondas. My language barrier also kicked in a bad way, and I had great difficulty understanding what he was telling me. He suggested towing it to Veracruz. Lenhart offered to sell him the car. The guy hemmed and hawed, and sent us to a mechanic across town, who thankfully had an english speaking employee. We spent the day running all over creation with this guy and another mechanic (after they disassembled the engine) trying to find a head gasket for an 84 Honda and trying to determine if the head was damaged.

Head gaskets for 84 Honda Accords are absolutely unavailable in Mexico. Even from the Honda dealership. The good news is that the head is still intact. The bad (ish) news is that we don't have time to sit here and wait for the car to be repaired. Lenhart is going to authorize the repairs and we are going to take a bus to Tucson.

The upside of today is that I got the lowdown on flirting with Mexican women (they like being honked at, whistled to, and groped toward) and had answered for me the mysterious question regarding the reason we hear so many car horns in Mexico - male drivers are beeping at women they see by the road.

01st of August 2003 07:57:56 PM
Down and Out in Mexico City
We escaped the Asshole of Mexico with our hats in our hands following Lenhart's fortuitous sale of his car. As we were hemming and hawing about what to do, a nice gentleman offered Lenhart 5000 mexican pesos (~500 USD) for the non-functioning and still very much disassembled package. After selling the car to the gentleman, and selling his boombox and a styrofoam cooler to some itinerant youth, we fled for the bus station. I had previously secured part of our hotel rental back from the owner, a crotchity old bastard who lectured me (in spanish) on why it is wrong to screw crotchity old hotel owners out of an evening's rent on a room IN AN EMPTY HOTEL.

We lacked a plan as we approached the bus terminal but opportunity fell in our lap as a bus to Veracruz pulled into the station. The decision to act quickly came on the realization that we hadn't payed the mechanic for the work he had done today and that he probably wanted his 1300 pesos. Deciding that it was no longer our car, and therefore not our problem (let the poor bastard who bought it deal with it - the mechanic's work didn't help us at all) we threw caution to the wind and jumped on board.

Upon arrival in Veracruz we decided to spend the night and head for Mexico city the next morning. We purchased tickets for the 9 AM bus and headed into Veracruz to find a hotel. We found one near the loud and busy Zocalo section of town, checked in and went for a bite to eat.

Having had one of the most amazing dinners of my life in Palenque (at Don Mucho's - gnocchi with a chorizo tomato sauce and real-life fresh salad!) it seemed only fitting that our dinner in Veracruz was one of the worst we've had in Mexico. Mine wasn't so bad (not great either - sliced roast beef assembled to look like a filet with gravy and french fries), but Lenhart was treated to Chef Boyardee straight from the can. For 7$ US. Tasty. On the way back to the hotel we stopped in for a drink in what may or may not have been a whorehouse (we are still unclear on this). After a bizarre couple of hours cavorting with whores/not-whores we retired to the hotel to grab some shuteye.

The bus ride took considerably longer than the advertised 5 hours. In fact, it took upwards of 8, the last 2-3 spent negotiating through mexico city traffic. If ever I spoke ill of Nogales or Aculpulco forget I said anything. The sky in Mexico City is the color of semolina noodles and breathing the air makes my throat hurt. Everything is filthy and loud. Que horrible. As soon as we arrived at the station we purchased tickets for a nine PM bus to Guadalajara. The ride is 8 hours and we will spend a day and a night in Guadalajara before embarking on the 26 hour bus ride to the border.

I have been reading like a fiend on this trip. Already I have finished the Illuminatus Trilogy , the new Harry Potter book, The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (Amazing Adventures?), The Alienist, and a bad/not-so-bad fantasy novel called Game of Thrones. Since I am spending ~35 of the next 60 hours of my life on a bus I also picked up The Great Gatsby, Breakfast at Tiffany's and The Picture of Dorian Gray. I hope to be able to ignore whatever awful movies they throw at us on the upcoming bus rides. On the way to Mexico City we were treated to Hero (Dustin Hoffman and Geena Davis)and a badly-dubbed cut of The Mission (Robert DeNiro film that was theoretically quite good - we'll never know because our spanish sucks).

For now we are killing time until our bus leaves. This whole bus things sucks in many more ways than the inconvienience - the busses are expensive, uncomfortable, and demand adherence to their schedules. Any additional market-browsing we had hoped to do has been effectively quashed (no hammocks, dammit) and on return to the US we will both be rather poorer than we are right now. The car wasn't cheap, but with two of us splitting gas it was faaaaaar cheaper than these godforsaken busses.

02nd of August 2003 12:22:38 PM
David Lynch Rears His Misshapen, Lumpy Head
Our bus out of Mexico City was great, but was not enhanced by the fact that we almost died in the cab ride to the bus station. I've been on rollercoasters would be shamed in the face of the wild ride given to us by the cab driver. Most of the cab drivers we've ridden with in Mexico were crazy, but this guy belonged in a padded cell. Arghhh. Our frustration increased when AI came up on the TVs on the bus, but it was the dubbed version!!! Fortunately the bus was comfortable enough for sleeping...

We made it to Guadalajara at 5 AM. When we arrived (by cab) at the Hotel we thought we wanted to stay in, we found that it no longer existed. The closest cheap hotel was about 10 blocks away, and on the way we were greeted by a very bad drum and bugle corps. Playing the same thing over and over again. In the middle of the city. At 5:15 AM. This is weird, right? The worst thing is that we ran into them AGAIN this morning, while looking for breakfast and a net cafe...Since the car broke down we have seen midgets, been chased by a bugle corps, and had very strange chinese food in the middle of Mexico City. David Lynch would love this.

The next six hotels (spread across 2 km) we tried had no open rooms. Over 400 possible rooms and all of them full. We sat in a park for 3 hours to wait and see if any of them have rooms open up. Again, no dice. We have to take another cab back toward where we started (it started raining) and finally we find a room. No fan, but what the hell. We only need it for one night - we have nine AM bus tickets for the 26 hour ride to the border. After arriving (in Nogales) we catch ANOTHER bus to Tucson (this one will only take an hour). Four days to catch my breath and then I am on a flight back to raleigh....

We keep talking about what we'd do differently if we took the trip all over again. At this point, tops on my list is to pack less - since we were in the car i threw my whole suitcase full of stuff in the car but now that i'm having to schlep the damn thing all over creation i wish i had only brought one bag. A different itinerary would also definitely be in order. We spent entirely too much time lingering on the pacific coast and not enough in the Yucatan, where all the ruins etc are. A better plan would have been to fly into Cancun and hit Merida, Chican Itza, and Tulum and then take a bus into San Cristobal. Palenque would be next with day trips to the ruins near there, and then probably west to Oaxaca, Puerto Escondido, and Zihuatanejo. Then back toward Cancun to fly home.

The trip has been great, but while we have seen alot of Mexico, I think we've missed alot of what makes Mexico worth visiting. We spent alot of time in the car trying to make destinations and not enough time in those destiniations. To do the same driving trip again I think twice as much time (and a different car, heh) would be in order.

02nd of August 2003 11:05:01 PM
Veracruz Update
We kicked around Veracruz today and saw a ton of colonial religious archetecture, including some pretty amazing frescoes by Orozco. Then, for lack of anything better to do we went to see The Pirates of the Carribean. It was good, but awfully Bruckheimered out.

Tomorrow morning we start our 26 hour bus ride. My father says we are stuck in a Fellini film (8 1/2, La Docle Vida, etc) instead of a David Lynch film and I think I agree.

04th of August 2003 09:30:28 PM
back!!!
hot damn! 26+ hours on a mexican bus and we survived and made it back to tucson! holla! Movie breakdown:

• The Last Castle
• Count of Monte Cristo
• Stuart Little 2 (dubbed)
• Los Hijos de Maria Morales
• The Fast and The Furious

The border crossing was uneventful. We were stopped and searched, but it was the least effective search i have ever been subjected to. Not that i'm complaining - the rubber gloves and vaseline would certainly have been unwelcome but i expected a little more than a brief peek into my booksack

We are safe and sound in Tucson. Tonite I will work on cleaning up the remainder of my pictures and tomorrow i will upload them. The UofA has a damn fast connection (well, relative to some mexican net cafes) and I think we both intend to exploit the hell out of it tomorrow.

05th of August 2003 04:43:25 PM
Mexican Statistics
I think this will be my final post to this portion of my mexican adventure journal - i will be filling in the gaps in the story with some static pages once i am back in Chapel Hill. Statistics:

Number of times we got drunk - About three times. Despite the fact that beer is cheap (15 pesos or 1.50 US, unless they are 2 for 1 and thus half as expensive) and plentiful, we weren't particularly motivated to party too much. I think maybe we saw beer as more of a necessity than a way to party - we had beer with every meal in order to kill the amoebas. Or something. We only really partied in Puerto Vallarta, once in San Cristobal, and once in Palenque.

Number of times some sketchy dude on a beach offered to sell us drugs - Once. In Puerto Escondido. He approached me and offered me marijuana and cocaine, saying that 'This shit is waaaay better than the crap you get in the states'. Right. Thanks man. Note that this statistic does not reflect the number of times we were offered pharmacueticals on our way through Nogales the first time.

Number of large livestock that we saw in the road - 8? 10? 20? Cows and burros and even horses were constantly in the road. I'm shocked that we didn't see more dead (we saw a few) given the way everyone drives in mexico....

Number of highway accidents seen - One. This is a surprising statistic given that everyone drives like they want to die. It was on a mountain curve and it looked like a pickup tried to pass someone and ran into a bus. Head on. It looked as though they both made a heroic effort to stop because the pickup wasn't too destroyed. We saw several fender benders in the Mexico city, which was only surprising given the absence of more. Mexico doesn't have traffic laws or if they do they are unenforced, unless you are gringo driving the wrong way down a one way street...

Number of bribes we had to pay - One. In Zihuatanejo. For the aforementioned traffic offense

Number of times searched by the militaryOnce, on the bus to the border about 200 km from said border. They didn't search very thoroughly...

Times we suffered illness due to amoebas in the food and water - Zero!!! We attribute this to the beer and tequila we had with or after every meal.

Number of other travellers we acquired - Four total. Three british girls from Zihu to Escondido and one french girl from San Cristobal to Palenque.

Number of times strange men appeared on the road to Palenque to sell us mushrooms - Zero but lots of hippies in Palenque were very enamored of said gentlemen.

Number of times robbed - again, zero.

Average time-of-transit quoted by auto-parts dealers for delivery of new head gasket - one week

Time quoted to us by Honda dealer - 30 days

Number of Coca Cola commercials seen involving women and a driving sheep - one. in front of Pirates of the Carribean. It seemed to imply that sheep that can drive prefer women that drink coke, and will even pick up a fat hitchhiker if she is drinking a coke

Number of rolls of film used - Four. This stat pisses me off. I schleped my camera and like 30 rolls of film with me and only pulled it out for the ruins. Overall i would have liked to have taken more photos (digital and otherwise) but I guess that is for next time.

Number of internet laundromats visited - one, in Playa del Carmen

Things we lost or left behind - one iPod (in transit back to me), one bottle of shampoo, one 1984 Honda Accord, 3 bottles of shampoo, 1 razor, 1 insulin pen (which evaporated in my pocket on the bus to the border - don't worry i have others), several rolls of toilet paper, 1 roll of duct tape, 2 foam coolers

Mexican toiletries acquired - one bottle of Mexican Listerine, one Mexican gillette razor, 2 bottles of shampoo (which were subsequently lost).

Number of mexican busrides - 8. Which is 8 too many. Three were city buses we used to go to the mall in Guadalajara to watch Pirates. One was the wrong bus and we got lost in the suburbs.

Odometer reading when we left the car behind - 230499