Our little Agave Tequilana, itself grown from an hijuelo (or Agave Pup, as I’m unreliably informed by teh interwebs) stolen from the fields of Tequila, Jalisco has sprouted two new Hijuelo shoots. So in a week or two they can be replanted and maybe go some way to stopping itinerant cats crapping in the garden with their soon to be spiny pencas.
Talking of agaves, I read Sita’s 2nd chapter in her dissertation today and it’s brilliantly written, fascinating stuff all about pulque, mezcal and tequila’s road to prominence in the United States of Mexico… Also, agave expert Ana’s coming round and we’re off for a meal in famous local restaurant called something like the Artichoke Heart. Should be good.
Hmmm, what did I do yesterday? Well we had a look at another furnished apartment with D & M but it was downright strange and far to pricey. Monica wasn’t overly happy with the lighting and I couldn’t deal with the weird combination of 70s lounge styling and random Catholic iconography in all its gory detail around the place. Never mind, no rush and all that. Sunny D’s still got some kind of throat infection so he’s not been able to go to Spanish classes. Bless. Anyroad, after looking at the house I survived a street hamburger and wandered round with me camera again as evidenced here :
I’m looking into taking some quick courses at the UdeG on various techy topics. PHP and advanced Flash look inviting enough and a snip at 100 quid or so for 20 hours instruction. That’s me next port of call.
Last night Daniel, Monica, Carlos, Jonathon and I went to the Lucha Libre. The usual plan is to meet at the Rincon de la Doa for pre-lucha banter, but it’s being remodelled so we ended up at the nearly empty Nuevo Leon. We drilled Monica on her Spanish verb tenses and got some tequila in to make the upcoming theatrics easier to believe. And once again the luchadores did not disappoint. The stand outs were Hijo del Rayo de Jalisco and some bloke in red gloves with vaguely indigenous features whom the audience chanted “Pocahontas” at… Another solid evening’s entertainment.
And since you’re doubtless wondering what I had for tea yesterday, Tortilla Espaola, and then Tacos de Carne Asada from Tacos Reforma (y Americas). Thanks for asking 🙂
Just a few flights and car rental to sort out and WE’RE GOING TO THE YUCATAN! Staying here and seeing all manner of things. This is going to be SO GOOD! And I’m not one to use exclamation marks lightly…
Alrighty, with that paradise in mind, back to the translation.
Had a nice long walk this morning through markets and quiet Sunday streets and metroed it half the way back, photos flickrwards as per usual.
Yesterday Monica’s turn to cook came round again and we had bbq’d chicken and other stuff, then round Jose’s casita in the evening and drinks at Cafe Colibri. We’re also working our way through another HBO series, Big Love all about a polygamous mormon family and the special flavour of hell that it all entails. Essential viewing. Righty, back to Cancun research.
There’s 150 of the buggers, not 50 as first thought… Here’s me making friends with Earth Cow in Chapultepec:
I was reading in Sita’s book on the History of Salt (more interesting than it sounds) about how modern cattle are domesticated aurochs– vicious wild beasts that used to leave a trail of destruction across swathes of Europe.
Last night we went to Tinto y Blanco for the first time. It’s owned by a sommalier/chef bloke and is famous for its wines, so we felt quite safe ordering carafes of the house red. Sita reckoned the Pinot was where it’s at though. The portabella appertiser was the best thing we had there, though my asparagus and mushroom crepe was well nice. Having returned recently from the British Isles it’s nice to convert the prices to pounds sterling and feel even better about what you’re eating. Anyroad, then on to bowling. Somewhere along the line, my thumb’s got bigger and thus a shot where I couldn’t let the ball go and ended up chucking it in the air and it landing somewhere half-way down the lane, amazingly without leaving some smoking crater… It was a dodgy game all round, though Monica improved 10 fold, Daniel was consistantly brilliant and Sita’s always been a great bowler. I was not on form… Any road. We’ll play the decider once our scars heal.
Another spanish word of the week: La Baticueva. Bat cave. Bats of course, are called murcielagos… Here’s the one we saw in Los Colomos park t’other day. We also managed not to molest any of the fauna, which include abandoned house rabbits…
M & D are still casa-less, but they’re on it. We’re off for a meal somewhere and then bowling. It’s been a while, not since Ed was here this time last year. I think I’ve seen The Big Lebowski more times in the last 2 years than actually gone bowling. Anyroad, I’ve put on some nice, clean socks especially and am ready for a few white russians and fluking the occasional chuza (strike) at the bolinche…
So I can play my “favourite” game of trying to find a decent program to watch before I finish my sandwich…
Having a grand old time of it with Monica and Sunny D. Events so far have included house-hunting, a couple of parties, Colomnos park, markets, dinner parties, computer repairs, and DVDs aplenty (see Film Reviews).
I’m trying to fall back into some kind of routine which should include more regular blogging, but what with 3am cockroach scares and stuff things are still settling down.
Mexican Spanish word of the week: Tope – A road bump/ sleeping policeman thing. Ubiquitous in this particular part of North America. In Spain they’re Guardias tumbados I think, or sleeping (Civil) Guards
Since I left Gwod the cows have arrived, 50 odd of them I think. Just snapped a fraction of them today with my PDA so the quality’s not grand, but so far they’re an impressive bunch. We’ve now seen cow parades in Geneva, Atlanta and somewhere else that escapes me now… Chicago? Anyroad, little by little things are approaching normality round here.
No word from M & D as of yet… Hope they didn’t turn around and go back to L.A. to check on the cats.
Sita was navigating, so the route taken may vary from the map… Overnight stopping points, Nogales, Arizona and Culiacan, Sinaloa
Fastest yet. We’ve now done the GDL-LA trip 3 times. And this time managed it in 3 days, driving around 10-11 hours a day. My favourite bit is definitely the Culiacan-Mazatlan bit as you cross the Tropic of Cancer and the desert turns into lush forests and mountains. Next favourite, Tepic to Guadalajara- all agave fields and volcanoes. Gorgeous. We also had a quick wander round Tepic. And a pizza. Can’t wait to get back into the Mexican swing of things. M & D should be arriving any day too. Good times. Any new year’s parties happening?
Bugger, the alarm didn’t go off…. never mind it’s 7 am, and we’ll be hitting the road in 15 mins or so for Nogales, Arizona. Then Los Mochis, then Guadalajara in Mexico querido y lindo. Monica and Daniel are leaving tomorrow, more of that soon. Monica’s got a blog if you fancy following along their exploits for the next 6 months… the link’s on the blogroll chili cat in LA. Looking forward to the Mexican landscapes and seeing everyone again.
Bienvenida to the latest guestmappee- Karla in Brazil. Gracias por pasar por mi bloguito : )
Hasta muy pronto, enjoy the turkey leftovers y’all…
I just sent this YouTube link to Jose. Hall and Oates are two of his favourite all-time recording “artists”. Then I thought it was too good not to share with a wider public.
Look it! I’ve rejigged the blog a bit. Film reviews are back along with sporadic book reviews. Some horizontal navegation stuff. Erm.. archives… You name it. Just have to actually write stuff now. And fine tune the Book Review page which is playing up a bit. And change the stars to Lulus… And move over all GwynUnlimited’s content to agaveweb… Another change is I’ve deactivated the human detection type-these-letters comment thing, to see if I get any spam. Cos I’m imagining that was a pain to do each time you comment and if you get it wrong, your comment got deleted. Akismet seems to be handling the spammery quite well, so I’ll see how that goes.
What’s going on here in L.A.? Well, the usual rampant capitalism, christmas decorations aplenty, car repairs, dining out/in, and LOTS of time on the internets… erm… and yesterday I found out that fig tree sap is a powerful irritant. Otherwise all’s pretty quiet really.
Can you do better than 13/20 on this here “What films do these stationery related pictures represent?” quiz? Let me know if you work out what the yellow post-it one is. It’s not “The Wall” nor “The Wizard of Oz” and now it’s bothering me no end…
Never sure how much info I can safely put up on the interweb without getting my identity stolen so I’ll leave out my mother’s maiden name and favourite childhood pet for now and just give you the basics… if that’s alright… good. Thanks.
I grew up in Kingston St Mary , Somerset with sojourns in Swansea, Seville, Massachusetts, California, Guadalajara, Mexico, Oregon, Maine and New York City. Now we’re in Salt Lake City, Utah and it’s proving to be one of the best yet…
I keep a fairly up-to-date blog where you can read, in more detail than you’d probably like, about my trials and tribulations. It’s more of an online diary than anything else and a handy way to keep me folks and friends abreast of what I’ve been up to. With the shocking state of my memory these days, it’s somewhat akin to a black box recorder… You’ll also find the occasional film review, book review and links to strange and wonderful sites on ‘teh intarwebs’. Chances are you came from it in the first place…
OK, brace yourself, here comes the self-absorption…
My interests include: foreign languages (well, Spanish, French and American “English”), digital photography, photoshoppery, guitar, computing, travel, Latin-American literature, cinema, and graphic design. And scrabble. And Boggle. On an industrial scale.
Dislikes include: Dentistry, MS comic sans and, increasingly, Papyrus fonts, FOX News and US cable television. The adverts more than anything.
Favourite authors: Jasper Fforde, Julio Cortazar, Borges, Louis de Bernieres, Iain Banks, Mil Millington, Garcia Marquez, Charlie Brooker. And okay, I’ll admit it, Terry Pratchett.
Favourite films: City of God, The Game, The Big Lebowski, This is Spinal Tap, Twin Town, Shaun of the Dead, Requiem for a Dream, Ghostbusters, Withnail & I, El Laberinto del Fauno, In Bruges
Favourite TV: The Thick of It, Peep Show, Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Father Ted, Family Guy, Ivor the Engine, Spaced, LOST, Colbert Report, Life on Mars, Look Around You
Favourite music: Tricky one this… Black Box Recorder, The Smiths, Julieta Venegas, Suicidal Tendencies, Metallica, Spice Girls (first album), Levellers, Air, Fiona Apple, Coldplay, James, Jose Alfredo Jimenez, Manu Chao, Pixies, Primal Scream, Kylie. I’m also overly fond of Happy Hardcore and is pretty much the only music I will consider dancing to.
