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So if you live in the US or Canada you can call normal landline phones through your computer free gratis and for nothing. Tres cool.

So on Saturday we went to an Indian restaurant called Goa or somesuch with Victor, Jana and Sarah and it lived up to expectations. It’s only been open a few days but I fully expect it to do well. Tell your friends, it’s on Lopez Cotilla and on the Minerva side of Chapultepec … Apparently it’s nigh on impossible to import curry powder into the country so they have to get visiting friends and family to supply the restaurant. The owner also runs an Indian goods shop (clothes with little mirrors and that kind of thing) so there’s fairly frequent visits. Presumably curry powder would put drug sniffing dogs at the airport completely out of action for a few weeks so the dishes were lightly flavoured but very tasty. The wine’s a bargain too. I asked to ramp my dish up to vindaloo which they did using chilis instead of the powder but it was very effective. Afterwards onto La Bodeguita del Medio for Bertha’s birthday. Bertha’s a spanish / French teacher and Sita might be taking classes with her soonish, anyroad she had a nice bunch of friends and we had a grand old time singing along to Chan Chan and other cuban clasicos.

Sunday started off very dubiously. Some translation and then (cos our cable tv came back after 4 days) surfing whatever was on while my headache receded. I watched El Santo in Operación 67 which outbonds bond with a fraction of the budget (3.5 lulus). Little Nicky, if you like talking dogs, you’re in luck (2.5 Lulus) and Misery (5 Lulus), no review required… Towards the end of the afternoon we headed off to Victor and Jana’s where we were plied once again with fine wine and fine food before heading to a free concert in Zapopan where no less than Lila Downs was playing. I can’t say I was overly familiar with her music beforehand, but now I’m a convert. Photos of the event flow like wine over at Flickr. She does updated versions of Mexican classics and is something of a feminist icon round these parts. And france apparently. I’m getting to work on her back catalogue today.

Click for non-distorted bigger version.

Me dad just sent me a picture of the view from the attic in our house in Somerset. The neighbours have a new “sun house” it appears. And they should probably shut the boot of the car before it rains… Nice panoramic shot. The lawns looking a lot greener than ours right now.

Another late night last night… I’m off for a nap. If I forget to post about the curry next time, remind me…

Potassium was as far as we got in GCSE chemistry under Nigel Magg’s tutelage… Brainiac goes one step beyond:

Thanks to Mark Wilton-Jones‘s handy little guide and coding, I’ve put a new section on the right for you to swap between stylesheets. I’m not sure how it affects the loading time of the page and if there’s an public uproar, I’ll remove it. Also the new title picture:

is not perfect, and I’ve realised that IE users (Why, oh why?) can’t deal with the PNG transparency. Another quirk I just noticed with explorer is that if your screen resolution is less than 800 wide, the sidebar disappears south. So I’ll be rejigging all that soon enough. Sita’s not keen on the font for G and W neither, so it simply has to go… enjoy it while it lasts… Them buttons are made for clicking…

Last night Sita made ‘plans’ to go to the cinema with her mates, but the advertised film they wanted to see wasn’t there so they ended up in a bar in Zapopan. Jose, victor and me went straight to La Barba Negra for beers and blues, since we don’t excuses to hit the bars. Jose’s had one hell of a week, he’s another one who should blog. Well, he does have one for his excellent poems but I reckon the world would like to know more about a week that ended with someone cycling away from his block of flats firing gunshots in the air and shouting “Arriba, Sinaloa”. Comment below to petition Jose to set up mividaesunatelenovelamalaybarata.blogspot.com …

Today we’re going to an Indian restaurant. Yep, in Guadalajara. It’s brand new and supposedly has curry… it’s been 9 long, curryless months and expectations are high… Shall reveal all manana…

Seems like everyone else is doing this meme so I’ll have a go too. I expected a high linguistics score, but not 100%… I’d put biology on a par with dance too. And drama should NOT be on the list at all… Otherwise, not a bad little quiz. Someone should make a What’s your perfect university quiz. Questions like: Do you like incessant rain? Do you mind living in a glorified bomb shelter that is admittedly within driving distance of a gorgeous beauty spot? Which sounds better: Mature student or Ma-choo-er? Would you happily swap Channel 4 for S4C? …. University of Wales, Swansea it is then…

What is your Perfect Major? (PLEASE RATE ME!!<3)
created with QuizFarm.com

Haven’t seen HTML like that in a while, sort it out, QuizFarm.com…

It’s been nearly 3 weeks since I watched a new film. That’s how busy I’ve been. Shame it had to be Mission Impossible 3 though. Rating from me, barely 3 lulus and from Sita, a solid 3 lulus. It’s one of those overwhelming action films which never stops. Time bombs in people’s heads that can only be defused by near fatal electric shocks… Impregnable fortresses… exotic locations… and guns, guns, guns. This is normally just my kind of thing, but it was layed on so thick it was hard to take it all in. Shellshocked I was when we left. In the first 25 minutes I was hoping there was going to be a theme running through it where the Cruiser reprised all his past acting roles. Early on he’s mixing a drink, a la Cocktail, then riding his motorbike at dawn, a la Top Gun. Then I lost track. The next film should be more sedate. Or X Men 3…

It was the last part of a nice evening out trying contemporary Mexican cuisine at a new (3 yrs old or so) restaurant in Avenida Mexico. Thorougly recommended, it’s called something like Polibio 131 and was the third deserted, but high quality restaurant we’ve been to in 7 days. Make sure you order desert. They come drenched in rompope…

This morning I’ve been doing the translations for the Queer Youth Leadership Awards again. United States of America readers can help the cause sending a not-so-virtual postcard via this link. It’s a petition to the US gov. to get them, if not to actually allow gay marriage, then to stop them changing the constitution to prevent it for ever. Baby steps… Spanish speakers need to start reclaiming some of the epiphets that go around in the language. I’m translating queer youth as jóvenes gay and it doesn’t have the same connotations yet. To work, mis cuates…

Yesterday was Mother’s day in Mexico. It’s a huge thing. First off, everyone made their excuses and left work at middayish to head off to crowded restaurants all over town. No one was without roses they’d either received or were about to give. In Gigante the usual musak was replaced by someone urging everyone to buy mother-related goods (tortillas, white wine, cleaning products…) and businesses closed up early. I didn’t even have to stand on the bus home for once. One of these days I’ll post about Mexican phrases involving the word “madre”, but first I want to dig out El Laberinto de la Soledad, cos Octavio Paz has some pertinent things to say if I recall correctly.

Last night I barbecued again cos Sarah was coming round for some webdesignery advice. For some reason it didn’t turn out that well. I should pay more attention in the meat isle to what I’m buying. In fact they should have pictures of what your meat should look like when you’ve cooked it on the labels, to help men choose whether they want arrachera or milanesa… Never mind. Sarah brought us a bottle of diamante negro tequila, which is potent but fragrant with the agave. As a digestif it did a good job of cutting through the culinary dubiousness we’d eaten.

My Aguascalientes photos got linked to by an Aguascalientesian (made that word up, hidrotermico?) and he let me know. Which is nice, so in the spirit of reciprocity, here’s a link to his blog.

And finally, just for Sarah who can’t make embedded video play on her laptop, here’s a “mamada” I saw on the internets about Star Wars’ emperor on the phone… You come for the self-absorption, but you’ll stay for the lo-res comedy…

Cherry coke, indeed.

So a latish night round ours. Jose came round and we had a few tequilitas. At one point he came up with a brilliant Mexican saying. It’s like God giveth and he taketh away only much more cynical: porque “Dios aprieta, pero no aplasta…” *EDIT* It’s actually: “Dios aprieta pero no ahoga”. *EDIT* I’ve been trying to think of a decent way to translate it, but for now you’ll have to make do with: God squeezes but he doesn’t *EDIT* strangle *EDIT*… Context would be something like, So my dog died, my car was broken into and then my house burnt down, but, because Dios aprieta, pero no aplasta, I got a 3 dollar tax refund. Anyway, I liked that. Jose’s a veritable mine of Mexican dichos.

I hope my translation skills improve before I tackle the latest QYLA bios… Comment away your better translations…

*non-music-lovin’-mp3-listening-peeps stop reading now*
Q Magazine’s got a new podcast which is great because Q is not on the shelves even in Sanborns in Mexico. Now I can have a taste of what’s going on UK side in new albums. This month’s has an interview with someone from Keane a review of Gnarls Barclay, and Snow Patrol’s latest and a storming cover of REM’s Orange Crush. AND it lasts just the same time as it takes to get from my house to Plaza Bonita on the bus. Good times…

It’s bean a weird couple of days in the office. Like a bad episode of Terry and June whereupon we have to hide certain clients from other clients, because they’re in different political parties. Making sure the computer doesn’t show one party’s logo when someone from the other party comes bursting through the door. Talking in code and making wild gesticulations, still it’s all part of the fun of the 2006 elections. Anyroad, suffice to say blogging’s going to be a bit sparse these next few days.

For the rest of the Zacatecas/ Aguascalientes trip it’s going to be a stream of consciousness: Tour, town center, La Bufa, Teleferico, Mines!, dinner at a french place, power nap, bullring-cum-hotel, aqueduct, cantina II, new drunks, scale model of how mines work produced at the bar, v. rare meat, hotel… then next day: quick recce, breakfast, Rene’s here too!, Aguascalientes, Posada museum, murals, Tonala, glasses, home.

Personal highlight: the friendly locals with their scale models.

Friday- Day 1:

So we left early afternoonish on Friday filled up with Pemex’s finest and hit the toll road to Zacatecas. I’d bought a map in Sanborns which seemed to suggest that the more direct, one-lane route would be better but after a brief poll at Plaza Bonita, the pay-as-you-drive route seemed safer and faster. Sure enough before we knew it we were breezing through el Gran Tunal (what the Spanish called the vast area filled with tunas (prickly pears)) at breakneck speeds listening to all manner of podcasts. The fares were pretty hefty and I’d’ve been more accepting of them if I’d known they weren’t going to spend this cash on signs saying ‘Do not leave rocks in the middle of the road” every 20 kms. Who leaves rocks in the middle of the road? And will the kind of people who do it be able to read signs telling them not to? Aside from that the landscape was fantastic all the way, straight two or one-and-a-half lane highway through desert landscapes with huge cacti and other flora. Occasionally you’d see fauna too, but mainly of the roadkill variety… Another thing to watch for if you’re driving on a straight highway through Mexico, is to cover your left arm. I had a shocking case of trucker’s tan after 3 hours odd of radiation…

We arrived at 6ish and blimey, what a place. You enter through the relatively modern Guadalupe, Zacatecas then suddenly get to Zacatecas, Zacatecas which welcomes you with non-stop ornate architecture, fountains, aqueducts, statues and you name it all in the local pink stone (cantera). It’s like suddenly arriving at a mixture of Seville, Guanajuato and Santiago (Chile) all at once. Various strict regulations on what you can and can’t do with your house mean that even the omnipresent OXXO’s (Mexico’s Spar/7-11) blend in… Sita navigated us to a hotel (La Condesa, $200/night, 3.5 Lulus ) and after dumping our stuff we set out to find a cantina…

View from our hotel

Finding a cantina took us through the centre of the city as the sun began to set and you could watch the cantera take on different shades as you went. As it got darker the UNESCO-funded floodlights lit up the facades of the endless buildings and sights, from the cathedral right up to ‘La Bufa” on top of the hill overlooking the city. La Bufa is the old Spanish word for some kind of entrail or other, because from certain angles if you’re extremely hungry after crossing the desert it looks vaguely like something you might put in a stew. It makes a change from the anthropomorphic names they used in the States, (see Tetons) , ah, les Francais…

We eventually happened upon a cantina with swing doors (they’re the best) called La cantina de refugio or reforma or descanso or somesuch replete with pictures of old Zacatecas and full of very welcoming regulars. No sooner had we ordered our Mezcal (we’re not in Jalisco anymore…) and Coronas than we were asked where we were from and got chatting about 70s English prog-rock. Like you do… One of our new friends was an artist originally from Yugoslavia and t’other a Zapatista union lawyer. To prove his credentials, the artist did a cartoon of us on a napkin. Sarita was looking the other way chatting to someone else so the similarity is fleeting. I like to think I look nothing like the one he did of me. And I also learnt, if you’re going to be drawn for 90 seconds. It’s best not to keep doing something you don’t want in the picture. Stuffing your face with crisps for example… I’ll scan it and post it later. Anyroad, we were invited back to the artist’s house who had a gorgeous view of the cathedral, now fully lit and an extensive CD collection. We stopped for some beers, then he gave us some of his art and persuaded us to follow them round the city to take in more sights.

Through these two well connected Zacatecans we got into the theatre and met some of the musicians who’d played there. We ducked and dived through various little callejones and got to Las Quince Letras cantina. It’s called the 15 letters because there’s 15 letters in ‘Las Quince Letras”. We were starving by this time but managed a round or two as everyone’s communication skills slowly waned. We arranged to meet the next day at the same time and went to a restaurant recommended by everyone even though it was practically empty and ordered our meal. My filet mignon wrapped in bacon wasn’t half bad, nor the avocado and shrimp started. Sita made the mistake of asking for a cactus based dish and wasn’t too impressed. Cacti are not for eating, if you ask me. Basically the only way to prepare them is to boil them until they stop tasting like cactus. Again, this is fine for SAS style survival handbook territory, but if you’re in a restaurant stick to food stuffs which evolved to be eaten not to survive drought and to repell predators…

Stumbling home from the restaurant at midnightish felt a lot like stumbling round Seville because of the lighting, but a lot safer. We found the posada, crashed into bed and watched the latest LOST on my laptop. NB. We didn’t touch the interweb for almost 3 days, and somehow it got along without us. The laptop was along purely as a photo repository.

Shall finish this later… photos round flickr in the interim…

Typical that a mountain of work falls on my lap just before making plans to go sightseeing this weekend. I stayed late yesterday doing as much as I could for various people. There’s graphic design, websites and translations all on the go and today we’re driving to Zacatecas. We’ve got someone looking after the house though. With a big stick. All you English-speaking, net-savvy burlgars. So there… Posts and pictures will be forthcoming but there may well be blog silence for a while… We haven’t got any decent road maps of the area north of Guad, so we may end up in Aguascalientes if the navegation doesn’t go to plan. Anyway, as per usual, you’ll read all about it here. Have a lovely weekend all : )

Oh and Feliz Cinco de Mayo if you’re in the States right now. It’s not a big deal in Mexico itself. Wait for September…

Aldo’s photos from Tuesday coming soon…

Posts in my native tongue to return “pronto”…

Estaban dos nios jugando fútbol en un parque en Guadalajara cuando uno de ellos es atacado por un feroz perro “Rotweiller”.

Pensando rápido, el otro nio arranca rápido una tabla de una cerca y le da un golpe en el cuello del perro, matándolo instantáneamente.

Un reportero que se encontraba cerca observa la escena y corre a entrevistar al valiente nio mexicano y escribe en su libreta:
“VALIENTE FAN DE LAS CHIVAS SALVA A SU AMIGUITO DE LAS FAUCES DE AGRESIVO PERRO”

a.. Yo no le voy a las chivas, replica el pequeo héroe.
b.. Perdona, como estamos en Guadalajara asumí que le ibas a las chivas.

Entonces escribió: “VALIENTE FAN DEL ATLAS SALVA A SU COMPAÑERO DE TERRIBLE ATAQUE”

a.. Tampoco le voy al Atlas le dice el nio…
b.. Asumí que estando en Guadalajara le irías a las Chivas o al Atlas. Entonces, ¿A quién le vas?
a.. Le voy al América le dice el nio…

Entonces el reportero escribió: “CHILANGO MANIATICO ASESINA A INDEFENSA MASCOTA DE FAMILIA JALISCIENSE

Make your own here.

The lucha libre provided a fantastic backdrop to yet another great night. Dramatis personae included: Los Técnicos: Sita, Hannah, Berta y Fernando and los Rudos: José, Aldo and me… There were cameras there so hopefully I’ll get emailed an image or two soon. We started off in El Rincón de la Doa, hit the coliseo and then were swiftly transported (thanks, Berta) to Los Famosos Equipales for a few Nalgas alegres and cantinera singalong of El Rey and other classics. José (barely) managed to fit 6 people in his VW beetle. However he now has brakes so it could have been much worse… and now to work… happy biscuit making. NB. no W shaped biscuits. For shame…

OK, it’s not their eurovision entry, it’s their World Cup Mexico Anthem. All together now, chi-tiqui-bum-a-la-bim-bum-bam… Mexico, Mexico, Ra, Ra, Ra…

This YouTube thing’s alarmingly easy to use…

We’re in the midst of a thunderstorm right now. I’ve just unplugged the laptop and am blogging on batteries… Hopefully the phone lines won’t take a direct hit. I had a go at taking some shots of the lightning from yesterday’s storm but it was still too light, there’s a few moody shots of the barrio on flickr (click the picture).
Had a nice day working from home on a translation for a movie script and driving round with young Obdulio… he was round last night with a special surprise guest, which was grand. Back to business tomorrow though and off to the lucha again hopefully.

Here’s a weather badge that’ll tell you what the weather’s doing at the minute over here. I’d put it in the sidebar, but they don’t seem to have any tasteful/firefox compatible ones. So until I make 10 more posts, feel free to scroll down to it before it disappears for good.

It’s worth watching the 2nd section too, where he says, this administration is soaring, not sinking… they’re not “rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic¨. They’re rearranging the deckchairs on the Hindenberg.

Este guey si tiene huevos…

EDIT: May 4th, 2006: YouTube’s taken this down apparently “At the request of C-Span” I’m not convinced… more at BoingBoing

And Ed’s using my Flickr account to host a few images from his travels round the bottommost parts of the Americas…

Here’s one –>

Bariloche gets it wrong