…for the turnout yesterday, quite the night. Many, many thanks and indeed, gracias. Needless to say it pushed the time we set off forward by a couple of hours (5am was a bit ambitious…) and a flat tire on km 4 on the toll road to Tequila didn’t help along with repairs in Magdelena… Still, we’ve made pretty good time considering and are now in Los Mochis, about 500-600 miles from Gwod. It’s dark and we’re too knackered to go exploring. I have it on good authority (from a bloke called Mochis, named after his hometown, no less) that it’s not amongst the wonders of modern Mexico…
Still thinking about all our many despedidas and fine friends from along the way. And, more prosaically, also thinking about where we can grab something to eat…
Best wishes to everyone, y sobre todo a nuestros amigos queridos de Guanatos.
Some things are easier to cancel than others. In the spirit of public service, here’s the list:
CFE: Electricity. You can read the metre and they’ll tell you how much you owe, however you can’t pay it until the next bill comes along unless you want to stop the service completely.
Megacable: Basic cable is easy to cancel, you have to do it in person at one of the outlets and you just pay the percentage of the unbilled month. A day or two later they disconnect you and you never have to suffer The American Network or Holy Channel 22 again.
Gas: Zeta gas, since there seems to be no gas pipes to anyone’s house in Gwod you just fill your tank to whatever level it was at when you arrived. It’s probably for the best given that entire streets have blown up in the past that were meant to only be water drains… Minimum order for a tanque estacionario 300 pesos.
SIAPA: Water. Easy, bless them. You go to your nearest office with the metre reading and pay it and you’re done. They’re just happy to be paid at all it seems, as half their advertising campaign right now starts “Are you one of those people who don’t pay for their water?” And has a fresh faced young lad with an admonishing stare saying “Qué poca…” which means You´ve got some nerve, more or less.
TELMEX: Phone and interweb. This is a heady mixture of going to offices and fighting to not get disconnected from their labyrinthine phone menus. They´re split into different corporate sections, each with a different phone number, “Your call is important to us” muzak and wildly varying degrees of professionalism. Removing extra phone services was easy enough, just a question of 7 menus and a 10 minute wait on the phone, but to cancel the interweb tubes they gave me another number which didn´t even get answered when I rang the first 10 times. Then I finally got through to a human, then he said “un segundo” and disappeared for 20 minutes and I got cut off. All the conversations start badly when they ask you for your name and I have to spell out Gwyn and explain my lack of a 2nd surname… Anyroad, I could go on, but basically you have to take the complimentary modem to the Telmex office with a “victory” code that you earn if you win your phone battles and then they´ll cancel it. Sisyphean, I tells you.
Because of the aforementioned trials today we didn´t make it to Tequila, which is a shame but it would have been a long day…
Bit tired now, in 4.5 hours I´m making sure powerpoints work… saludos!
Ever wondered how people avoid slowly cooking themselves to death while dressed as Dr. Simi or, in this case, ¿¡Barney!? (from Farmacia Generi-K in Tonalá) what with Mexico´s high temperatures?
Today I can reveal all with this AgaveWeb exclusive aerial shot…
So today we went to get an 8 piece dining set of ceramics from Tonala, just to give them one more thing to inspect as we cross the state lines on Monday. Lovely they are. Almost as good as the Provencale ones from a couple of years ago. I might have to leave my guitar behind to fit them all in the car. We won´t know till Sunday though.
Also, the Sauza family granted us a last minute interview and so we´re off to Tequila for the last time tomorrow afternoon before our last meal for a good while in La Matera and then other stuff.
Still to sell on the furniture front: 2 x computer desks, 2 x chairs, 1 kitchen cabinet, 1 folding table and kitchen bits and pieces. Sunday is going to be hectic. And tomorrow. And Saturday. And not to mention Monday…
I can´t post without mentioning Monday´s entertainment, as you´ll see in the post below we were expecting a quietish meal with our Flickr friends, we got there and all was calm then one by one the patio filled up with familiar faces dressed as angels, devils, kings, shepherds, and er mermaids… I didn´t know what the merry hell was going on for a good few minutes. It turns out they´d all got together and planned a Pastorela, a nativity play crossed with a Christmas panto in our honour. It was hilarious and such an unexpected and lovely send off. My appreciation for the peeps in this good town knows no bounds. I promised not to make the photos too public, but if you´re not in my Flickr contacts shout out and I´ll email you the link, and if you are a contact, then click away hence.
We´ve really been spoilt for friends here in Guadalajara, more than anywhere I´ve ever lived and I sincerely hope we can return the favour wherever we find ourselves next.
Righty, we´re off for tacos then down the pub cantina.
Destroy your teeth and get stung at the same time with these delicious toffee apples on display at the Mercado de los Muertos in Parque Morelos, Guadalajara, Mexico.
Legend has it that 80 years or so ago a punter couldn’t pay his bar tab so he left his bike there promising to come back the next day with the cash. He never returned and so his dusty bike now surveys all in the La Fuente Cantina in the centre of Guadalajara. It’s now their logo too.
Been well busy. As of this very minute, here are our plans…
Tonight: Flickreros Tapatíos Despedida round Aranza´s Tuesday: Photography course, last day… Presentation Wednesday: R&R, packing, goodbying Thursday: Packing, Down the pub. To be decided. Friday: Cancelling internet, cable, phone, water, gas. Paying bills, Behrnard´s arrival at Amour Fou Saturday: SIT 2007, drinks at Famosos Equipales Sunday: Packing, furniture distributing, handing over keys, final quiet despedida at Chop on Av. Mexico around 8pm. Monday: Hit the road, probably Culiacan, possibly further Tuesday: Nogales and beyond… Immigration fun. Wednesday: Arrive in L.A. Reunion with la familia (+ Atticus) Thursday: Unpacking, packing, shopping… From this point on things get vaguer: Fridayish: L.A. fun Saturday: L.A. to Oakland Sunday: Unpacking, getting Sita installed in her temporary office Monday: Buy a new computer which works (expect a lot of blog silence in the interim) Tuesday: Packing for England Wednesday: Leave for UK from SF. Thursday: Arrive in UK, bus it to Taunton…
3ish weeks of catching up with lovely peeps in Taunton + Bristol + (possibly) London Back to the States. Immigration fun. New Year´s Eve and all that… Find job / set up business. Take it as it comes.
