I don't know weather to be proud or embarrased. When I got up this morning I really didn't feel like doing anything so I did't. I was going to go to the gym but there was some good TV shows on so I didn't, maybe tomarrow.
I did however manage to do a load of laundry (couldn't dry because it started to rain). Thats about it. Oh-yea, I got the address to where I need to go to get my Visa extended, because I will be here for 100 days since I got back after Christmas and my passport is only good for 90, but I didnt go because it will cost some dough and I don't have any (I only have 80 pesos and I need it for gas to pick up Karinski at the airport in Mexico City).
So.... for most of the day I sat in my spot in the corner of the couch and watched TV/surfed the internet. I got up a couple times to make burgers, shower, and use the bathroom. I did a big search of old school cartoons and TV shows from when I was a kid. I got a hold of a lot of clips and Intro's, that was fun, it brought back a lot of memories. I also found a site where I can watch old episodes of "You Can't Do That On Television," that was AWESOME!
I will again sleep right where I am and again I will hope for some initiative to go to the gym or something, at least I will be either picking up Karin or going bowling in the latter part of the day, so my consecutive hours of nothing will be broken.
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
37 straight hours on the couch!
I have been on the couch with the laptop on and infront of the TV since I got back from Mexico City at about noon on Sunday, it is now 1am Tuesday morning. The only time I have gotten up was to shower, use the bathroom, or cook a meal. I was hopeing to have a couple bucks to go see a movie or something but the damn corrupted police took care of that real quick.
I think Tomarro my body will be ready for the gym, I usually need two days after a rugby match and a good late night of drinkin'. I think I'll be nice and rested by the morning.
I will keep you posted on how many hours total I will be on the couch before I actually get up and do something (I've been sleeping on the couch as well, I was having trouble sleeping on it but I found a way that is really comfy!). I'm thinking about another 8 or 9 hours, maybe more. I may just see how long I can actually take it! I thought about just taking a bunch of sleeping pills and just sleep untill I have to pick up Karin, sounds like a good time to me! I wish I had a couple hundred bucks, I would have flown to Cancun or something for a day or two.
Don't get me wrong, I am really bored and I wish I had something to do, but I don't. I'm still waiting on the English school (they keep telling me that there are no problems and they will have me come in next week but then I won't hear from then for like two weeks and they say the same thing). I keep myself occupied with my regular TV shows, myspace, and Yahoo! Euchre. We'll see what's up.
I think Tomarro my body will be ready for the gym, I usually need two days after a rugby match and a good late night of drinkin'. I think I'll be nice and rested by the morning.
I will keep you posted on how many hours total I will be on the couch before I actually get up and do something (I've been sleeping on the couch as well, I was having trouble sleeping on it but I found a way that is really comfy!). I'm thinking about another 8 or 9 hours, maybe more. I may just see how long I can actually take it! I thought about just taking a bunch of sleeping pills and just sleep untill I have to pick up Karin, sounds like a good time to me! I wish I had a couple hundred bucks, I would have flown to Cancun or something for a day or two.
Don't get me wrong, I am really bored and I wish I had something to do, but I don't. I'm still waiting on the English school (they keep telling me that there are no problems and they will have me come in next week but then I won't hear from then for like two weeks and they say the same thing). I keep myself occupied with my regular TV shows, myspace, and Yahoo! Euchre. We'll see what's up.
Sunday, March 26, 2006
Drive Back to Toluca the Morning After
I woke up about 9am and everybody was still passed out, I had no idea how to get back to Toluca and I didn't want to wake anybody up. So I decided to have the adventure of trying to find my way myself. I had a good map and a good idea of where I was but it was really difficult because there is not very many street signs. So I found a main road and startd to head in the direction that I needed to go (due to the trusty compass on my windshield). I would see a ray of light with a Toluca sign, but then the road would split and I didn't know whech way to go so I often missed those opportunities, that happened a couple of times.
I thought I was headed the right way when all of a sudden I found myself in a bus station with cops waving at me, I must have been somewhere I shouldn't have been. So I stopped to talk to them and told them I was lost and that I needed to go to Toluca. They gave me pretty good directions that got me to where I needed to go but I had to pay them! They were telling me that they were going to give me a ticket for something, I couldn't understand what they were saying what for, but they said I could go if I gave them $200 pesos. So I did, it sucked because Karin left me with only $700 pesos, and after tolls and beer I was running low, and $400 of that was for the maid! Needles to say, I don't have enough money to pay our maid on Wed, and there is only 1/4 of a tank of gas and I might have to pick up Karin in Mexico City at the airport on Wed as well, so the first thing I need is gas.
I finally made it home after about 3 and a half hours worth of driving, super dehydrated, hungover, and hurting. My lower back is killing me and I banged up my knee pretty good (falling on the hard ass pitch). So I took a shower and crashed on the coutch.
I was waiting for a call from Veronica to get her her dogs back, I felt kinda bad because they didn't get their meel last night but I left them more than usuall before I left, and I wasn't going to tell the guys that I had to go back after the game to feed some dogs. They were fine. She called about 8pm and I gathered up everything and droped them off to her, no more stinkin' dogs. But there is cotton all over the back yard because they attacked their bed... oh-well, I have a couple days to clean up, but for now I just want to be lazy, and they chewed the hel out of our nozzle for the hose. I have the feeling that I will just be laying on the couch all day tomarro as well. We'll see whats up.
I thought I was headed the right way when all of a sudden I found myself in a bus station with cops waving at me, I must have been somewhere I shouldn't have been. So I stopped to talk to them and told them I was lost and that I needed to go to Toluca. They gave me pretty good directions that got me to where I needed to go but I had to pay them! They were telling me that they were going to give me a ticket for something, I couldn't understand what they were saying what for, but they said I could go if I gave them $200 pesos. So I did, it sucked because Karin left me with only $700 pesos, and after tolls and beer I was running low, and $400 of that was for the maid! Needles to say, I don't have enough money to pay our maid on Wed, and there is only 1/4 of a tank of gas and I might have to pick up Karin in Mexico City at the airport on Wed as well, so the first thing I need is gas.
I finally made it home after about 3 and a half hours worth of driving, super dehydrated, hungover, and hurting. My lower back is killing me and I banged up my knee pretty good (falling on the hard ass pitch). So I took a shower and crashed on the coutch.
I was waiting for a call from Veronica to get her her dogs back, I felt kinda bad because they didn't get their meel last night but I left them more than usuall before I left, and I wasn't going to tell the guys that I had to go back after the game to feed some dogs. They were fine. She called about 8pm and I gathered up everything and droped them off to her, no more stinkin' dogs. But there is cotton all over the back yard because they attacked their bed... oh-well, I have a couple days to clean up, but for now I just want to be lazy, and they chewed the hel out of our nozzle for the hose. I have the feeling that I will just be laying on the couch all day tomarro as well. We'll see whats up.
Saturday Rugby Activities
I took Kairn to the bus station at about 3 am on saturday morning. I fergot that I was only taking her to the bus statin and not all the way to the airport so all night I was worried that I was going to be but tired all day for my rugby match, but relieved when I remembered that it was only the bus station which is in Toluca as opposed to the airport in Mexico City which would have been about a 3-4 hour trip. All was well.
Our game was at a place they call "la Isla," and it was in the north west of Mexico City. We were to meet off a Toll highway and it was fairly easy to find, thank god they give good directions with land marks. It took me about 2 hours to get there from Toluca. Once we were at the meting place we caravaned it to the pitch which was way back in the hills via a gravel road with many turns that were not marked, I would have never found it alone.
The pitch was the worst I have ever played on. The grass was all dead, the ground was hard, it was lumpier than blind person's book, on three sides there was deep ravines so everytime the ball was kicked out it would have to be chased and it took a while, even though were using two balls, they were sometimes being gathered a the same time.... a little break.
We lost to the Tazmania Rugby Club. I can't remember the score but I think we lost by like two tries or close to that. It was a good match. They had a couple strong runners and their 8 man was a stud. He was proball 6'5'' or taller, he appeared somewhat skinny but he was solid and coule very well have been the hardest person I have ever tried to tackel. I played at a wing forward (#6) and my job was to watch for the 8 man pickup so I saw him a lot. Did a pretty good job I think. There was one time where the 8 man picked it up from the scrum and Initialy I missed the tackel on him but hung with him and rode him until I got him out of bounds. I was told defensively to be on the same side as a big Irish guy and stick with him, I did my job well but the dude didn't do much due to a bad wheel.
There was another game after us and everybody stuck around for beer and they were grilling burgers, chicken and shrimp for tacos. It was all normal after the match rugby fun with people having to shoot the boot when they spiled beer and what not. It was fun, I got to know a lot of they guys a little better.
Since I had the car and that I really didn't have anything to do I told thatm that I wanted to stick around and party in Mexico City, so one of the guys, ofo, said that he will have people over. So I followed them to his house ina neighborhood they call naranjo. First we went to a taco joint and ate a bunch of tacos, bought beer, and headed to his place for the fiesta. He had a nice crib, his parents owned a couple of the buildings there. He had a sewwt sterio and a really nice plasma screen TV. It was a sweet bachelor pad. Anyway, there was a lot of people there, mostly rugby guys and their women (I don't think any of them were single:(. There was a lot of drinking and dancing. We danced to all kinds of music, but mostly mexican dancing. We partied all night.
Our game was at a place they call "la Isla," and it was in the north west of Mexico City. We were to meet off a Toll highway and it was fairly easy to find, thank god they give good directions with land marks. It took me about 2 hours to get there from Toluca. Once we were at the meting place we caravaned it to the pitch which was way back in the hills via a gravel road with many turns that were not marked, I would have never found it alone.
The pitch was the worst I have ever played on. The grass was all dead, the ground was hard, it was lumpier than blind person's book, on three sides there was deep ravines so everytime the ball was kicked out it would have to be chased and it took a while, even though were using two balls, they were sometimes being gathered a the same time.... a little break.
We lost to the Tazmania Rugby Club. I can't remember the score but I think we lost by like two tries or close to that. It was a good match. They had a couple strong runners and their 8 man was a stud. He was proball 6'5'' or taller, he appeared somewhat skinny but he was solid and coule very well have been the hardest person I have ever tried to tackel. I played at a wing forward (#6) and my job was to watch for the 8 man pickup so I saw him a lot. Did a pretty good job I think. There was one time where the 8 man picked it up from the scrum and Initialy I missed the tackel on him but hung with him and rode him until I got him out of bounds. I was told defensively to be on the same side as a big Irish guy and stick with him, I did my job well but the dude didn't do much due to a bad wheel.
There was another game after us and everybody stuck around for beer and they were grilling burgers, chicken and shrimp for tacos. It was all normal after the match rugby fun with people having to shoot the boot when they spiled beer and what not. It was fun, I got to know a lot of they guys a little better.
Since I had the car and that I really didn't have anything to do I told thatm that I wanted to stick around and party in Mexico City, so one of the guys, ofo, said that he will have people over. So I followed them to his house ina neighborhood they call naranjo. First we went to a taco joint and ate a bunch of tacos, bought beer, and headed to his place for the fiesta. He had a nice crib, his parents owned a couple of the buildings there. He had a sewwt sterio and a really nice plasma screen TV. It was a sweet bachelor pad. Anyway, there was a lot of people there, mostly rugby guys and their women (I don't think any of them were single:(. There was a lot of drinking and dancing. We danced to all kinds of music, but mostly mexican dancing. We partied all night.
Friday, March 24, 2006
First Practice With the Wallabies
Not only was tonite my first pracitce it was also the first time I drove back and forth to Mexico City by myself. The other times I was either with karin or picking up/dropping off somebody at the airport. The directions were super easy and I didn't get lost or have to turn around at all. I got to take Karin's car because the practice starts late enough (9pm) to where I can use her car after she gets home from work.
The practice was at a French school, it was indoors in a gym. It was prety intense but cool. We basically were moving for two straight hours! It was tough and it sucked but after it felt well worth it. There were about 25 dudes there and everybody is wayyyyyy cool. It's a little wierd though because everybody greets everybody and likewise the goodbyies. Its not that bad but when you say "como estas" and shake hands to somebody you haven't meet yet, but it's wierd when they do it is like they know you well and don't really ask who you are. I do like however when you greet hot chicks because there is allways a kiss on the cheek involved. There is just something about touching faces with hot chicks that I don't know!
After practice I filled out the necessary paperwork to become registered with the Federacion Mexicana de Rugby and then a few of us went for a beer...... at CHILI'S! It was cool to be somewhere recognizable. There are a lot of those chain restraunts in Mexico City but not in Toluca. I tried to get the NCAA Tourny games on the tele but they weren't on here:( It was cool hangin with the guys even though it was for a short period, I only had one beer. One - I had a long drive back to Toluca and, Two - Usually if I have two or three I want like 20, so I like to chill out some times. We'll see whats up.
The practice was at a French school, it was indoors in a gym. It was prety intense but cool. We basically were moving for two straight hours! It was tough and it sucked but after it felt well worth it. There were about 25 dudes there and everybody is wayyyyyy cool. It's a little wierd though because everybody greets everybody and likewise the goodbyies. Its not that bad but when you say "como estas" and shake hands to somebody you haven't meet yet, but it's wierd when they do it is like they know you well and don't really ask who you are. I do like however when you greet hot chicks because there is allways a kiss on the cheek involved. There is just something about touching faces with hot chicks that I don't know!
After practice I filled out the necessary paperwork to become registered with the Federacion Mexicana de Rugby and then a few of us went for a beer...... at CHILI'S! It was cool to be somewhere recognizable. There are a lot of those chain restraunts in Mexico City but not in Toluca. I tried to get the NCAA Tourny games on the tele but they weren't on here:( It was cool hangin with the guys even though it was for a short period, I only had one beer. One - I had a long drive back to Toluca and, Two - Usually if I have two or three I want like 20, so I like to chill out some times. We'll see whats up.
Thursday, March 23, 2006
I am Bored!
I was bored today (still no job, The boss contacted me last week and said that he was going to bring me in again this week, but nothing so far this week) so I decided to make a short film, of me making lunch...... a burrito that is strikingly similar to one from Taco Bell!. Here is the link. Enjoy!
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=592579333&n=2
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=592579333&n=2
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Dragged out of Bed
Last night Karin and I went to pick up two dogs of Veronica's to dogg sit. It was decided to bring them here instead of driving to her house twice a day. They were to stay in our back yard for the week, Veronica is on a vacation untill Sunday. These are pretty cute little scraggly doggs, but they wouldn't shut up. A combination of new place and other doggs shouting "what's up," they went on all night. I'm sure it pissed some people off.
Anywho, I didn't get to sleep untill really late and then Karin wakes me up in the morning, I don't even know what time it was, to hang out on the coutch to tell our muchacha not to open the back door due to the dogs. I was like whatever and started to write a note to put on it. Karin asked me what I was doing and then said that she cannot read.....OH.
So I layed on the coutch and tried to sleep, the dogs were again barking and for some reason I find it hard to sleep on the coutch ( I usued to sleep on it all the time). And I was kept up by trying t find a way for me to be able to get back into my bed. Finially I came up with a plan. I drew a picture depicting that we wanted the door to stay closed and that there were doggs out there and they are not to interact with the cats. Here it is, creative eh? So I climed back into bed and enjoyed a couple more hours of sleep. Exept for when I am woken up and then fall back asleep, it is prime time for the imagination of my active brain. I was dreaming about the doggs in the back yard all night and me having to keep waing up to check on them and make sure that no other animals climbed the wall and hand out and what not. There was a bg black cat that kept comming by and it had shit rubbed all over and was N-A-S-T-Y. So that went on through out the night. Then in the morning before Karin got up I realized that there were now three doggs that all looked the same and I had to figure out which two were the real ones and toss out the third, but my decision was made a little easier for me because as I looked closer one of them was dead, too cold I guess (there was a point during the night when I looked out and there was snow). Then I woke up to the doggs barking and looked out to see that they were fine.
They are still barking like no other and it is really pissin' me off, I can't imagine how the neighbors feel. Hopefully as they get used to the place for the next couple days they will dampen their obsured barking. We'll see what's up.
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Benito Juárez and V de Venganza
Today was a National Holiday for Mexico. It was the Birth day of Benito Juárez (seen left). He is remembered as being a progressive reformer dedicated to democracy and for the rights of the nations indigenous Indian population, resistance of the French occupation and his efforts to modernize the country. He is often regarded at Mexico greatest and most beloved leader.So, karin had the day off. She planned on doing something cultural like visiting some museums or the zoo. Once we got up at about 10 am, we decided to go to the gym. Once we got home we took our time eating lunch, showering, and wandering around the abyss we call the Internet. By time we knew it, it was about 3pm and pondered on what to do.
We were both feeling kinda lazy, so I looked up some movies. We decided to see V for Vendetta at Cinepolis VIP (where they sirve you and they have huge leather recliners). Karin vows never to see another movie anywhere else, although we usually don't utilize the servers. Sometimes I'd rather do stuff myself rather than giving a tip (I'm not cheap, just economic)!
I really enjoyed it. There were two parts (I will try not to give them away) that I thought were the two most exciting sequences I have ever seen. It was a combination of the awesome sound and visuals of explosions but it also involved one of the most axillerating composition ever (in my opinion), the 1812 overture, the theater seats were trembling to add to the stimulation. Just the song itself puts a huge smile on my face as well as goose bumbs all over. It gives me a feeling of freedom, conquer, and triumph and makes me feel invincible, even if only for a moment I am on top of the world.
Now I am back to reality, into the calmness and peacfullness of sharing my days events, thoughts, and feelings to people important to me, and I also feel important to you because you take time out of your day to enjoy my tales. Until next time.
Monday, March 20, 2006
Lunch After and the Trip Home
We went back to China’s house for another meal before we hit the road. I was extremely tired and ready for a warm meal. This time around I had some chicken mole, it was the best I have ever had, that’s saying a lot because the chicken mole my family cooks back at home is fantastic as well, but there was something a little different in the mole. It had a little hint of sweetness. I also had Iguana, that’s right that lizard that is somewhat common in the states as a pet. It was really good, but it would have been fantastic in the mole sauce. It was in a similar sauce but it was a little too pico for me. Pretty much everybody else was drinking beer but I was dehydrated and genuinely thirsty so I opted for some Fanta orange pop, it could very well have been the best orange pop I ever had, I love orange soda, I do, I do, I dooooooooo-oooo. A couple of the guys asked me if I drink, I had to try and explain that I do and love it, but sometimes I just want a cold water or nice cold soda. Everybody was ready to go but it took a while for them to get our bill and for everybody to put in their share, but we finally got out of there.
There was quite a few of the guys still boozin’ on the drive back, they looked like they were having fun and I wanted to join them but my body was saying NO! I must be getting old. A little ways in the drunkerd’s in the back started to chant names, and those people whom they called on had to go back and get spanked by everybody, bare assed. It would seem extremely weird to the average person but I see this all the time while partaking in Rugby socials, so one my name was called, I told them to give me a beer first. I slammed the beer and dropped my pants. After that beer I felt the urge to throw down a couple. So we stopped at a store and I bought a case and we boozed the rest of the way home. It was fun; we were dancing in the aisle, singing (I sang Ice, Ice, Baby for them) pissing out the bus window (no bathroom), just drinkin’ with the boy’s.
Once we got back, we gathered all of our things and headed back to Hectors house. We were going to take off right away but Fernando couldn’t find his keys. We looked everywhere and were trying to figure out what we were going to do. Just after that he found them, in the pocket of the pants that he wore in the cave! They could have very well been at the bottom of the river in the middle of the cave, lost forever! But luckily they stayed put, he felt extremely relieved.
We picked up his family at his mothers house and headed back to Toluca. I got home to a nervous Karin because I didn’t cal her when I got back to Mexico City and it was really late, after midnight. But I got home safe and have another great experience to share.
There was quite a few of the guys still boozin’ on the drive back, they looked like they were having fun and I wanted to join them but my body was saying NO! I must be getting old. A little ways in the drunkerd’s in the back started to chant names, and those people whom they called on had to go back and get spanked by everybody, bare assed. It would seem extremely weird to the average person but I see this all the time while partaking in Rugby socials, so one my name was called, I told them to give me a beer first. I slammed the beer and dropped my pants. After that beer I felt the urge to throw down a couple. So we stopped at a store and I bought a case and we boozed the rest of the way home. It was fun; we were dancing in the aisle, singing (I sang Ice, Ice, Baby for them) pissing out the bus window (no bathroom), just drinkin’ with the boy’s.
Once we got back, we gathered all of our things and headed back to Hectors house. We were going to take off right away but Fernando couldn’t find his keys. We looked everywhere and were trying to figure out what we were going to do. Just after that he found them, in the pocket of the pants that he wore in the cave! They could have very well been at the bottom of the river in the middle of the cave, lost forever! But luckily they stayed put, he felt extremely relieved.
We picked up his family at his mothers house and headed back to Toluca. I got home to a nervous Karin because I didn’t cal her when I got back to Mexico City and it was really late, after midnight. But I got home safe and have another great experience to share.
Sunday, March 19, 2006
On the Way Out
We got dressed into our cloths and boots from the day before, surprisingly they were pretty dry. Then we packed our gear up and got ready to head out. Some of the guys started a fire, not sure what for because we were leaving but it was to burn all of the trash. I wondered what they did because I had a small pile myself, but I had already wrapped it up to dispose when we got out. The smelled nasty, all the plastic containers and trash bags isn’t a good smell for the morning but it didn’t seem to mind anybody. Then we headed out.
We walked and swam for about an hour or so until we came upon the “hole” we were at during the hike up to the cave. It was even more astounding looking up as it was looking down into it. There were huge boulders all over; it seemed as if it was a place where they gathered when the water I high and fierce due to the almost right angle turn at this point. This our breakfast spot more like lunch because we were having sandwiches. There was a big sun spot shining down, which was like heaven to see, because I haven’t seen it for a while, and the rays shot down with an immense amount of energy into the lightless cave. There would be drops of water dripping down from the ceiling falling through the sun rays and it looked as if the sun was twinkling. It was truly magical and peaceful. I wouldn’t be surprised if I saw angels descend. I took a sweet photo but it didn’t come out.
We found a good spot in the sun to eat, but just as we got settled, the sun has moved and we were in the shade. It was almost like you could actually see the sun moving. The hole was small and far away, so the sun moved quickly across the cave floor. We again repacked up our gear and headed on.
This next hike was probably our longest and most difficult. At one of our resting spots there was a small flow of water gushing out of a hole in the wall about 2 feet from the ground. This was the place where the new guys got initiated. We had to pull our pants down and Ernesto poured to pure water over our heads and declared out Apollo (nickname), mine was oso de la cueva (cave bear) because I had a couple rumbling burps along the way. We continued.
The last leg proved to be difficult to some of the older gents. One in particular took a bad fall and hurt his ankle. A couple of us stayed back and helped him through the rocky terrain, through the shallow river crossings where you couldn’t see the rocks, and took turns carrying his gear. There was some steep rocks to climb and more swimming.
We finally got to the end, you could see the sun light trying to enter the cave but the darkness just swallowed it up. Once you could see a faint glow, you knew you were there. The longest part where we had to swim was here at the end, there was a nice current as well. The river shallowed and everybody took their gear off and had a little recreational swim. The water was warm and clear. There was another smaller river that flowed into it from a different, smaller cave as well.
The journey wasn’t over; we had to climb up about 400 more yards of steep stairs, then another 400 yards back to China’s house for lunch and to get to the bus. This was again tough due to the sun and soreness from walking all day through a RIVER IN A CAVE! But we did it.
We walked and swam for about an hour or so until we came upon the “hole” we were at during the hike up to the cave. It was even more astounding looking up as it was looking down into it. There were huge boulders all over; it seemed as if it was a place where they gathered when the water I high and fierce due to the almost right angle turn at this point. This our breakfast spot more like lunch because we were having sandwiches. There was a big sun spot shining down, which was like heaven to see, because I haven’t seen it for a while, and the rays shot down with an immense amount of energy into the lightless cave. There would be drops of water dripping down from the ceiling falling through the sun rays and it looked as if the sun was twinkling. It was truly magical and peaceful. I wouldn’t be surprised if I saw angels descend. I took a sweet photo but it didn’t come out.
We found a good spot in the sun to eat, but just as we got settled, the sun has moved and we were in the shade. It was almost like you could actually see the sun moving. The hole was small and far away, so the sun moved quickly across the cave floor. We again repacked up our gear and headed on.
This next hike was probably our longest and most difficult. At one of our resting spots there was a small flow of water gushing out of a hole in the wall about 2 feet from the ground. This was the place where the new guys got initiated. We had to pull our pants down and Ernesto poured to pure water over our heads and declared out Apollo (nickname), mine was oso de la cueva (cave bear) because I had a couple rumbling burps along the way. We continued.
The last leg proved to be difficult to some of the older gents. One in particular took a bad fall and hurt his ankle. A couple of us stayed back and helped him through the rocky terrain, through the shallow river crossings where you couldn’t see the rocks, and took turns carrying his gear. There was some steep rocks to climb and more swimming.
We finally got to the end, you could see the sun light trying to enter the cave but the darkness just swallowed it up. Once you could see a faint glow, you knew you were there. The longest part where we had to swim was here at the end, there was a nice current as well. The river shallowed and everybody took their gear off and had a little recreational swim. The water was warm and clear. There was another smaller river that flowed into it from a different, smaller cave as well.
The journey wasn’t over; we had to climb up about 400 more yards of steep stairs, then another 400 yards back to China’s house for lunch and to get to the bus. This was again tough due to the sun and soreness from walking all day through a RIVER IN A CAVE! But we did it.
Before I Continue My Story.....I PLAYED RUGBY TODAY!!!!!!!
Yo jeugé me primera jeugo de rugby in Mexico!!!!!!!
I played with the Wallabies against the Univerity of Guanajuato. I even played the whole game! When asked about what position I played I said Hooker, but everywhere elso too. THe had like a million front rows and were low on backs....so I got to play outside center. It was sweet. We pretty much kicked their asses but in the second half they scored a try or two but we already had a huge lead. I SCORED A TRY!!!!!! We were on defence deep in our own territory (our try was right at the other teams back) and the ball was comming out to the backs, and I just did a little quick step and straight up stole it, took about 5 steeps and scored. You should have seen the guy's face as he was throwing it and I was right there, it was hilarious. On our first drive of the game I had a sweet assist to my winger for the first score. I did however ahve some small problems tackling, I get some bad habbits in my latter years at GVSU where..... well I kinda got weak, basically. This was no different. I missed a couple tackles, but it wasn't all my fault. THey were on a couple Argentinians who were really good, they were like 6'3'' 200lb's, but I broke a couple of their tackles tambien, so we were even.
At the end of the game I did not have to do a Zulu, but I did have to run through the "Gautlet." All the players were lined up with a tunnel inbetween them and I had to run through without a shirt and they slapped the hell out of me, it only hurts for a moment.....but then I had to run back through! It's cool though because I am all about that sort of stuff. We had a couple beers and took of because were had dinner plans with Karin's friend from work Veronica.
I played with the Wallabies against the Univerity of Guanajuato. I even played the whole game! When asked about what position I played I said Hooker, but everywhere elso too. THe had like a million front rows and were low on backs....so I got to play outside center. It was sweet. We pretty much kicked their asses but in the second half they scored a try or two but we already had a huge lead. I SCORED A TRY!!!!!! We were on defence deep in our own territory (our try was right at the other teams back) and the ball was comming out to the backs, and I just did a little quick step and straight up stole it, took about 5 steeps and scored. You should have seen the guy's face as he was throwing it and I was right there, it was hilarious. On our first drive of the game I had a sweet assist to my winger for the first score. I did however ahve some small problems tackling, I get some bad habbits in my latter years at GVSU where..... well I kinda got weak, basically. This was no different. I missed a couple tackles, but it wasn't all my fault. THey were on a couple Argentinians who were really good, they were like 6'3'' 200lb's, but I broke a couple of their tackles tambien, so we were even.
At the end of the game I did not have to do a Zulu, but I did have to run through the "Gautlet." All the players were lined up with a tunnel inbetween them and I had to run through without a shirt and they slapped the hell out of me, it only hurts for a moment.....but then I had to run back through! It's cool though because I am all about that sort of stuff. We had a couple beers and took of because were had dinner plans with Karin's friend from work Veronica.
Friday, March 17, 2006
Entering the Darkness
Cochillo was our leader and I was third in line. I was already soaked from the neck down due to the swim training session, so the subsequent crossings of the river didn’t bother me. It was a small winding river with points where there was banks on both sides of sand and small rocks that were easily passable, one passable side that may or may not be easy with large boulders that had to be climbed up and down, and impassable sides due to steep cliffs or cave walls so swimming down to a passable point was inevitable.
Once we finally reached total darkness I was in awe of the small view of the cave I had through the circular porthole of my head lamp. It was hard to tell actual how high and how far away things where because my depth perception was out of whack due to the extreme darkness. Just the thought of this whole world inside a mountain that only a small number of people have seen and I was in that group. I felt so small and insignificant because I could easily be swept away or crushed my any small movement by Mother Nature. That was a feeling I’ve never had before.
We winded back and fourth, in and out, and up and down through the calm mild temperatured cave. There were incredible visuals that are hard to explain. Looking around and only seeing the small window where your or another persons light was flashing, it reminded me of the part of level eight on Super Mario Bro’s 3 where you can’t see the level, just a round spot where you were (If you played it you know what I am talking about). Looking back at the long line of head lamps bouncing up and down that resembles light bugs dancing in the wind on the side of the highway on a calm summer’s night on a random road going through the forests of Northern Michigan.
Surprisingly you would dry fairly quickly after being out of the water for a few min, but you would have to get right back in. The dark and the cold didn’t bother me at all, I was more interested in the view and letting my mind wander about random philosophical topics such as the purpose of my life, how the hell did I end up here, and I kept trying to imagine what the other people in my life were doing at that exact moment.
About an hour in we came up to an area with a huge cathedral type ceiling and a large multi layered platform at the outer bend. We climbed up and at the top of the platform were two statues of the Virgin Guadalupe with several lit candles, messages to loved ones, and pictures of the dearly departed. As we passed, everybody went to pay their respects as did I. We all gathered around the statues and Martin told us a story about their importance to out group. He said that these specific statues performed miracles. The first year they traveled through the caves and when they came upon the Virgin Guadalupe, they prayed. Martin specifically prayed for his sick mother. She has been chronically ill for a few years. Soon after they returned, his mother’s health drastically improved and she is still healthy to this day. He made a promise to the Virgin that day, that he will return every year at the same time to give thanks and pray for others in need.
This large platform was to be our campsite for the night. We picked out our spots, undid our gear, got our wet cloths off and hung up, put our dry cloths on, ate dinner (sandwiches), and went to bed. I went to bed right away due to my continuing headache and a new felt nausea. Fernando and Hector got out their bread, ham, mayonnaise (real stuff not miracle whip, nasty!), cheese (that got wet and was mushy, nasty!), mustard, and jalapeño chiles. I told them that camping was supposed to be simple and you don’t need all the extras like mayo, mustard and chiles, especially if you have to lug them around. But they assured me that it was necessary to have. They again refered to a joke that they say all the time; “you are in the land of chile and lime, we even put chile on our chile and lime on our lime.” There were even chile packets for the carrots! They again said that it was necessary, I stressed that I want my carrots to taste like carrots and not chile! We all laughed, and before I knew it, everybody was asleep.
Through out the night there would be groups coming through, one in particular got me to wake up because I hears a whole lot of girls, good looking ones too! I would look around hoping to get a peek of some of them changing their clothes but they were only passing. I wish I hadn’t wakened up because I kept waking up after that due to the graphic fantasies that were flying through my sexually deprived brain. At one waking point I felt like a million bucks and snacked on a couple sandwiches (basic – just bread and ham), Quaker bars and a boatload of Gatorade.
We were awakened promptly at 7 am by Ernesto (Uncle Dave look alike) singing a song, “son las siete, todos se levanta, son las siete de la mañana…”
Once we finally reached total darkness I was in awe of the small view of the cave I had through the circular porthole of my head lamp. It was hard to tell actual how high and how far away things where because my depth perception was out of whack due to the extreme darkness. Just the thought of this whole world inside a mountain that only a small number of people have seen and I was in that group. I felt so small and insignificant because I could easily be swept away or crushed my any small movement by Mother Nature. That was a feeling I’ve never had before.
We winded back and fourth, in and out, and up and down through the calm mild temperatured cave. There were incredible visuals that are hard to explain. Looking around and only seeing the small window where your or another persons light was flashing, it reminded me of the part of level eight on Super Mario Bro’s 3 where you can’t see the level, just a round spot where you were (If you played it you know what I am talking about). Looking back at the long line of head lamps bouncing up and down that resembles light bugs dancing in the wind on the side of the highway on a calm summer’s night on a random road going through the forests of Northern Michigan.
Surprisingly you would dry fairly quickly after being out of the water for a few min, but you would have to get right back in. The dark and the cold didn’t bother me at all, I was more interested in the view and letting my mind wander about random philosophical topics such as the purpose of my life, how the hell did I end up here, and I kept trying to imagine what the other people in my life were doing at that exact moment.
About an hour in we came up to an area with a huge cathedral type ceiling and a large multi layered platform at the outer bend. We climbed up and at the top of the platform were two statues of the Virgin Guadalupe with several lit candles, messages to loved ones, and pictures of the dearly departed. As we passed, everybody went to pay their respects as did I. We all gathered around the statues and Martin told us a story about their importance to out group. He said that these specific statues performed miracles. The first year they traveled through the caves and when they came upon the Virgin Guadalupe, they prayed. Martin specifically prayed for his sick mother. She has been chronically ill for a few years. Soon after they returned, his mother’s health drastically improved and she is still healthy to this day. He made a promise to the Virgin that day, that he will return every year at the same time to give thanks and pray for others in need.
This large platform was to be our campsite for the night. We picked out our spots, undid our gear, got our wet cloths off and hung up, put our dry cloths on, ate dinner (sandwiches), and went to bed. I went to bed right away due to my continuing headache and a new felt nausea. Fernando and Hector got out their bread, ham, mayonnaise (real stuff not miracle whip, nasty!), cheese (that got wet and was mushy, nasty!), mustard, and jalapeño chiles. I told them that camping was supposed to be simple and you don’t need all the extras like mayo, mustard and chiles, especially if you have to lug them around. But they assured me that it was necessary to have. They again refered to a joke that they say all the time; “you are in the land of chile and lime, we even put chile on our chile and lime on our lime.” There were even chile packets for the carrots! They again said that it was necessary, I stressed that I want my carrots to taste like carrots and not chile! We all laughed, and before I knew it, everybody was asleep.
Through out the night there would be groups coming through, one in particular got me to wake up because I hears a whole lot of girls, good looking ones too! I would look around hoping to get a peek of some of them changing their clothes but they were only passing. I wish I hadn’t wakened up because I kept waking up after that due to the graphic fantasies that were flying through my sexually deprived brain. At one waking point I felt like a million bucks and snacked on a couple sandwiches (basic – just bread and ham), Quaker bars and a boatload of Gatorade.
We were awakened promptly at 7 am by Ernesto (Uncle Dave look alike) singing a song, “son las siete, todos se levanta, son las siete de la mañana…”
The Walk To the Cave Entrance
I am having problems posting pictures so there will be none until it gets fixed. You can still see them all at photobucket, there is a link to the right.
It was a small trail off of a road in the middle of nowhere. We walked up and down this fairly easy trail; I had no idea how far we had to walk. One person said just over the hill and another said like 2 hours. We came up to the base of a mountain where the trail started to wind up at about a 35 degree angle. It looked like fun especially due to 90 degree weather and the high noon desert sun. Before we headed up the trail there was a sight to see. They called it a “hole.” It was a large hole about half the size of a football field that looked down onto the river winding through the cave. It was probably 200 yards down to the rocky bottom. At the bottom was the place where we were to have breakfast the next morning. It was quite the sight.
We finally started to head up the trail, it was OK at first but the sun and heat started to set in and then I felt a little hangover come on. I really didn’t get drunk but I did have quite a few beers before and during lunch so I became very dehydrated regardless of how much water I drank. I was feeling shitty and tired but I had to-keep-on-keepin-on. We would stop every 100 meters or so to catch our breath and take a drink, this was hell. Imagine walking up a 35 degree incline, stepping up and down rocks, the high desert sun, bugs all over, hung over, my new boots were creating calluses on my big toe (common for new boots), and my legs were burning from the workout. I remember thinking “what the hell did I get myself into.” I swore to myself that I am never doing this again, that’s how shitty it was. They kept saying “10 min, then we start walking downhill.” It wasn’t until about a half hour until we finally started downhill.
The downhill hike was a little easier, mostly due to the help of gravity, but there was an increasing amount of shade, cooler temperatures, and moisture. You could definitely tell that we were entering a river basin because the terrain was getting increasingly greener. Next thing I knew we were in a jungle type setting with big green leaves, vines hanging down from the trees, and really outrageous bird noises. Then we could hear the river, but before we were to get there, we had to shimmy down a 100 meter drop straight down. There was a metal cable similar to the ones that you see supporting the telephone poles on the street corners. It was nailed into one rock and that was it, it was tied in sloppy knots and did not look sturdy at all, but it did the job and I had to do it without thinking about it. We went one by one right after another, going slow because there were some tough spots that some people had difficulty getting passed. About halfway down we had to switch from the cable to a wobbly ladder. At this point we were actually at an angle more than 90 degrees, the footing was bad because there was rocks poking out on top of the rung for the ladder, and the weight of the gear didn’t help much either. I made it down with no problems and it was just a hop skip and a jmp to the cave entrance.
The view was amazing, the river ran through some rather large boulders similar to the size of a cement truck that seemed to be covered in bird shit, but it turned out to be guano. The only reason I knew what guano was is because of the second Ave Ventura movie, bat shit. The river ran along a steep side of a mountain and cut into it at the mouth of the cave. The river was about 10-20 meters wide with about 5 meters of rock and sand on either side. The mouth of the cave was about 30 meters wide and about just as tall. You could see the different layers of rock, and the stains where the water reaches its top height during the rainy season.
This was a resting place before we took the journey into the pitch darkness of rock and water. We double checked our gear and people were doing their last preparations before entry, which consisted of taping the tops of their boots to limit the small rocks and sand getting in and making sure the gear was tight and sleeping bags were nice and sealed. This time was also used to teach the newcomers how to float and swim with the gear on. Basically we got into the water and were told to lean back, the water wasn’t that bad. I was a little chilly and you didn’t want to be in there for long but nothing like I had expected. That was about it, and then you can just move your feet and arms to direct yourself. This was no problem for me but some of the others couldn’t get the idea, if you didn’t lean back your gear would push your helmet off and then your face would go into the water. I took this opportunity to snap a few photos. Then we were off.
It was a small trail off of a road in the middle of nowhere. We walked up and down this fairly easy trail; I had no idea how far we had to walk. One person said just over the hill and another said like 2 hours. We came up to the base of a mountain where the trail started to wind up at about a 35 degree angle. It looked like fun especially due to 90 degree weather and the high noon desert sun. Before we headed up the trail there was a sight to see. They called it a “hole.” It was a large hole about half the size of a football field that looked down onto the river winding through the cave. It was probably 200 yards down to the rocky bottom. At the bottom was the place where we were to have breakfast the next morning. It was quite the sight.
We finally started to head up the trail, it was OK at first but the sun and heat started to set in and then I felt a little hangover come on. I really didn’t get drunk but I did have quite a few beers before and during lunch so I became very dehydrated regardless of how much water I drank. I was feeling shitty and tired but I had to-keep-on-keepin-on. We would stop every 100 meters or so to catch our breath and take a drink, this was hell. Imagine walking up a 35 degree incline, stepping up and down rocks, the high desert sun, bugs all over, hung over, my new boots were creating calluses on my big toe (common for new boots), and my legs were burning from the workout. I remember thinking “what the hell did I get myself into.” I swore to myself that I am never doing this again, that’s how shitty it was. They kept saying “10 min, then we start walking downhill.” It wasn’t until about a half hour until we finally started downhill.
The downhill hike was a little easier, mostly due to the help of gravity, but there was an increasing amount of shade, cooler temperatures, and moisture. You could definitely tell that we were entering a river basin because the terrain was getting increasingly greener. Next thing I knew we were in a jungle type setting with big green leaves, vines hanging down from the trees, and really outrageous bird noises. Then we could hear the river, but before we were to get there, we had to shimmy down a 100 meter drop straight down. There was a metal cable similar to the ones that you see supporting the telephone poles on the street corners. It was nailed into one rock and that was it, it was tied in sloppy knots and did not look sturdy at all, but it did the job and I had to do it without thinking about it. We went one by one right after another, going slow because there were some tough spots that some people had difficulty getting passed. About halfway down we had to switch from the cable to a wobbly ladder. At this point we were actually at an angle more than 90 degrees, the footing was bad because there was rocks poking out on top of the rung for the ladder, and the weight of the gear didn’t help much either. I made it down with no problems and it was just a hop skip and a jmp to the cave entrance.
The view was amazing, the river ran through some rather large boulders similar to the size of a cement truck that seemed to be covered in bird shit, but it turned out to be guano. The only reason I knew what guano was is because of the second Ave Ventura movie, bat shit. The river ran along a steep side of a mountain and cut into it at the mouth of the cave. The river was about 10-20 meters wide with about 5 meters of rock and sand on either side. The mouth of the cave was about 30 meters wide and about just as tall. You could see the different layers of rock, and the stains where the water reaches its top height during the rainy season.
This was a resting place before we took the journey into the pitch darkness of rock and water. We double checked our gear and people were doing their last preparations before entry, which consisted of taping the tops of their boots to limit the small rocks and sand getting in and making sure the gear was tight and sleeping bags were nice and sealed. This time was also used to teach the newcomers how to float and swim with the gear on. Basically we got into the water and were told to lean back, the water wasn’t that bad. I was a little chilly and you didn’t want to be in there for long but nothing like I had expected. That was about it, and then you can just move your feet and arms to direct yourself. This was no problem for me but some of the others couldn’t get the idea, if you didn’t lean back your gear would push your helmet off and then your face would go into the water. I took this opportunity to snap a few photos. Then we were off.
Lunch
Our first stop was a small restaurant type place. They said that we had to go to Chinas house. She has been their host for every year they have gone. It was a house set up on a hill where there was a big dining area on the side of a house with the kitchen area in the same part (pic - the walk up to China's house).
China was the name of a very old lady who lived there, at this time she really didn’t do much, her kids and grand kids and possible great grand kids did all the work. This place was extremely rustic with chickens running around and very old plates and silverware much like the ones I remember using at my grandma’s house (the big blue spoons with little white dots for example). There was a girl probably in her 30’s that did all the cooking who they called cariña (like a pet name for a girlfriend or wife) and the children were out little servers and got anything we asked for, the kids where really young, like 6-10. Their eyes were so big and they always had a smile and seemed to really enjoy what they were doing. The older guys kept trying to get one of the older girls to sing for us but she was really shy and didn’t want to. Lunch which was cecina (thin piece of beef) con frijoles (beans) y arroz (rice) y tortillas, and it was amazing.
During lunch I was talking to one of the older gents Ernesto who strikingly resembled my Uncle Dave Argumedo (seen right), with his big white mustache and white hair. Even the way he talked in his deep voice was identical. He had his son Mauricio and his nephew Jesus (every body called him Harry Potter because he looked just like him) along with him who were both about 14 years old and this is their 4th year on the trip, and they spoke a little English as well, there was another younger boy there was well the same age, who was Martin’s (the leader of the group) son, and they were all drinking beer at lunch! 
(pic - Harry Potter slammin a beer)When I gave them cheers they had an extravagant system of tapping the top and bottom then rubbing the bottles together, I asked Hector what it meant and he just said that they are young and think it is cool. The kids played American Football and Ernesto was their coach, so we talked a little about that and also I was explaining a little bit about rugby. While everybody was wrapping up, all the newbies got blessed by China (the kids in the picture were some of the ones who were serving us). It was interesting, my grandmother did the same before I left for Mexico.
(pic - me getting blessed by China)
After lunch was over we had time to get our gear ready. We had to tie our cans to the frame and then tie our sleeping bags on top. Everything had to be nice and tight because once you were submersed in the water there would be shifting if it wasn’t tight. After everybody was ready it was of to the drop off site.
China was the name of a very old lady who lived there, at this time she really didn’t do much, her kids and grand kids and possible great grand kids did all the work. This place was extremely rustic with chickens running around and very old plates and silverware much like the ones I remember using at my grandma’s house (the big blue spoons with little white dots for example). There was a girl probably in her 30’s that did all the cooking who they called cariña (like a pet name for a girlfriend or wife) and the children were out little servers and got anything we asked for, the kids where really young, like 6-10. Their eyes were so big and they always had a smile and seemed to really enjoy what they were doing. The older guys kept trying to get one of the older girls to sing for us but she was really shy and didn’t want to. Lunch which was cecina (thin piece of beef) con frijoles (beans) y arroz (rice) y tortillas, and it was amazing.During lunch I was talking to one of the older gents Ernesto who strikingly resembled my Uncle Dave Argumedo (seen right), with his big white mustache and white hair. Even the way he talked in his deep voice was identical. He had his son Mauricio and his nephew Jesus (every body called him Harry Potter because he looked just like him) along with him who were both about 14 years old and this is their 4th year on the trip, and they spoke a little English as well, there was another younger boy there was well the same age, who was Martin’s (the leader of the group) son, and they were all drinking beer at lunch! (pic - Harry Potter slammin a beer)When I gave them cheers they had an extravagant system of tapping the top and bottom then rubbing the bottles together, I asked Hector what it meant and he just said that they are young and think it is cool. The kids played American Football and Ernesto was their coach, so we talked a little about that and also I was explaining a little bit about rugby. While everybody was wrapping up, all the newbies got blessed by China (the kids in the picture were some of the ones who were serving us). It was interesting, my grandmother did the same before I left for Mexico. (pic - me getting blessed by China)After lunch was over we had time to get our gear ready. We had to tie our cans to the frame and then tie our sleeping bags on top. Everything had to be nice and tight because once you were submersed in the water there would be shifting if it wasn’t tight. After everybody was ready it was of to the drop off site.
Thursday, March 16, 2006
The Morning Bus Ride
We were supposed to be at the bus stop at 7:30 in the morning. We woke up and were running low on time, but with my grease ball I call my hair I had to get it washed, especially if I won’t be showering until Sunday night, I’m not sure why but when I wake up in the morning my hair is extremely greasy and has always been. It is necessary that it gets washed before I do anything, for looks and it bugs the hell out of me because feel dirty. Last year Fernando and Hector were an hour late so Hector’s father on law kept calling like every 5 min to see where we were at. We were a little late but the bus wasn’t there yet so we were cool.
Once we got there and after Hector’s wife had left, he realized that he forgot his head lamp, at first I thought that he forgot his hard hat, so I thought we were going to hold up everybody because it was like a 20 min drive from his place, but he decided to just go with out it he had other flashlights, so there was no hold up.
Walking up to the gathering area there was a big group of people gathered, the guys going on the trip and some of their wives and children to see them off. The bus finally pulled up and it was a turquoise charter bus that said “especial” on the front where it usually has the destination. I couldn’t tell if the bus was owned or rented, but the driver seemed as if he was one of the guys along with his helper, a younger dude that loaded all of the luggage and did the small things. I really couldn’t tell who was going and who wasn’t until we got on the bus. Once on there were 33 guys ranging from 14 to roughly 60 and one girl that was a teenager, so I was a little relieved to see that it wasn’t going to be extremely rigorous because these old guys and these kids can do it. I was also relieved to see that there was a lot of boozin’ going on, so that to showed me that there was nothing to worry about, nothing like getting a beer shoved in your face at 8 am, I love it. There was a group of about 7-8 guys that were about my age that were just getting hammered, I wanted to join in but I still didn’t know what was ahead of me so I took it easy. We made a couple stops for beer and for the bathroom. The drive was about 2 hours SW, we took the same road that we took when we went to Acapulco, it was about half way between Mexico City and Acapulco. The pic is me in the front of the bus with most of the "older crew."
The guys on the bus reminded me of my uncles and the younger dudes where identical to my buddies back in Grand Rapids, so I felt at home. The picture is Hector, chchillo, me, and Fernando. There was sexual jokes and swear words flying left and right, they kept joking about me being new I had to be somebody’s “bitch,” That guy happened to be a guy that they call “Cochillo,” if you remember from before that is the word for dirty or nasty. He was Aztecan; he had very dark skin, big facial features, shorter and heavy set. He was very difficult to understand because he had an accent that was very different; actually I couldn’t anything he said. Imagine that my first language was Spanish and learned English in Michigan, then imagine that I had to talk to somebody from Liverpool (for those who know Sponge Bob and how he talked with marbles in his mouth!). I wouldn’t be able to understand anything. Anyways, the kept making jokes about me and Fernando kept asking me if I was OK and he kept saying that they were just joking. I had to keep reassuring him that I was cool and that I understood what was going on.
Then there was a point where the leader of the group, Martin, made some announcements and welcomed the rookies. There were about 10 of us that have not made the rip before. They handed out jerseys and hats to everyone. If you have gone before you got a yellow jersey and a white one if it was your first time. They were soccer jerseys with a logo on the left breast that said “Pumas 2006.” Pumas was the name of their group, this was their 7th year taking this trip. They were proud to announce that this was their first international trip with an American on board, me.
There were many conversations where I could not understand anything due to the speed and use of expressions and all the swear words they were trying to teach me, I could tell you that it was a swear word if I heard it but I can’t remember which word means what! After somebody said something to me I had a look of confusion on my face and they would look to Fernando and say “explícame (explain me).” That could very well be the phrase of the weekend, either that or “no entiendo (I don’t understand).”
More comming tomarro!
Once we got there and after Hector’s wife had left, he realized that he forgot his head lamp, at first I thought that he forgot his hard hat, so I thought we were going to hold up everybody because it was like a 20 min drive from his place, but he decided to just go with out it he had other flashlights, so there was no hold up.
Walking up to the gathering area there was a big group of people gathered, the guys going on the trip and some of their wives and children to see them off. The bus finally pulled up and it was a turquoise charter bus that said “especial” on the front where it usually has the destination. I couldn’t tell if the bus was owned or rented, but the driver seemed as if he was one of the guys along with his helper, a younger dude that loaded all of the luggage and did the small things. I really couldn’t tell who was going and who wasn’t until we got on the bus. Once on there were 33 guys ranging from 14 to roughly 60 and one girl that was a teenager, so I was a little relieved to see that it wasn’t going to be extremely rigorous because these old guys and these kids can do it. I was also relieved to see that there was a lot of boozin’ going on, so that to showed me that there was nothing to worry about, nothing like getting a beer shoved in your face at 8 am, I love it. There was a group of about 7-8 guys that were about my age that were just getting hammered, I wanted to join in but I still didn’t know what was ahead of me so I took it easy. We made a couple stops for beer and for the bathroom. The drive was about 2 hours SW, we took the same road that we took when we went to Acapulco, it was about half way between Mexico City and Acapulco. The pic is me in the front of the bus with most of the "older crew."The guys on the bus reminded me of my uncles and the younger dudes where identical to my buddies back in Grand Rapids, so I felt at home. The picture is Hector, chchillo, me, and Fernando. There was sexual jokes and swear words flying left and right, they kept joking about me being new I had to be somebody’s “bitch,” That guy happened to be a guy that they call “Cochillo,” if you remember from before that is the word for dirty or nasty. He was Aztecan; he had very dark skin, big facial features, shorter and heavy set. He was very difficult to understand because he had an accent that was very different; actually I couldn’t anything he said. Imagine that my first language was Spanish and learned English in Michigan, then imagine that I had to talk to somebody from Liverpool (for those who know Sponge Bob and how he talked with marbles in his mouth!). I wouldn’t be able to understand anything. Anyways, the kept making jokes about me and Fernando kept asking me if I was OK and he kept saying that they were just joking. I had to keep reassuring him that I was cool and that I understood what was going on.Then there was a point where the leader of the group, Martin, made some announcements and welcomed the rookies. There were about 10 of us that have not made the rip before. They handed out jerseys and hats to everyone. If you have gone before you got a yellow jersey and a white one if it was your first time. They were soccer jerseys with a logo on the left breast that said “Pumas 2006.” Pumas was the name of their group, this was their 7th year taking this trip. They were proud to announce that this was their first international trip with an American on board, me.
There were many conversations where I could not understand anything due to the speed and use of expressions and all the swear words they were trying to teach me, I could tell you that it was a swear word if I heard it but I can’t remember which word means what! After somebody said something to me I had a look of confusion on my face and they would look to Fernando and say “explícame (explain me).” That could very well be the phrase of the weekend, either that or “no entiendo (I don’t understand).”
More comming tomarro!
Preparation for Rio Chonta
I have been on Mexico for about 4 months now and had a great opportunity to go on an overnight trip hiking through a cave with a river going through it. Every year a large group of guys embark on this interesting tradition. This year, my friend Fernando, who went for the first time last year, invited me along.
We spent two weeks getting together all the gear we needed, metal framed backpack, a large aluminum can, boots, hard hat, head lamp, quick drying pants, and the huevos to do it. Of course I didn’t have everything until the last minute, I had a problem finding boots because I was pretty much going to use them for this trip and that’s all, there isn’t much need for boots here. I wanted decent ones but I didn’t want to pay a lot for them. At first I wanted to get waterproof ones but I couldn’t find any under 1,000 pesos ($100) which were to much for my blood, so I ended up getting some for $320 Pesos at a work wear shop that ended up to work fine. They were hurting my big toes at first but that always happens when I get new boots, once we got in the water they stretched out and formed to my feet and were fine. The fact that they weren’t waterproof wasn’t a factor because our feet were frequently immersed all the way into the water so even if they were waterproof my feet would still have gotten wet.
Fernando picked my up around 8pm of Friday night. We were to stay in Mexico City for the night and the bus to the caves was to leave at 7:30am the next morning. Fernando’s family drove with us to Mexico City to stay at his Mothers place, then we went to his compañero (best friend) Hector’s house for the night who was also going for his third year straight. Once we got there, we went shopping for food and last minute supplies and went for dinner. We went to a small Taco place, just a little bigger than a stand but only because it had a permanent residence in a building with sidewalk seating. It was called “Tacos de Ramon” and their specialty was tacos cochillos. I was a little hesitant at first to try them because the word cochillo or cochino means dirty or nasty, but in the case of tacos, it is named that because they put a lot of different things in them, pork, onion, chicharrones (pork rines), and the rest of the crumbs that were on the stove. Hector’s wife was also hesitant due to the name, she has never had them before, she ended up getting a different kind of taco.
The place seemed like it would be good because it was super busy and it took us about a half hour to get a table, and another half hour to get it cleaned. Hector told me a joke about service: There were three men at a bar talking about their sons. One man says that his son is going to be an architect, the other men asked why, and he said because he is always building things and is really good at geometry and engineering. The second man says that his son is going to be a Doctor, and the other men again ask why, he says that he has always had an interest in the body and how it works and is excelling in the sciences. The last man says that his son is going to be a waiter…..confused the other men ask why, the man says that it is because he never listens to what he asks him to do! Kind of corny but it fit the scene because we were waiting forever for our table to get cleaned and we yelled for the dude like a hundred times and e kept saying “uno momento,” I will give it to him that they were extremely busy and there were other people ahead of us waiting for the same thing.
So after dinner we went back to Hector’s house and hung out packing our gear for the weekend while having a couple beers. We had a couple cigarettes as well but imagine a tiny apartment, half the size of my old apartment in Downtown GR, with no ventilation, three people smoking…it wasn’t pleasant, plus all my stuff for the weekend reeked of smoke. We put our clothes for sleeping into plastic bags as a second wall towards water (the aluminum can was the first defense, it was formerly a container for paint thinner that had a good and tight seal at the top to keep out water), food (bread, ham, carrots, snack bars, chocolate; Fernando and Hector HAD to have mayo, mustard, and chiles for their sandwiches, I told them that we are camping and that we should only take the necessities, they said that those are necessities), extra batteries, water, Gatorade, and extra rope and tape. We had to wrap our sleeping bags in plastic as well because they were to be on top of out can and exposed to water. Once everything was ready, we had a few more beers and played some cool new poker type games but instead of using money we used little balls of toilet paper, next thing I knew it was almost 4am, so we went to bed.
We spent two weeks getting together all the gear we needed, metal framed backpack, a large aluminum can, boots, hard hat, head lamp, quick drying pants, and the huevos to do it. Of course I didn’t have everything until the last minute, I had a problem finding boots because I was pretty much going to use them for this trip and that’s all, there isn’t much need for boots here. I wanted decent ones but I didn’t want to pay a lot for them. At first I wanted to get waterproof ones but I couldn’t find any under 1,000 pesos ($100) which were to much for my blood, so I ended up getting some for $320 Pesos at a work wear shop that ended up to work fine. They were hurting my big toes at first but that always happens when I get new boots, once we got in the water they stretched out and formed to my feet and were fine. The fact that they weren’t waterproof wasn’t a factor because our feet were frequently immersed all the way into the water so even if they were waterproof my feet would still have gotten wet.
Fernando picked my up around 8pm of Friday night. We were to stay in Mexico City for the night and the bus to the caves was to leave at 7:30am the next morning. Fernando’s family drove with us to Mexico City to stay at his Mothers place, then we went to his compañero (best friend) Hector’s house for the night who was also going for his third year straight. Once we got there, we went shopping for food and last minute supplies and went for dinner. We went to a small Taco place, just a little bigger than a stand but only because it had a permanent residence in a building with sidewalk seating. It was called “Tacos de Ramon” and their specialty was tacos cochillos. I was a little hesitant at first to try them because the word cochillo or cochino means dirty or nasty, but in the case of tacos, it is named that because they put a lot of different things in them, pork, onion, chicharrones (pork rines), and the rest of the crumbs that were on the stove. Hector’s wife was also hesitant due to the name, she has never had them before, she ended up getting a different kind of taco.
The place seemed like it would be good because it was super busy and it took us about a half hour to get a table, and another half hour to get it cleaned. Hector told me a joke about service: There were three men at a bar talking about their sons. One man says that his son is going to be an architect, the other men asked why, and he said because he is always building things and is really good at geometry and engineering. The second man says that his son is going to be a Doctor, and the other men again ask why, he says that he has always had an interest in the body and how it works and is excelling in the sciences. The last man says that his son is going to be a waiter…..confused the other men ask why, the man says that it is because he never listens to what he asks him to do! Kind of corny but it fit the scene because we were waiting forever for our table to get cleaned and we yelled for the dude like a hundred times and e kept saying “uno momento,” I will give it to him that they were extremely busy and there were other people ahead of us waiting for the same thing.
So after dinner we went back to Hector’s house and hung out packing our gear for the weekend while having a couple beers. We had a couple cigarettes as well but imagine a tiny apartment, half the size of my old apartment in Downtown GR, with no ventilation, three people smoking…it wasn’t pleasant, plus all my stuff for the weekend reeked of smoke. We put our clothes for sleeping into plastic bags as a second wall towards water (the aluminum can was the first defense, it was formerly a container for paint thinner that had a good and tight seal at the top to keep out water), food (bread, ham, carrots, snack bars, chocolate; Fernando and Hector HAD to have mayo, mustard, and chiles for their sandwiches, I told them that we are camping and that we should only take the necessities, they said that those are necessities), extra batteries, water, Gatorade, and extra rope and tape. We had to wrap our sleeping bags in plastic as well because they were to be on top of out can and exposed to water. Once everything was ready, we had a few more beers and played some cool new poker type games but instead of using money we used little balls of toilet paper, next thing I knew it was almost 4am, so we went to bed.
Rio Chonta Pics
Several of my pictures did not turn out:( So my recolections will follow with as many visuals as I could obtain. All of them are posted at the photobucket link. Enjoy!
Preparation for Rio Chonta
Several of my pictures did not turn out:( So my recolections will follow with as many visuals as I could obtain. All of them are posted at the photobucket link. Enjoy!
Monday, March 13, 2006
Back safe and sound
I am back as of after midnight last night. I am safe and sound. I will be posting to events of the weeked but I am waiting to get my pictures developed and it may take a while for the story to unfold because there are a lot of things I want to share and a lot of charachters I want to develop in order for you, my readers, to truley get the full experience. I am going to attempt to tell the events in a story format and will be posting the "chapters" seperatly for easier reading and adding suspence by keeping the readers on their feet to see what will happen next. It will be up as soon as it gets finished. I hope I won't keep you waiting long and I hope that you are not dissapointed.
Friday, March 10, 2006
Another Sweet Adventure This Weekend
Tonight I will be off to Rio Chonta, a river that runs through a cave somewhere here in Mexico. I think it is in the north near Queretaro but not sure, it may be south as well. I tried to do some research but I could not find much at all. We (Fernando, his friends and I) will be hiking through caves over night, starting on Saturday morning untill sunday afternoon. I'm not really sure what to expect, I've been in some caves in the states before but when I was young and can't really remember where and they were simple with steps and lights, but these caves are hard core. They are super long and deep as hell. We need to have water proof backpacks, quick drying cloths, hard hats, flashlights (for the hard hat and hand held), sleeping bags, dry cloths, food, and of course Whisky and Tequilla for when we set up camp to help us sleep while we are cold and wet! It should be pretty hard core, there are parts where we have to swim!
All I can think about was the recient movie about caves and that there were some sort of monsters living there, maybe they are friendly monsters that look like hot naked chicks! Probably not, more like chupacabra! I will be on the look out and be ready for a quick photo opportunity to catch the mystical creature they call Chupacabra! Maybe I will run into La Edrona (spelling), who was in the ghost stories of my uncles that they told to all the kids while camping. She had her baby stolen from her and somehow she died, so she wandered through the forrests looking for her baby, saying in a ghostly moan, "whereeeeeee is my baaaaaaaaaaaabyyyyyyyy." It was really scary because at night when all the kids were sleeping the uncles and older cousins would creap by the campers and mimic the saying, freakin' out all the kids. Tradition I guess, right along with Snipe hunting! Maybe I'll see some of those as well! Supposedly all the mystical creatures live in this cave, unicorns, big foot, ligers (thanks Nepoleon Dynamite), Falkor - the flying doglike dude from Never Ending Story, mermaids, and the loch ness monster just to name a few!
I am excited and thrilled to have the opportunity to camp in some caves. A lot of people would have nothing to do with this event siteing, cold, wet, closterphobic (sp), creature infested conditions. But I see all those as an exciting experience and I can't pass the opportunity.
I have a camera, but I hope it will last becuse all the waterproof ones didn't have flashes on them so I had to get a regular disposible one with a flash. I guess there isn't a big market for cave cameras. So we will see when I get back and get them developed. IF I COME BACK AT ALL!
All I can think about was the recient movie about caves and that there were some sort of monsters living there, maybe they are friendly monsters that look like hot naked chicks! Probably not, more like chupacabra! I will be on the look out and be ready for a quick photo opportunity to catch the mystical creature they call Chupacabra! Maybe I will run into La Edrona (spelling), who was in the ghost stories of my uncles that they told to all the kids while camping. She had her baby stolen from her and somehow she died, so she wandered through the forrests looking for her baby, saying in a ghostly moan, "whereeeeeee is my baaaaaaaaaaaabyyyyyyyy." It was really scary because at night when all the kids were sleeping the uncles and older cousins would creap by the campers and mimic the saying, freakin' out all the kids. Tradition I guess, right along with Snipe hunting! Maybe I'll see some of those as well! Supposedly all the mystical creatures live in this cave, unicorns, big foot, ligers (thanks Nepoleon Dynamite), Falkor - the flying doglike dude from Never Ending Story, mermaids, and the loch ness monster just to name a few!
I am excited and thrilled to have the opportunity to camp in some caves. A lot of people would have nothing to do with this event siteing, cold, wet, closterphobic (sp), creature infested conditions. But I see all those as an exciting experience and I can't pass the opportunity.
I have a camera, but I hope it will last becuse all the waterproof ones didn't have flashes on them so I had to get a regular disposible one with a flash. I guess there isn't a big market for cave cameras. So we will see when I get back and get them developed. IF I COME BACK AT ALL!
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
My favorite Basebal Player
It is a sad day for me, Kirby Puckett, the one baseball player I always wanted to be like and admired not only as a player but as a leader died today after a stroke at age 45. I can remember using his trademark high kick while batting and every coach I had tried to rid me of it. Just about every kid back then thought that they would hit the ball farther if they used the kick.
He was best known for his World Series heroics, facing elimination in ame 6 against the Braves in 1991, he told the team to climb on his back because he will lead them to vistory. That night he had a great leaping catch at the wall to save an extra base hit and hit the game winning homer in the 11th inning to win the game. The Twins went on to win game 7 and the series. He was forced out of the game when glaucoma rendered him blind in one eye. Whenever I think of baseball, his name will always be the first to come into my head, along with the alltime greats.
He was best known for his World Series heroics, facing elimination in ame 6 against the Braves in 1991, he told the team to climb on his back because he will lead them to vistory. That night he had a great leaping catch at the wall to save an extra base hit and hit the game winning homer in the 11th inning to win the game. The Twins went on to win game 7 and the series. He was forced out of the game when glaucoma rendered him blind in one eye. Whenever I think of baseball, his name will always be the first to come into my head, along with the alltime greats.
Sunday, March 05, 2006
Saturday's Rugby Adventures
Saturday was a good day. It took us a while to find the pitch at Dos Rios in Huixquilucan (pronounced like whisky-con), MX. I missed the turn off of the highway and then there was a small town to drive through without very descriptive directions, but we got there. The pitch was in better condition that I had imagined, it had rass and was fairly soft, a lot softer than Douglass Walker park in summer! It was smack dab in the center of a river valley with a wonderful view of the mountains and part of the city crawling up them. It was a wonderful day weather wise as well, sunny and about 80 degrees. (I'm not sure what happened with the color of the left end of the pic)
There was three games; the first was two prospective teams the Wallabies and the Jaguares, Demonios and some other team, then Celaya (out of guanajuato) and another prospective team Miquiztli. There was decent competition all day, there are a lot of foreigners that play from all over. The teams had beer there and of course Karin and I had a couple while enjoying the sun and Rugby.
I spent a lot of the time talkig with the guys from the teams introducing myself and getting information about practices and what not. Mostly everybody spoke english so it was easy to communicate to my delight. After the matches we headed over to a bar that was right next to the fields with the team from Miquiztli. It was in the middle of a playground, I thought that was interesting. Also interesting was that there was sheep just hanging out walking around freely, they kept trying to get dropped peanuts under the bar and knocking people over, I've never had to mind sheep while drinking before!
Now I am dreaded with the fact that I have to pick a team to play for. There is still one more team, Tazmania, that wasn't there on saturday because they traveled to Veracruz. I think I have narrowed it down to three teams, the Wallabies, Miquiztli, and Tazmania. I think my main concern and decidig factor will be whick is easier for me to get to trainings. The wallabies and Tazmania are closest and fairly easy, and Miquitztli had some fu dudes. The Wallabies seem to be the most organized. I think another question I have to answer is how much I want to committ and if I want a team or a club. I think I will try and go to a practice or two from the clubs and try each of them out. I think I'll have a better idea after that. No matter which club I choose, I think I will get to play alot and have fun with them, they all seemed like really cool dudes. We'll see whats up.
There was three games; the first was two prospective teams the Wallabies and the Jaguares, Demonios and some other team, then Celaya (out of guanajuato) and another prospective team Miquiztli. There was decent competition all day, there are a lot of foreigners that play from all over. The teams had beer there and of course Karin and I had a couple while enjoying the sun and Rugby.
I spent a lot of the time talkig with the guys from the teams introducing myself and getting information about practices and what not. Mostly everybody spoke english so it was easy to communicate to my delight. After the matches we headed over to a bar that was right next to the fields with the team from Miquiztli. It was in the middle of a playground, I thought that was interesting. Also interesting was that there was sheep just hanging out walking around freely, they kept trying to get dropped peanuts under the bar and knocking people over, I've never had to mind sheep while drinking before!
Now I am dreaded with the fact that I have to pick a team to play for. There is still one more team, Tazmania, that wasn't there on saturday because they traveled to Veracruz. I think I have narrowed it down to three teams, the Wallabies, Miquiztli, and Tazmania. I think my main concern and decidig factor will be whick is easier for me to get to trainings. The wallabies and Tazmania are closest and fairly easy, and Miquitztli had some fu dudes. The Wallabies seem to be the most organized. I think another question I have to answer is how much I want to committ and if I want a team or a club. I think I will try and go to a practice or two from the clubs and try each of them out. I think I'll have a better idea after that. No matter which club I choose, I think I will get to play alot and have fun with them, they all seemed like really cool dudes. We'll see whats up.
Friday, March 03, 2006
New Link To FMRU: Federacion Mexicana de Rugby
I put a new link to the Mexican Rugby Union page. This is where I got all my info on the prospective teams. ust thought that in may interest some to check it out.
http://www.mexrugby.com/
Here is a site from one of the teams: http://www.tazmaniarfc.com.mx/
Enjoy!
http://www.mexrugby.com/
Here is a site from one of the teams: http://www.tazmaniarfc.com.mx/
Enjoy!
Thursday, March 02, 2006
First Rugby Match In Mexico
This week I finially sent out an e-mail to the Rugby clubs in the area, and by "in the area" I mean in Mexico City. I got several replies and offers to join their clubs. The problem for me is making it to training and the matches due to the distance and me not having a car. One of the replies was from Fox RFC, and they said that a good day to check them out would be today because they are playing a friendly against the University of Michigan (Every year for spring break they tour other countries and play ball, they have been all over) and this year was Mexico, and I was like "no shit, I'll be there for sure." Some of the other teams play on saturday fairly close, inbetween DF and Toluca, so I will check them out then. They all seem pretty excited when they saw that I have been playing for 7 years, they don't get very many people with experience around here.
I had been anxious all day because I didn't know if I was going to make it there or not. I had e-mails back and fourth with some members of the club the last day or two, they have some people that live and work in Toluca (By the way, there are no teams in Toluca), but none of them were here today so I couldn't catch a ride, and I wasn't sure if Karin was going to get out of work early enough to make it on time, and if she did, I didn't know where (they all practice and play in different places). Kairn ended up getting out early and we headed out to find the place. I took forever due to rush hour in the largest city in the world, but we got around and got there.
I was refreshing to see all the Michiganders and Rugby. We chatted with a few people from U of M and Fox, and watched the game. Then we went to have a couple drinks with them at the bar. The bar we went to was a busy Irish bar in a busy part of town, but we made some new friends. There are a lot of ex-patriots that play for them, a lot of French, Aussies, and Argentinians, and several of them speak English. There was also some spectators from english speaking countries that were cool. At the bar I got a lot of "no shit" from the U of M players due to me playing for GVSU, I got a lot of "who is that dude wearing a MI select side jersey" but they were cool when they realized that I was a kool kat. They said that GV needs to get their act together and go on a tour. I tried when I was the head hancho but I could never get any type of committment. I suppose it's a little harder to come up with the funds when you don't have a filthy rich daddy! I can Imagine that the experience is priceless. They were having a blast singin' songs and shootin' the boot. They are leaving for Acapulco tonite for the rest of their break, I could not imagine being there with a whole Rugby team!
I seems like a cool club to play with but it will be hard to get back and fourth to training. I will explore more options this weekend when I get to see 6 other teams play and chat with them. I'll keep you updated.
I had been anxious all day because I didn't know if I was going to make it there or not. I had e-mails back and fourth with some members of the club the last day or two, they have some people that live and work in Toluca (By the way, there are no teams in Toluca), but none of them were here today so I couldn't catch a ride, and I wasn't sure if Karin was going to get out of work early enough to make it on time, and if she did, I didn't know where (they all practice and play in different places). Kairn ended up getting out early and we headed out to find the place. I took forever due to rush hour in the largest city in the world, but we got around and got there.
I was refreshing to see all the Michiganders and Rugby. We chatted with a few people from U of M and Fox, and watched the game. Then we went to have a couple drinks with them at the bar. The bar we went to was a busy Irish bar in a busy part of town, but we made some new friends. There are a lot of ex-patriots that play for them, a lot of French, Aussies, and Argentinians, and several of them speak English. There was also some spectators from english speaking countries that were cool. At the bar I got a lot of "no shit" from the U of M players due to me playing for GVSU, I got a lot of "who is that dude wearing a MI select side jersey" but they were cool when they realized that I was a kool kat. They said that GV needs to get their act together and go on a tour. I tried when I was the head hancho but I could never get any type of committment. I suppose it's a little harder to come up with the funds when you don't have a filthy rich daddy! I can Imagine that the experience is priceless. They were having a blast singin' songs and shootin' the boot. They are leaving for Acapulco tonite for the rest of their break, I could not imagine being there with a whole Rugby team!
I seems like a cool club to play with but it will be hard to get back and fourth to training. I will explore more options this weekend when I get to see 6 other teams play and chat with them. I'll keep you updated.
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
My Largest Bet Was A Bust :(
I still had a winning ticket from the AFC Champoinship game back in January for $35. I decided to try and make a little money and take my chances on a random game at the sports book "caliente." My dream is to make big bucks betting on games, well I need some more work. I spent some time this morning doing some research on the NBA and NHL games for today. I ended up betting on NO/Ok. City Hornets over the Seatle Supersonics. Seatle was favored by one point, well, they won by 10 so I lost. I thought I had all the numbers crunched but my team choked. I think the thing that pulled me towards the Hornets was that my first Starter coat that Santa got me in the 7th grade was of them, then they were in Charlotte. I didn't have many games to choose from but I thought I had a lock.
I wanted to try my luck with the Wings or possibly another NHL game but I didnt understand the odds. Maybe one day I will be able to pick the winners, but untill that day comes I will wallow in the sence of defeat.
I wanted to try my luck with the Wings or possibly another NHL game but I didnt understand the odds. Maybe one day I will be able to pick the winners, but untill that day comes I will wallow in the sence of defeat.
I Found Some Rugby Teams! And Weekend Plans
I sent out an e-mail to the 6 teams in Mexico city, turs out that there are at least two of them who play fairly close to Toluca (in between Mexico City and Toluca just off the highway). The Jaguares and the Wallabies play thier games there but their practices are elswhere, not sure where. I think somewhere in Mexico City. I want to find a team that is fairly close but more importantly accesable easily by bus.
I got a extremely quick response from Frederico who plays for the Jaguares so I think I will be parcial to them. He invited me to play with them this weekend. I want to get into this for a couple of reasons, I want to play, and I want to meet more people with my same interests. I am really anxious to see the rugby culture here. To see the similarities and differences. I really want to learn some of the songs in spanish! Although I haven't seen the conitions of their fields, I have seen several of the soccer fields around town and they do not look very pleasant, more like the infield of a baseball diamond....dirt! So I think I will have to buy a new pair of soccer style cleats because the only ones I have right now have 3/4 inch studs and are for the soggy fields of the wet michigan springs. You can get them for real cheap at the market though.
I am sad to say that I will not be able to go this weekend because I am going to go cave hicking with my buddy Fernando. Him and his friends do it every year and this year he invided me. They go to some famous caves that I cannot pronounce nor remember the name, but somewhere north of here, where it is an overnight trip. There are even parts where you have to swim through water! I am going to need good dry boots, light cloths that can dry fast, and a hard hat with a light (I am using Kain's Holcim hard hat). It should be very exciting. I shall have more descriptive details after the event. Hopefully I can find a waterproof disposible camera (no luck yet), but if not I think I will get a regular one and try to keep it dry in a baggie.
I got a extremely quick response from Frederico who plays for the Jaguares so I think I will be parcial to them. He invited me to play with them this weekend. I want to get into this for a couple of reasons, I want to play, and I want to meet more people with my same interests. I am really anxious to see the rugby culture here. To see the similarities and differences. I really want to learn some of the songs in spanish! Although I haven't seen the conitions of their fields, I have seen several of the soccer fields around town and they do not look very pleasant, more like the infield of a baseball diamond....dirt! So I think I will have to buy a new pair of soccer style cleats because the only ones I have right now have 3/4 inch studs and are for the soggy fields of the wet michigan springs. You can get them for real cheap at the market though.
I am sad to say that I will not be able to go this weekend because I am going to go cave hicking with my buddy Fernando. Him and his friends do it every year and this year he invided me. They go to some famous caves that I cannot pronounce nor remember the name, but somewhere north of here, where it is an overnight trip. There are even parts where you have to swim through water! I am going to need good dry boots, light cloths that can dry fast, and a hard hat with a light (I am using Kain's Holcim hard hat). It should be very exciting. I shall have more descriptive details after the event. Hopefully I can find a waterproof disposible camera (no luck yet), but if not I think I will get a regular one and try to keep it dry in a baggie.
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