Back, In Heat

I'm back.

At least I think I am. Physically I'm here, but mentally I'm in & out. Plus, the heat here is suffocating, and there's no sign of it breaking for a week or so. Go to work early & stay late, or if possible don't go at all. This is part of the reason that I'm out mentally. Don't go if you can help it is alright with me. This is due partly to extensive travel for the last 4 months. I have been in, over, or around 12 of the 50 United States, and spent time on the ground in three countries. All of this while covering well over 10,000 miles, the vast majority of which were covered alone and behind the wheel. So, to say the least, I'm having trouble sitting down and getting back to where I was & where I need to be.

I spent the better part of April & May traveling extensively through Mexico and the southwestern U.S. Previously, I had only been to Nuevo Laredo & Tiajuana. Which, I can now say with certainty, do not adequately or appropriately represent Mexico. I guess I always knew this, but it was solidified in remote stretches of the country.

Mexico is beautiful. Using Casas Grandes as a makeshift base I covered extensively both the high desert of Chihuahua and the more proper desert of Sonora. Lots of hiking in the mountains and desert, and lots of driving. The occassional traffic stop was interesting, to say the least, and the ubiquitous police and military checkpoints helped break up the monotony on some of the long drives. There is really nothing like a bunch of heavily armed young men with whom you do not speak a common language to really make you think about learning a foreign language. Pointing with one hand and using the other hand for random gestures to communicate was pretty much pointless (as if that needed to be said). Also, apparently speaking louder does not make one's communications clearer.

As you know, Mexico has been in the news a lot lately. Horrible violence in Juarez, and other border towns, earthquakes near Mexico City, the U.S.'s assessment of a possible failed state, and, of course, the over-hyped apocalyptic origin of a new virus. I think that newscasters & news agencies generally are turning to the type of work that was once home only to weather forecasters. Tell everyone the world is ending (it is going to storm or the sun is going to shine) and then when it doesn't (forecast is opposite of predicted) go on as if you said nothing. Don't even acknowledge that you were part of the frenzy.

While I was in Mexico I can assure you that I was not involved with any of the aforementioned problems, and that swine flu scare was bizarre on the northern side of the border. My fiancee did fall sick upon my return, but I don't believe that it was Swine Flu. She, however, did think that it was (or could be) and believed me responsible. She pulled through just fine, but she was really sick for quite some time.

This is the part where I would like to show a couple pictures from the last trip I took, which was to Puerto Rico. However, my camera has decided that it doesn't work any more, and the images that I can see are abstract renderings of whatever they were originally. So pictures of the islands will have to come at some other time (hopefully).