bienvenido a mexico!

well, i made it to huatutulco on wednesday august 24th as planned. huatulco is very much a resort town, so i wanted to stay in the cheapest place possible (i.e. not in the resort but where the people who work at the resort stay) so i found a discount hotel in my little guidebook and wrote down the name. when approached by one of the 10 ten cab drivers preying upon tourists (i was the only anglo on the plane, so i must have simply glowed neon), i proudly pronounced my intended destination.

now, when people laugh, what is the immediate reaction? some people might be offended, some might wonder why others are laughing, and some might join right in and be part of the fun. well, not wanting to be left out in the heat, i merrily laughed away. finally, about five minutes later when i had prepaid for the cab, etc., i asked my conductor (he spoke english and there could be no better description because he showed me where to go, how to pay) why the people laughed. instead of directly responding to my querry, he immediately chastised the other cabbies who had not stopped repeating and laughing at the exact words i had used. needless to say, i never learned exactly what was so hilarious, but a mexican journalist who shared my cab partially explained that i had asked to go to, essentially, the slum.

another point of clarification is needed here. "slum" in any u.s. person´s vocab has one meaning. the same word has another meaning in a resort town in mexico. the same word has an ENTIRELY different meaning once one leaves that resort town. this may make more sense when i explain where i live in ixtepec. but, i am getting ahead of myself.

the next morning i found a bus station and got on a bus to salina cruz as planned. the bus, an old air-condtioned mercedez benz (probably retired from service years ago) managed to slalom through the mountain roads at speeds only an f1 driver could truly appreciate. sure, i thought, a.c. and comfy seats, i can catch a nap. oh no. at all times i had to brace one leg against the seat in front of me and use my bag next to me as an anchor. the bus had arrived 20 minutes late and after being berated by the station atttendant, the driver felt it in the best interest of his esteemed bus company, SUR, that he make up that time by practicing for his future career in formula one racing.

when i arrived in salina cruz, i realized i was at the wrong bus station because i took a different carrier than nicole, my boss, told me about. no problemo, i got a taxi immediately and made my way right over to the ADO station, even on time. i guess i should have known what nicole looked like because we never met. nervous at this point? oh yeah. i tried calling her cell (mind you this took a while to figure out that the pay phones won´t take my calling card or credit card because the number was not long distance, so then i found a long distance phone/internet shop). she never answered. so the girl at the shop, the attendants must place your call and you go in a little room, after about my third visit in an hour recommended i call the university itself, which she looked up for me(so nice). good thing the guy who answered spoke no english (and neither has just about ANYONE else at this point) so he did not know where she was and suggested i take a bus to tehuantepec where the univ is located.

so i did.

then i had to take another cab to get pesos from a cash machine to pay for the cab and then to the university(sorry for the typos, there are 3 sheets of plastic wrap, no lie, on the keyboard). the cabbie wanted to know all about me and talked to me for ten minutes about what i have no clue(smile and nod). i pull up to the compound, i mean university and am greeted by a guard with an ak47 and huge gates.pause a second to picture me here. sweat-soaked with a pack that weighs close to 70 or 80lbs and another heavy bag.,i introduce myself as best i can and the guy turns out to be great. i am a hit with the security and grounds crew by the way because i speak to them. he tells me that nicole is out for siesta and should be back in twenty. why not have a conversation with me? again, no real clue but i fake it as best as possible. FINALLY she arrives. yeah, i saw her leave the bus station without saying a word to me. she dclines to acknowledge this fact still. so, it is now 4pm and i got into salina cruz at 12:30. hot? oh yeah. still hot at 8pm?
unquestionably.