in all its glory, i present to you, la jalisiense. it is a cantina (bars where only men were allowed until about 25 years or so ago) where i have passed a few friday afternoons. my buddy c, far right, white blazer (after labor day?) and seated, is a teacher and writer who has his picture on the wall (just above my head in the photo) along with a blurb about his first published book. but, that is not why we are there. to c´s right (your left), is father m. not a priest. p, another teacher where i work, is next to him. r is next to her and the owner of the cantina(black shirt standing) is flanked by daniel (right) and his son(name escapes me). in front is s, p´s husband. awkwardly leaning to get into a shot i presumed i would not fit into: billy. this was back in november, pre-beard days (which is rather burly right now and will be shorn soon), and during my friend´s dad´s visit. the place is great- guns on the wall (supposedly one was used to kill santa ana, and despite the rust and general decrepitude of the piece, i doubt it.), pictures of mexican and central american military men, famous people from latin america and now my friend c. white dude from houston. natually. we tip well= they love us there.

i just finished my own version of hell week. two 16 hour days at work in a row. sweet. well, i have been here for 12 hours today, but, it does not seem so bad. not sure why. i am surviving.

going to more museums on the weekends than i was in the fall, so that is a good thing. one thing mexico city does well is museums. hundreds, probably thousands of them. on everything. i went to the children´s museum a few weeks ago. ya, it was awesome. i was a little big for the playland, but i got to do handicrafts, painted and made a star out of paper i actually recylced myself (i also had fun acting like a child- my friend and i painted each other´s arms when the kindergarten teacher was distracted- who was throwing that paper?). my friend and i had a great time there. we also went to a planetarium a few weeks ago, and the palace of fine arts and monument to the revolution before that as well as four or five others in the past month or two.

well, i am out of here. hope you all have good week.