oh yeah, eating tacos. So I was eating tacos while wearing my dirty clothes and the thought arises. Maybe this lady knows how to do laundry?

I will be leaving in the morning and it would be nice to have clean clothes

We have been talking quite a bit during the meal, and I ask her how much it will cost for laundry. I tell her exactly what clothes I have. She says 7 Pesos. 20 minutes later I drop off the laundry she says come back at 8:00 p.m. deal!

Meanwhile, I meet a Texan named Randy. I talked to him the day before briefly so he flags me over. We chat for awhile. He is in interesting guy. He lives in Texas half the time and here half the time. He says I can stay with him for free.
I’m down.

Luckily I haven’t paid for my Hotel for tonight yet. I pack up my game and head out west. I stop at the desk to pay for the previous night and they say I owe for tonight too. I try to talk my way out of it, but in their defense, they did clean my room, and I dirtied it back up a bit. I paid my extra 165 pesos (about $13) and left. I could have stayed there again for “free” but I wanted to check out Randy’s place. I go to pick up my laundry and they hussle me. I am usually good at not getting hussled, but these people were adimit about winning. Now they say I owe 10 us dollars or 100 pesos. all of a sudden, my deal of the century laundry is going to cost me. I know I should have just done it myself in the sink. I had very little leverage in the arguement considering my only clothing I had I had to my name at this point was my swimsuit and the water proof liner to my jacket. I paid and left to find randy. I’m not doing so well monitarily today.

Taco time again. Sorry no Macro close-up here, but at least the lettuce was washed in bleech. Is that ok to eat? I did it.

Randy starts his pick-up with a screw driver and we head to his place.

He pays 600 pesos a month for rent. He let me sleep in the kitchen.

but first we must watch tv and socialize.

Spanish MadTV turned into home videos.
Home videos turned into watching Randy play with his guns.

Randy noticed I was trying to take photos of the guns, so he kindly would stop and rewind and pause for me until I was satisfied.

Even his daughter liked the guns.

I went to bed safe and sound and left the next morning.

This place is so good. Every morning I wake up and tell the reception girls uno mass diaz. By now, they must just assume that I don’t know any other numbers. I am making friends and recognizing people on the street. I wave a lot and my Spanish is increasing rapidly. This is good. I cleaned my air filter today. The top bolt on the airbox won’t come out so I just have to reach up in there and sneak the filter out.

Dirty

A shop just 30 feet from my hotel gave me greese and let me clean my filter in their personal courtyard. He didn’t want any money, but I tipped him 10 pesos. (I didn’t want to get my hotel sink dirty. The girls that clean my room are so nice)

Washed, oiled and greased.

I didn’t know this tank came with extra vents. It’s hard to see in a photo, but there are cracks on both sides of the ridges in the tank. The cracks creak if you wiggle the tank. One side looks like it is all the way through.

I’m going to have to keep an eye on that. The weight of my tank panniers can’t help the situation, but I really doubt if they are adding to the problem. I bet it is more of the sloshing of the gas.

Lunch time. I say this now, but I’ll never get sick of Taco’s. (the poop is doing ok for eating tacos everyday. That’s as far as I’ll go)

During the airfilter Maintainence, I misplaced my Multitool. I couldn’t find it anywhere. Oh well, I’ll just do Inventory and see if it shows up.

Electronics

• Pelican case with dc cord
• Laptop
• Helmet Cam
• Garmin
• HD camcorder w/ Wide angle lens and shotgun mic w/windscreen
• two 500 gig firewire 800 hd’s
• Nikon 40x w/ Tameron 18mm-150mm lens
• camera bag
• el cheapo tripod
• iPod
• 175 watt invertor
• old pentax 7 mega pixal point and shoot
• AA and AAA battery charger with batteries
• various chargers

Literature

• Journal
• note pad for tankbag
• Basic Spanish book with two-way dictionary (I use it all the time)
• Lonely Planet Mexico
• Lonely Planet Central America
• 200,000:1 Mexico Map
• 200,000:1 Central America Map

Clothing

• Joe Rocket all mesh Armored Jacket w/removable waterpoof liner
• Motocross pants
• Riding boots
• Junk flip-up Fulmer Helmet. (one latch broke a few days ago)
• Sleeping pad
• Compact down 40 degree sleeping bag packed in drybag
• swimming trucks
• One pair of lightweight fast drying pants with zippered pockets
• two pairs of wool undies
• two pairs of wool socks
• one wool shirt
• Motocross socks (getting canned)
• Keen shoe/sandles
• wal-mart hoodie (It might get canned)
• Travel pounch with important papers

Human Maintenance

• Deodorant
• Foot powder/deodorant
• Triple antibiotic
• medical tape
• Various bandages, gauze, alcohol pads
• Hydrogen Peroxide
• Laundry Detergent
• Body soap
• Sharpe
• Dry Erase Pen
• Pen
• Toothpaste
• Floss
• Nail clipper
• Toothbrush
• Razor
• Latex gloves
• Face wash

Bike Maintenance. Oh look! I found the Multitool. It was in my socks and underwear bag

• Two liters fancy oil
• Chain lube
• Front fender bag with heavy duty rear tube, glue and patches
• Heavy duty Front tube
• Head lamp
• Tool Wrap
• two tire Irons w/ 24mm 12/13mm ends
• 6″ needle nose vise grips
• 1/4″ drive ratchet
• 8,10,12,13,14,17mm wrenches
• Crappy Moose multi-tool (Don’t ever buy one)
• Tire Pressure gauge
• tons of bits
• 8/10/12/13/17 6-point sockets
• ProMotion plug tool and 3″wobbler extention
• 10mm allen
• 12 mm allen
• 1/4″ drive screwdriver with 1/4″to bit adaptor (pretty slick)
• Various adapters
• Mt. Bike pump
• Spare front and rear pads
• Oil filter
• Spark plug
• Seam sealer
• Quick release wire fittings
• Extra wire
• Lighter
• Superglue
• JB Weld
• Repair tape
• Electrical tape
• Zipties
• Blue Locktite
• Velcro
• Carabiners
• Straps
• Spare clutch cable

I have to get rid of those Motocross socks. They take up as much room as my sleeping bag that I will never get to use.

Sorry for all the blurry pics. I was slacking today. I hate using on camera flash. I thought I was holding the camera still enough but not quite.

I’ve seen shoulder mounts, but never a shoulder and two legs mount. I kind of dig it. I want to see a oso mounted like this. (That is black bear in Spanish, I learned that word the hard way)

I know this report was a little boring. It will get better once I find the ambition to leave this great town. I was on the computer a lot today. I edited a piece on Enchilada’s so that took up most of my time. I’m still learning all about compression and different exporting methods. Videos coming soon. After that I’m headed towards the Pacific. I want to see a Bull fight and I know just the town.

I pull into a quaint town for fuel, and decide to stay for the night. I find a pleasant place in the center of town for $165 Pasos a night. Best deal yet.

Secure parking and a friendly staff.

One guy working there helps me plan the route to cross the mountains. He points out the safe towns to stay in and the towns to only stop for gas. This is mostly done with hand motions and cartoon style facial expressions.
We are amigo’s now so we go down to the bar.

Really mellow scene here.

live music

All night I was learning Spanish with my new friend. It was definitally one of the highlights so far. Here are our notes. We had two full pages. I learned a lot.

Then these people show up. The one girl was using an old man as a translator. She said I had Bonetia eyes and kept playing with my hair. They were quite eager for a photo with the Gringo. I could barely get away. Don’t they realize I haven’t showered in two days and those clothes have never been washed. (I still can smell the Texas swamp mud on them)

The next morning I awake to a loud siren. Naturally I go outside to check if my bike is stolen. Nope. Just a parade.

lots of kids on donkeys

I met this kid while I got something to eat. He loved me and my camera’s.

I taught him a few english words while I ate my enchladda’s from his grandmothers stand. (I’ll post a movie about this later. It’s very interesting)

This dog was just awesome

I was walking around just checking out the city

I’m about put my hands on this shelf to lean against and rest. It is full of glass cemented in place.

If I was a 10 year old Mexican I would be all about this.
Wait, I’m a 25 year old American who is all about this.