11/10/2005

Veracruz mountain drive

We took the mountain road from the gulf coast to the Veracruz city of Xalapa, pronounced "Halapa", birthplace of the Halapena pepper. Sorry I probably misspelled Halapena but I don´t have time to look it up at the moment. We´re about ready to leave the internet cafe.


Bamboo along the highway. Oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico



It was a mistake, or at least we managed to find the longest way through them. It was beautiful just too long, a 12 hour drive, on winding roads, through fog, minor flooding and typical Mexican mazes that have no roadsigns leading to a seemingly endless succession of forks in the road that require flying blind. At these times we always rely on the wisdom of Yogi Berra who said, "When you come to a fork in the road, take it."




Hurricane Stanley recently passed this way and there was still a little flooding in the mountains. People didn´t seem too concerned though. They were just standing in front of their houses watching the water rush by. It ended well however, inspite of the confusion. We got into Zalapa and didn´t have too much trouble finding our favorite hotel, the good old Alcapulco.

10/10/2005

Hotel and publishing notification



So, on with the photos. Here´s a few of the hotel in Victoria where we stayed last night. We´re leaving in the morning. Great place. I highly recommend it. It will probably be all down hill from here.





It was a relief being in such a nice, clean town, especially after the border crossing. The corrupt cops tried shaking us down for a bribe not ten minutes after we were in the country but dropped the charges when they realized we were willing to go to the police headquarters instead of panicking and trying to buy our way out of the phony charge.






I forgot to mention, a couple of poems I submitted recently have been accepted for publication. Poetry Harbor published in Kona accepted my poem "Pele" and ByLine Magazine will be publishing ¨Writing Instructions" at some point in the near future. Seems ByLine also pays ten or twenty dollars a poem, something like that. Who said poetry doesn´t pay?

Border crossing

After 2500 miles...Mexico






08/10/2005


Marfa Texas - roadside art, Prada

Self portrait

Pancho Villa restrauant

Texas Cactus


Texas cactus -- taken as we pass by