What happens in Vegas... goes in the blog

We drove into Vegas the only way I know how, at night and ready to party. Luckily girls take forever getting ready to go out, and we didn't miss the party. We dropped our stuff in newly found friends room and headed out for the night. For those of you who don't know, our cousin Valerie is getting married in Vegas this weekend. We weren't planning on being her until Friday so we didn't have a room, but come on it's Vegas, there are plenty of floor space. The plan was to go out and come back once my other cousin had arrived an sleep on his floor. Well as many of you know, rarely to plans work in Vegas. The girls (Valerie's friends from Cali who we just met and were nice enough to let us put our things in their room, ditched me. I didn't take offense, as it was the Baccalaureate party, so I headed out with the grooms good friend Michael and went to meet up with the Bachelor party. We met them at Coyote Ugly. The groom Jon and his groomsmen had dressed up like the Beastie boys from the sabotage video. It was good to see them and hang out, although, being from England, it took an hour and few beers before I could understand a word they were saying. This is where the story of that night ends, in order to keep my G rating on this blog. Just some advice, don't order Martinis late at night.
The rest of the family arrived Friday and were happy to see us. Most of them had not seen me in almost a year. We hung out at the pool and tried to tire out my cousins, but they never stop. That night we went for the tables, get this... we all lost. Not too bad, we mostly broke even at the end of the night, and got some free beers out of the deal. The wedding the following day was amazing. The greens crew was rather impressed by the aeration done by all the high heel shoes. It was a beautiful service and I am so proud of my cousin and her new husband. But let's get real, we don't just do beautiful weddings. Just about when dinner was over is when my family starting making their mark. We took the time to invent a new drink, Shirley temple with vanilla vodka, we named it a Shirley Eye patch. The eye patch comes in from my grandma telling a story about when she thought a thong was an eye patch, then just about everyone jumped up from the table when she said that she was going to talk about sex. The fun continued to the dance floor, as once again we showed our grandma how to dust her shoulders off like Jay-Z. It got a little crazy when Nick told me to throw our 5 year old cousin Mossimo to him. All went well until he threw him back when I wasn't looking. I just saw him out of the corner of my eye and made a web gem of a play. We decided to keep Mossimo on the ground and gave him a little MJ Thriller lesson. He had some killer claws and the kid has a natural knee bounce. The party continued to a club in the MGM. The bouncer took some bartering, but I finally convinced him to let some 35 people in. As always in Vegas the party splits and goes different ways. I was trying to ditch Lucy, but she always found a way back to me. We ended up heading all the way down near the hotel and found a $3 craps table..... I lost again. Although, the lady roller might have to come with me on my next trip to Vegas. The night wound down as it always does, and you find yourself in some dinner wondering why you are eating steak and eggs at 5 in the morning.It was sad to see everyone leave, but we did get grandma to throw on the Sombra mask and throw a few punches before we said goodbye. Now for the fun part of Vegas, the 12 hours drive home trying to figure out what just happened. Just one more drive, and then we are home.......

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Didn't want to write another entry, and I figured everyone was on the edge of their seats wondering if we made it. So there you go, we made it. Over 20,000 miles of driving and all we have to show for it is this blog!

Show me the way home honey

We have learned a lot on this trip, and one of the reoccurring themes, is that is is much more difficult to drive out of a city, then to drive into one. We loaded up the car, and as usual the directions we got were to take the viaduct and then recto (straight). We made a couple of wrong turns and thought we were heading in the right direction when a cop pulled us over. He proceeded to explain that our car was not allowed to be driven in the city on Wednesdays because of the number on our plates. I pretended not to understand him, but it was hard to hide it. He was telling us that he would have to impound our car for 24 hours, which was not an option because Ben had to be in Mazatlan in a few days for his flight. I was trying to figure out how to get out of it, when I heard screeching tires and then bang. Two cars crashed just across the divider on the underpass, not 50 feet away from us. The cop quickly ran to see if everyone was alright, and after a few minutes of thinking about splitting and hoping he doesn't chase after us, he kindly waved us on. I am not sure what Ben is doing right (although I have a good idea), but our luck had been absolutely crazy since he has been here. We didn't wait around long enough to see if the cop was serious, or if he was waving at us. I jumped on the first ramp and made it as hard to follow as possible, which also happened to be the ramp that we missed and we then found our way out of town. It was a long, but beautiful drive to Guadalajara. We enjoyed some beers in the square people watching, and by that I mean Ben and I looking at the most beautiful girls in the world (Guadalajara gets an A+). We went out to find a restaurant to eat something other than tacos.... We ended up at a restaurant and the food didn't look so good, and in walked the guy from the taco stand, and we ordered up some tacos (they are just way too good). After some tequila shots, one shared with the bartender. We decided on one more round and offered another to the bar tender, in which she replied "take it easy" in one of the best Mexican accents you will ever hear. We laughed our way to the hotel, where we saw a restaurant, still wanting something other than tacos, we decided two dinners was a good idea. The next day I think we all had a little hangover, of the food variety.The drive to the coast was beautiful, we made our way to the small surf town of San Blas. It is a short drive south of Mazatlan. We decided a more relaxing spot would be better than the tourist trap of Mazatlan. It was perfect, calm beaches, and $1 beers can make anyone relax. We basically ate, drank and sat on the beach for two days, don't think we took a single picture. It was good to relax, as Laura and I have a whole bunch of driving to do in the next few days.The following day we drove Ben up to Mazatlan and dropped him at the airport, it was great to see him, and I can finally stop eating tacos. We decided to stay in Mazatlan and try and watch the Broncos game. Not a great idea, considering it is expensive and the Broncos got the ass kicked. Oh well. We headed out early in the morning, hoping to get most of the driving done the first day. We past the Tropic of Cancer, and it took us back to our memories of crossing the Tropic of Capricorn in Argentina. The drive was beautiful, but rather long. We stopped in the town of Hermosilla for the night. The following day we made what we thought would be the craziest border crossing of them all. I thought when we told them that the car had been in South and Central America for 10 months, they would rip every panel off the thing. We waited in line for a half hour, and it took them fifteen minutes to check our passports and answer a few questions. We didn't even get out of the car. We headed up to Phoenix, and the drive was great, nice highway, informative signs, and people stay in their lanes. We met up with one of my oldest friends Tiffany. We stayed at her apartment for a few days, and took care of some errands. We got to see her parents who might even be cooler than mine (well, lets call it a tie so I can still go home for dinner every once in a while). It was a great to see them, and make the transition back into the hustle and bustle a little easier. We also got to go out for some Sushi with another friend Courtney and catch up on old times. We were sad to leave Tiffany, but we have to get to Vegas.

Sombraaaaa

After a nap, we met up with Grace and Cecilia and headed out to the fights. We scalped some tickets and headed inside. It took us a while to find our seats, which ended up not all being together, but none the less they were right near the entrance for the wrestlers. Lucha Libre is a lot like wrestling in the states, except way better. The guys look like they don't even work out, and the fighting is hilarious. The crowd is what makes the experience though. From the kid in his fathers lap, who would look up at him every time he heard a swear word from the crowd. Or the chubby little 10 year old with his shirt off and swirling above him. The lady that made our night however, was the lady behind us wearing a DARE t-shirt with her baby in one hand and a big middle finger extended with the other. We kept looking at each other and making sure that everyone thought it was one of the best nights of our lives. The wrestlers kept coming, from Blue Panther, Dr. Wagner, and then out came Sombra. He was actually one of the best, and I was wearing his mask. I preface this next part, by sadly telling you that they did not allow cameras inside the arena, and thus all the pictures are from before or after. After the fight we met up with the girls again and we heading out, when all of a sudden Cecilia told me to put the mask on and to put my arm around her and Grace. When we walked through the next door, there was a crowd of people, and they all started chanting, Sombra, Sombra, Sombra!. With the two girls under my arms, I made my way into the crowd. People were giving me high fives, and slapping my arms, I even got a few butt pinches. Then a guy came up to me with his camera in one hand, so I grabbed his kid out of his arms and flexed for a picture. We continued the night out at a bar, and everyone got a chance to be Sombra. We owe the girls so much for showing us around and hanging out with us. I will definitely be back in Mexico City soon, it quickly squashed any bad ideas I had about the city. We hung out the next day and recovered some, Wednesday we are going to hit the road for Guadalajara and the beach.

New wingman

We hopped in the car with a new passenger, and headed out of town towards the ruins of Teotihuacan. Our guide, Paco, took us through the site and showed us around. He was a great guide, and it was good to get out of the city for an afternoon. The sight is huge, it took us three hours to walk around, and laziness set in, we took a cab back to the main entrance. Once back in the car, we headed back into the city. After a toll, we were stopped by some police, and I realized, I had left my drivers license in my backpack in the room. Luckily, we convinced him to just let Ben drive and he let us go. The city is huge, it feels like you drive forever and all you see is more houses and buildings. I still can't believe that so many people can live in one place. We got to see some other neighborhoods on our drive in. We had time for a quick nap before meeting up to go to Lucha Libre.

Team Tacos

We were a little intimidated at driving up to the largest city in the world, and not to mention it doesn't have a great reputation for safety. Luckily we had a friend of a friend, who pointed us to a great part of town. The drive in was actually not as bad as expected. It only took us around an hour to make our way through the city. The traffic was not that bad also, or maybe I am just used to the confusion after being at it for so long. We stayed in Roma which is a great part of the city. Were were a little apprehensive when the hostel owner told us that we can just park on the street. We took the advice, and our car was fine for almost a week parked on a street in Mexico City. Didn't think I would ever think that could happen. We got settled and made our way on the subway out to meet my good friend, Mr. Benjamin Valenta, at the airport. After literally shoving our way onto the subway, and getting cozy with the locals, we got to the airport. God bless cell phones, as it took us a while to realize that there are two terminals. It was great to see Bun. The first thing Ben wanted was some tacos, and we would find out that is about all we would do for the next few days. We just wandered out to find a taco bar, and we found a good one. After asking the waiter where we can go for a beer, he explained that we were on the gay/lesbian street, and that he assumed we were a couple when we showed up. He then showed us where we could go to get a beer and enjoy the night. The next day, we hit the main tourist loop, seeing their capital buildings, main plazas, and the park. They have traditional Aztec dancers dancing in the square. We continued walking, seemingly stopping for tacos every few blocks. It is hard to resist, when they are $0.70 and probably the best tacos you will ever eat. We walked through a couple of markets, and we found a guy selling Luchador (fighter, like the WWF wrestling). He was a comical model, and I was sold on Sombra (shadow). This purchase would end up being a foresight to great things to come, so make sure to keep reading the blog. We headed back for a quick nap, and then out to meet a new friend. Grace has been living in M.C. for a while taking art classes. We met her two roommates, Cecilia and Catarina. We went out to a bar for a few drinks, and by drinks I mean a bottle of Tequila. It was great to meet them. They gave us a great advice as to what to go and see while in the city.It was a little rough getting up, but if there is one thing that will get you out of bed is tacos. We ate again, seems like we are eating 5 meals a day, 4 of those consisting of tacos. We hopped on the bus, hoping to head down to the stadium to watch the Pumas vs. America. They are two of the futbol teams in Mexico City, and one of the most violent rivalries in all of sports. We got to the stadium and found a guy with fairly cheap seats. He assured us that is was in the home teams section. We didn't know any better and headed in. Apparently they must get pretty violent, as we were forced to leave our belts at the gate, with no hopes of getting them back. After walking around the stadium to our section, we came across a line of cops in full riot gear. As we approached, they asked us what team we were with. After convincing him that we were foreign (not very hard to do) he let us go to our seats. It ended up being cool to sit in the America section, as we got to see the rest of the stadium. The two barb wire fences and lines of cops, didn't stop people from throwing plastic bottles, and cups, and saying about every Spanish swear word there is. I found it rather funny, cause it didn't seem as any of them were watching the game. Luckily for our health and safety, the game ended in a tie, and we were peacefully escorted through the lines of cops to the exit. We were thinking that they must have had at least a few thousand cops on hand. It was a great experience, and we had to top it off with some more tacos. Tomorrow, we are going to culture our selves with some Aztec ruins.

Whoooaxaca

The drive South (yes still heading South) was long and rather tedious, with many curves, topes, and vibradores (speed bumps). We stopped in the high altitude colonial town of San Cristobal de Las Casas. We were not ready for the climate change, and were rather cold the first couple of days. Unfortunately for us, the weather did not cooperate, and gave us three days in a row of clouds and rain. With mostly outdoor activities planned, we had to cancel. We hit up some museums, and coffee shops, and basically enjoyed the food, which I am unable to describe in a photograph. We decided to cut our losses and get moving. We drove two days to Oaxaca, a cool climate valley, with ruins, artisan markets, and of course is the home to the Mezcal distilleries. We settled in to the city, hopefully I don't weigh three hundred pounds because I feel like all we do is eat. If you are looking to buy or sell a Volkswagon Bug, come to Mexico, I think they might be everyother car. We finally got out of the restaurants long enough to take a tour of the surrounding areas. We started in the town of Tule, where they have one of the oldest trees in the world... hooray for old trees. This tree is rather large, not sure how fat I would be if I lived in Mexico for over two thousand years, but I can imagine. The next stop along the way was to Teotitlan, where the Zeotec culture has been past down for centuries, where they still practice the wool weaving using only naturally made dyes. The day kept moving, to some local ruins (finally something post Mayan). We also go to see what they call petrified waterfalls, which are water sources that deposit minerals and create rock formations that look like stone waterfalls. The water was a little too cold for a dip, so we headed down for the highlight of the day, the Mezcal distillery. It is a rather simple process, all you do is put the glass to your mouth and lean back. Luckily we had a designated driver, they have a phrase down here similar to ours, don't eat the worm and drive. It was great to see the culture and colors of Oaxaca. Tomorrow off to DF (District Federal), more commonly known as Mexico City.