MEXICO SPECIAL EDITION: The trip back...Hey!, thats my Tequila!

Well, today was sadly our last day...so lets get started.

Monday morning neither of us wanted to get up early...unfortunitly I did and Casey was luck and slept till 11. We packed a bit and then made a game plan: We would try to go to Jasmine's school to meet her there to say goodbye and also film an intro to our main movie about the trip. We took a cab over to her school, meet up with her, had some coffee, filmed some awesome fotos, said bye and good luck to her exam, took some hilarious pictures, and took 2 different buses back to the house.

After that we finished packing, had a good lunch, and got ready for the trip. Senora Munoz got to come with her son fabvian. I was able to hang out with her family a few times last trip but this time I was just too busy. I also got to talk to both my mother's brothers that live and workin in Puerto Viarta. A possible hot spot for next year? We will find out.

We took off, but before going strait to the bus station, we stopped by Don Vino, the best place to get any alcohol bottles. I went strait to the Tequila and found what I was looking for: Casco Viejo Reposado Tequila in a liter bottle. I ended up bying that liter bottle, the same stuff in a pint and a pint of Don Pedro rum. We were so happy. We got it in our small bags and went to the bus. Then we took off for USA!

I couldnt sleep. Like at all. The movies werent that bad for the most part. But I just couldnt sleep. I wanted to work out in the morning to do my monday work out but just figured to take it easy and pack since I didnt have much time. So I had all this energy and couldnt sleep. We left at 8:50 from Aguascalientes and made it to Reynosa at 8:30. We were able to find the 8:40 bus before our 9:30 one. So we took that and got to the border.

Two big things happened: both of them involve me getting ripped off.

1. This one wasnt so bad...compared to the other one. I didnt get my passport stamped. It didnt have to. It was just scanned through the computor since I have the new chip passport...in other words, that guy got a free coffee on our way up for nothing. I had it scanned when I went back the first time and got it scanned again! What a looser. But this I could forgive

2. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!...ok. Let me explain. We didnt know what to do with the tequila. We moved them into the bigger bags. We were told that sometimes they ask to look in your bag, sometimes not. Too bad we didnt switch from Mexican Mode to USA Mode. We got there...no medal detector, so random bag check...but there was a bag check. "Sir, do you have any form of Alcohol in these bags?" "Yes Sir." "Take them over to that counter so you can pay the tax on them." Ok...fine now. Too bad I didnt think ahead. I was so unsure of what was going on. I didnt know if he knew how many bottles I had or what would happened if I didnt show them all or anything. I just didnt know. So when we got there we took out our collection and even showed him are giant plastic collector's bottle. The dude was not very nice. In fact, the perfect adjetive for him is bitchy. There is no other word for this. He was just being bitchy. Well, he was filling out the forms for the alcohol tax when he ask, "So how old are you guys?" I couldnt lie..."19." "And you?" "19." This look of rage folded out of his face as his eyes grew an extra 10 mm in diamater and his face turned the colour of a cherry and his focus of a bull lunging for that red cape as he said "Well you guys have no business whatsoever carring these liquids!" Then he tore open the bags and wrote out a little confinding sheet. I was about to ask him if he had ever gone to college but figure that would mean trouble. A better question was weather boarder patrol was the job that all the want-a-be cops who didnt make it were sent at. But I figured I shut my mouth. Casey and I pulled a few jokes and made remarks about my father being dissapointed. But this man, like I said, was of no humor whatsoever. He was seriosly a bitch. And he stole my tequila. I told him I heard it was very good tequila, but I hadnt tried it, and I offered him to try it. I made a dreadfull smile as he unsealed the caps to pour them out....Dang I wanted to reach over the counter, slap him in the face and run with my Tequila! You guys dont know how good this stuff is! Ask Casey! He was just converted on this trip. This stuff is awesome! But he gave us the slip with an evil stair, we walked back to the bus and sat down silent....Ah! Ahhhh! What a looser! Thinking back over it, we should have split the tequila. We could have done 1 of 2 things. A) we could have put the small bottles in our pockets so that those would be unkown to them or B) when we were asked to pay the tax we could have only brought out the small ones to keep the full liter. Either way we blew it, we knew it, and we wanted out tequila back! I was so mad that the first thing I did was go online on my phone and look up the Casco Viejo Reposado Tequila. It cost 4 times as much! Grrr. And I had to get it signed by a full adult and garbage. I have like no money and I was so tempted to click the "complete order" button. But I didnt. I will have to wait. I was so mad. I wanted to hurt someone. But I felt bad because one guy on the bus was missing a leg and another guy was walking around with crunches. So I held my head up high and kept my anger inside. I tried to think of other things, like how much the drainage pipes must be enjoying the tequila or how I could have tried some up on the way up but didnt. But that didnt comfort. Especially when I found out the Spurs came back from a 3-2 deficit and beat the New Orleans Hornets to go to the Western Conference Finals. Yes, this day was a sucky day. I should have jsut stayed in Mexico.

Well all, as you guessed we made it back safetly. We will be working hard to add all pictures, slide shows, and videos up for your viewing enjoyment. Please Please PLEASE let your thoughts be heard throughout this MEXICO SPECIAL EDITION blog section. This is for you guys. And I highly strongly completely recommend that you guys go to this San Marcos Fair in Aguascalientes, Mexico at any open opportunity. Thanks guys for sticking around.

Viva Aguascalientes!

MEXICO SPECIAL EDITION: Day 7. Big. Bad. Bull.

* Today, the 18th of May, is the last day of the fair. This was the last full day for us. And we had our day lined up for some awesome stuff. Casey and I planned early int he morning what we wanted to do:
1. Go shopping quickly
2. Go to Mass at the Charismatic Parish
3. Go to the Bull Fight
4. Go out on the last night
...and so that is what we did

Once both of us were up and running, ate, dressed, and ready to go, we departed from the house to look for the bus...until we found out buses dont run. So we took a taxi and th eguy was really cool. He was a student there in Aguascalientes and knew some english. Really nice guy. We went to the centre and looked at some shops. Casey wanted some gifts for his family. All I wanted were shoes. We were in the centre next to the government building and the cathedral. Somehow we forgot how we got to the fair, even though we did it every day. So we got directions, and instead of going the way we always go, we went on the other side of the cathedral. And there were a few shops we had never seen. We found this one leather shop that had all types of stuff. Casey found this really nice leather purse for 100 pesos. He also found a leather glass case for his father for 30 pesos. Just dont tell them that he got them so cheap. I got 2 leather cases for my magic coins for 35 pesos for both. We made that guys day.

Right after that we headed back to the centre and looked for some shoes. We found one right next to the government building and they had all male shoes lined up on the wall for 150 pesos, which is just under $15 USD. But none of the shoes fit us. We both wear size 12 US, which is 9 Mexico and like 28 Europe. Casey asked if there was another of their shop, and they said 5 blocks down. So we headed over there. We found the place after some searching. Right when we went in the 2 girls in the front wistled to us, cause they thought we were good looking, haha. We just trolled in like we owned the place. They also had shoes lined up against the way for 150 pesos. We both found shoes we wanted but they didnt have our size either. And then when we thought all hope was lost, Casey found way down on the other corner a lot of shoes without cases and without other sizes that were put at 100 pesos. Dang! So we staggered through them and we dound some really nice shinny shoes. Then we dound some white ones. I descided to buy the black ones. Casey only had 150 pesos left, and because this was our lucky day with 100 peso shoes, he told me to help him find some shoes too. We looked though and found one pair underneath a few that were really nice. They were the same brand and look of my shinny shoes except they were grayish/black, a little bigger, and they look like boots when worn like jeans. After we looked through a few more, we checked out to those nice girls who liked us so more.

We tried to rush back to the house. They guy really didnt look interested in taking us. He was going really slow and then got lost and then charged us for the extra time. Usually we payed 27.50 pesos. This guy charged us 38 pesos. I was mad because we got bad really late and he cahrged us for it. We quickly showed, changed, shaved, and left for the church. We went to a really nice Charismatic Parish on the north of town. Although the man who started the parish has never been to Ann Arbor, where the Charismatic renewal started in the late 70s. It was awesome, just like I remembered it from next year.

When we got back, we tried to hurry up and eat and then headed off to the bull fight. We got there a little late but at least we were thrown into the action. There were 3 bull fighters and 6 bulls. So here is how a bull fight went:

• First some hort guy comes out with the name of the bull and the weight in Kilos.
  
• Then the helpers get in the rind and have the bull come out. They shake and bake with him using a large faded sheet to get him tired of running all the place.


• Once it is breathing hard some dudes come in armor on horses that are also protected. The helpers get the bull close to the horse dudes who have lances. The armor dudes stab the bull in the back so that it startes bleeding.


• Then the armor dudes leave and the helpers take turn trying to stab some colourfull stakes in the back of the bulls


• And finally the bull fighter comes out with the large faded sheet to get a feel for the bull. Once he wears him out a bit he gets the iconic small red cape and hids his sword behind it. He rides the bull till the crowd is ready and the judges call the kill. By this time the bull is so tired it will stand still up close to the bull righter. He will only charge the bull fighter when bidded with the red cape. So since the bull is safe, the bull fighter takes out his bent sword from behind the cape, raises it up in the air, and charges the bull. The trick is charging, dodging the horns as the bull charges, penetrating the sword in the neck on its back, and induldging it all the way so that you can only see the handle.


• When the bull fighter has completed this, the helpers come out and make the bull run in cirlces so that the sword slices up the inside of the bull, kinda how the doctors move the blade all around the mother's inside to kill a baby. This part is interesting because the strength is displaced in how long the bull can stand before its legs give out.


• Once the legs fall and the bull is looking around on the ground, the grim reaper dude comes in with his knife in his sheath. He pulls it out and in one quick swipe the bull falls over dead.


• The crowd cheers (Just had to add that in, haha)


• Some short, skinny charro (a mexican cowboy) comes out with 2 big horses on reigns, tie the bull's horns on the chain, and drag the bull away

I could go on and on of the bull fighter but I wont. I will say a few things. The first guy was spanish and he did really good. he got 1 ear the first time and 2 his second. The second was a dude in a pink suit. He tried to show off but was sloppy and that got him hit both times by the bull. He got an ear the first time after he got hit and then had a come back. He couldnt recover the second time and couldnt even kill the bull. The third guy was pretty good. He did his job well but wasnt as smooth as the first. He also got 1 ear.

My favorite part was definately the begining. I loved seeing that bull running full spead and scaring the helper. Top down the best part was the bull fighting the armored guys on the horses. I mean, face it: The bull is going to die. But what I want to see is how much the bull can give before it goes down. And when it fought these horses, dang it was cool too see. I also loved the helpers getting launched by the bull. Heck, anyone who gets launched by that powerful neck was a highlight...and guess what, I got a few! I made a video to demonstate the flow of one bullfight. I hope you enjoy it, because if you never are able to go to a bull fight, at least you know what you are missing out on.

After the fighting was over, which was 8:45, my grandfather took a cab home and Casey and I were open for the fun. We wondered around the fair, like litterly wlaked all the way to the edge, truned around, walked over to the edge, turned around to the other edge, and the last edge and over again. We called Jasmine at her house and we knew she had to study tonight, but she was at the art centre. It was 9:15 and usually the performances start at 7 and are 2 hours long, so we figured she would be home soon so we didnt go looking for her. We kept wondering. We went into one bar, the budda bar, cause we got a free drink coupon. Once we got in we found out it never was valid. So we left.

Then we did a chase for one of the big, plasic beer bottles. And man was it a wild goose chase. This is what we learned: Mexicans give terrible directions. I mean, no wonder they havent fixed their water system, because they cant find all the pipes! I dont know if that was a good analogy...thats why nothing ever gets done in Mexico, or why people never read the directions to knew appliances...we do that too...ok...thats why Mexicans are so slow throughout the day and take siestas all day, cause they get so lost they just sit down and sleep. There. (Gasp of breath). So we were told to go to the big beer bottle blown up thingy. Then to the bar outside next to all the crqzy people. Then to the Sol poster (which one?). Then to the large tv screen. Then to go to the bathrooms. Then back to the bar...which we found out they ran out. But we ran into some people who just bought them and said they were just up ahead. But then we got sent to the bathrooms. And then to the bar. Then to the Sol poster. And finally found the line where they had new bottles and were filling them up for you. We made it though the line to only find out that I needed to buy a ticket at the ticket booth! I do that, and get back in line, fill up my huge plastic bottle, and after searching from 11:50 to 1 am, Casey and I claimed our troughy, a huge plastic bottle of beer that only cost us 30 pesos. We ramaged through the mob and found a place to sit next to the bull fighting ring where we tosted to ourselves, told stories, relaxed, took some pictures with out troughy, and drank some beer (of course, haha).

It was a really nice time. When we finished, we figured we check out the shine club again since tonight there was no cover, and then go by Jasmine's house. We called her and she was downstairs studying and would be up for another hour. We went to shine at the shine club for a bit, and this time there werent nearly as many people, but at least we knew the place and danced to some good song. Casey better know Te Quiro by Nigga by now. That song plays everywhere, and every time I sing along, tell Casey what it means, and help him learn the words. Maybe someday he can sing and dance to this Reggaeton song. We then went over the Jasmine's House to say high, grab something, and wish her luck. Turns out she left the art centre at 11pm...so we coudl have gone looking for her, but whatever. It was 1:15 when we left.

Then it was mad. We couldnt find a taxi. Like litterally couldnt find a taxi. Well, we found many taxis, but no one would take us! They would all drive by empty! It was terrible! And there were crowds of people running around like chickens with their heads cut off trying to grab a taxi. So we descided to walk home. And after 20 minutes I asked some random lady if the south of teh third ring was the direction we where headed. She only laughed and and said we havent even reached the third ring yet. Corn. Serious corn. Then we saw a taxi come up and we ran up to it, begged on our knees and cleaned its red, dirty driver door with our kisses. And he let us in! The guy was really cool. He had lived in Houston for one year and really liked the US. His English was enough for Casey to be in the action too. He was really nice. And so we finally got back home...at 2:30.

Our stay at Mexico was over. The fair was over. The night was over. But you know what? We rocked this fair and came out with a blast. It was so cool. Dang!, it was great! Yes, we were sad that we had to leave the next day. We wished we could stay longer. We wished the fair was longer. We wished we could drink more tequila. But what we really wished for was some sleep...

(* This did not happen on our day but had happened in the past there in the arena)