Friday, July 20, 2007



Today we finally left the state of Texas. Nothing in Texas is ever in moderation. As an example Howard´s twin cab Ford 150 (King Ranch Edition) is huge and I always forgot to use the running board to get off and managed to fall off a few times. The ciccadas were vibrating through most of the afternoons. The noise is the kind that wants me to sleep siesta. It reminded me of the lazy afternoons in Corrientes in Argentina. Rebecca fished for the first time in her life. Howard was a patient teacher. And because it was Texas Rebecca had extraordinary good begginer´s luck. She caught five perch. She was also attacked by Texas chiggers and has been suffering the consequences. As we left Kingsland we said goodbye to Curly the dromedary, to Howard and Lynne (at the San Antonio airport) but not before going through heavy rain that hit the windshield with extraordinary force. The distant thunder was a noisy goodbye from my Texas, the state in which I made the transition from a boy to a man.

When our airplane landed in Merida we immediatly were subjected to the noises of Mexico which to me (particularly when I haven´t been in Mexico)is music. Our hotel, Casa del Balam (paradoxically while I am able to insert accents in my Vancouver computer the ladies here at my nearby internet cafe do not know how to get one)is smack in the middle of the city. I look forward to hearing the bells of the cathedral, la catedral metropolitana, on Sunday morning. Our hotel, on Calle 60, is in the area where all streets are cut off to traffic on Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday so that musicians and dancers can show off. I am sure that we will be able to listen to some band like the one here which I photographed in San Miguel Allende, Guanajuato.