gallo pinto

So I got a text when I got back to the place I was staying at last night. ATX Stephen was wondering if I was still alive cos I hadn´t posted lately. Yes, I was alive last I checked. I haven't posted much b/c I have been essentially off the grid, in pueblos around laguna de apoyo, in between Granda and Managua. Since I have so much to cover, and I am once again on a virus-infested PC with an international keyboard with sticky keys (why is it always the vowels in latin america?), here's a rundown of some recent pet peeves:

1. Lack of running water. Mexico is infamous for a toiletpaper-free lifestyle. I can bring my own. However, I need to work out how to bring a shower with me on my next trip down here. I don´t mind bathing with a bucket, it's the hair washing that's an issue. It looks great right now but I'm leaving greasy head stains EVERYWHERE.

2. Hearing people fucking. The next time this happens I'm asking them to please shut the fuck up. If it's not in the hostel dorm, or the shower, it's through the wall in the cheap hotel in the pueblo. However, the last episode - at the cheap hotel - allowed me some escape with 97 channels of cable teevee, and THEN there was the drama that ensued afterward, in which the dude said something to the lady about his esposa, and she started yelling at him in rapid-fire spanish, and then left, slamming the door shut to punctuate her sobs on the way out. very telenovela.

3. The fact of being an amazonian guera. I can handle the catcalls, stares and whistling, although I don't remember it being so bad last summer in Mexico - and that could be cos I was with Elad most of the time. But, upon arriving in León this afternoon, shlepping my backpack through the public market, some asshole had the fucking cojones to step right in my path and plant a nasty wet kiss on my shoulder as I walked by. The least the asshole could have done was offer to help with my fucking bag. The attention is getting to be an asspain. ALSO: at a quinceañera in a pueblo yesterday, I had to dance with EVERY dude in attendance, and I think it was the novelty for them the dance with a chick who was at least a head taller than them. I have pictures. It's ridiculous.

More later, after I settle in...