Rubber stamps
Last week I came to the conclusion that it´s pretty difficult to get cheap flights to South America. The reality is that not many people can afford to fly in SA so there are fewer flights and therefore those that are available are fairly expensive. My plan of coming to Mexico City and waiting for a cheap ticket from a cancellation didn´t work out, it´s not something that happens much over here. So I got to the end of the week having explored many options only to realise that the best deal was actually booking through the hostel I´ve been staying in. This still works out considerably cheaper than what I was offered back in England, so it´s all good.
However, I couldn´t book my flight until I sorted out one other small matter, that of being ever so slightly illegal. My 90 day tourist visa ran out sometime last week, so I needed to get to the immigration office to plead stupidity or whatever, then try to blag an extension. My 90 days started when I first entered Mexico, and having been out of the country and back in again recently, my passport was stamped as ´double entry´ (get your minds out of the gutter, mine was here first) so it didn´t get renewed, it just kept ticking. I´ve got to say any illegal activities I´ve commited in the past have been more fun than this situation.
I couldn´t do anything over the weekend so Monday morning I went to the immigration office only to find a scene straight out of Terry Gilliam´s Brazil, all paperwork and rubber-stamping authoritarians. Despite fearing torture by rubber stamp, or at the very least fines and extra money to extend the visa, I came out a free man, with 15 days extra visa and no money paid – Lady Luck must´ve been sucking my cock, which is more than some poor fucker in an equal position in a British immigration office would be able to say!
The long and short of it is that I´m flying to Sao Paulo at the end of next week, after heading down to the coast of Oaxaca for 10 days of beach time in what promises to be a chilled out hippie haven, a million miles from the smog and madness of Mexico City. First stop (and possibly the only one if it´s that good) is a small beach village called Zipolite, to catch up with a couple of girls I met here in the city. Then I may check out Mazunte further along the coast, who knows. I wanted to go down there on the way back from Guatemala but ran out of time before xmas, so I´m looking forward to this.
For all those complaining of cold weather in the UK, it might come as some consolation that it´s been pretty cold here over here the last week or two, in both Guanajuato and Mexico City. However, I´ll try to write again sometime soon telling you how feckin´ hot it is at the beach – I might be a bastard, but at least I´m not an illegal bastard (anymore).
Tags: Mexico, Mexico, Travel, Zipolite
Ed
http://www.gwynunlimited.com/blog/archives/00000339.html
From one illegal alien to another, Tag, yer it.
oy ed, your album finally downloaded. It’s not fantastic, but you should ‘check out’ the mp3s on http://www.kemotheblaxican.com/ , he’s the Delinquent habits geezer gone solo. especially ‘la receta.mp3’, anyroad, have a grand last weekend in Mexico. Jose & victor send their regards. Jose’s still telling anyone who’ll listen about your (increasingly) Lonely Planet language guide for ‘in the bedroom’. No me gusta…
Cool, I´ll check out the music when I next get a chance somewhere. I may also ask you to put the album up on your webspace for download, but not until I´m somewhere this is possible.
However, I´m not playing your tag game!
Ed
Have been reading your travel stories with great envy, and has inspired me to get my arse over that side of the world again!
Going to Chile and Bolivia for just under 3 weeks in April on another Toucan tour, but before you say anything this time it’s an adventure tour so no big yellow bus or (hopefully) any Rex types!
Happy Travelling!
The other Ed