Los destrampados, echando relajo otra vez
Thursday, October 27th, 2005And my time in Guanajuato is coming to an end. I´m already nostalgic for this city, its hills and colors and endless parties. Mexico City should be one hell of a transistion.
We were selling kisses again last Saturday. We made 150 pesos this time, which is far more than we expected. At times there were enormous crowds around us, all chanting “BESO” until somebody would come forward for a kiss. It was quite an adventure. That night, we were drinking beer in this sketchy bar, and this really drunk guy attacked Rocky. He first threw a punch, then tried to drag Rocky to the ground. All his friends and I grabbed the guy and dragged him out of the bar, but it was a harrowing experience. This wasn´t quite a real bar-fight, but it was the closest I´ve ever seen. I guess it is pretty important to pay attention to who´s around you and the state they seem to be in, because a lot of people are very unpredictable when drunk.
The next day, tons of people recognized us as the Beso venders from the night before, and Rocky and I ended up hanging out with 4 girls who we met while “working”. Later we went to a karaoke bar and ran into another girl we had met from the day before. We left early, however, and ended up heading home fairly soon after.
The Festival Cervantino came to a close on Sunday, and it was almost like something apocalyptic the way the streets were so suddenly deserted. During the festival, there were people in the streets all the time, especially on the last Saturday. The streets were perhaps most crowded that night at about 1:30-2:00 AM, when the crowd on the main drag was so densely packed you could almost get swept off your feet. There was noise, people yelling and kissing and having a wild time. Even at 5 in the morning, when I finally headed home, there were lots of people in the streets, sitting in the garden or waiting for taxi´s. The next day, at 8:00 PM beside the big ampitheater where the closing show for the festival was to be held, there was another ridiculous mass of humanity all trying to squeeze in and see the show. That night, however, by 2:00 the streets were deserted, bars were closed, and little remained of the craziness that was so apparent the night before. The next day, a huge hippy market was taken down, signs were removed, performance stages disappeared, and for the first time I saw Guanajuato the way it normally is.
I still like the city quite a bit. It is nice that there are fewer Americans here. It is much calmer, more subdued now. There are lots of students in the streets, but fewer hippies, fewer bands of kids from other parts of the country. The mariachi´s play in the park, but there are no longer contemporary rock bands on street corners.
My relationship with Esmeralda, the teacher, is going very, very well. I had to tell her I wouldn´t go for any other girls in the rest of my time here, but it is absolutely worth the commitment.
Last night I went to a party at another teachers house, and we drank a lot of beer. They were yelling obscenities the entire night, and I found it a bit ironic that these crazy guys were the ones teaching me Spanish. It was lots of fun.
On Saturday I´m going to hitchike to Mexico City with Esmeralda and Rocky, so that should be yet another adventure, my first hitchiking experience in Mexico.
I´m going to miss this city, but 3 weeks is too much in one place.
I love this country.
Dan
Neocoltrane