PHOENIX, Arizona - We are back in the USSA and waiting for a flight to Sacramento, $400 richer than just a few minutes ago.
The America West flight was waaaay overbooked (So what's new?) and we took an offer to be bumped onto the next flight.
The $400 will almost cover a roundtrip ticket to Puerto Vallarta - or a lot of other places we might like to go in the next year.
The airport isn't as scenic as this cactus photo is, but it is warm here and the airport offers free wireless internet to keep us amused while we wait about an hour and a half for the last flight out to Sacramento.
Sometimes, I just love all this technology.
(The delay is making for a pretty long day of travel, but, hell, it was a long day anyway.)
The good news is that the airport has cleared out to such a degree that I should be able to stretch out on the benches here, turn on my IPod and zone out with the latest CD by Bubba and Bottom Feeders from Puerto Vallarta.
My favorite cut?
"It's Hard to Kiss The Lips That Have Been Chewing My Ass All Day."
Yee-haw!
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Saturday, January 07, 2006
Jack London, the writer who launched me
PUERTO VALLARTA, Jalisco, Mexico (Versailles District) - When I was about 14-years-old, I read a magazine account (in TRUE magazine) about the life of Jack London, a swashbuckling, take-no-prisoners kind of guy who started out with nothing and flamed out at 40-years-old.
These many years later, I still credit old Jack with getting me interested in writing and a brand a journalism that barely exists today, but which is, well, a helluva lot more fun than the corporate drivel that fills most newspapers.
London wrote narrative news accounts for newspapers, wild political tracts for magazines, and books for an adoring public that had never seen someone write so clearly and honestly about them, the nation, and the world.
He lived in the shadow of a bad childhood and poverty and when he died was badly in debt, despite having earned several fortunes.
Many of his books are still in print and while he is frequently miscast as a child's author, because of books like Call of the Wild, London as a social critic is great reading too.
If London were alive today, he would likely challenge George W. to a pistol duel. But then again, if London were alive today, it's also likely that George W. might not have been elected at all.
Every so often, when I feel overwhelmed, I yank out that TRUE magazine article and reread it. It's still the most inspiring piece of work like that I've ever read. (I've also read every biography of Jack London ever written.)
This week in San Francisco there is an exhibit of some of the photos London took of San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake, the fire from which he could see from many miles away.
After that fire, London outfitted a sailing yacht and headed out for the Pacific, a largely uncharted ocean and sans any sexy electronics or radios.
London lived in a simpler world that is reflected in some ways here in Mexico, a life that doesn't revolve around television or the latess episode of Desperate Housewives.
But the questions for this gringo to answer are: "What would Jack London do if he were me?
Sail off again?
Retire to the seaside and sip drinks?
Or climb onto the horse again for one last slashing (and likely futile) attack at the bad guys?
Guess it's time to drag out that TRUE magazine piece one more time.
These many years later, I still credit old Jack with getting me interested in writing and a brand a journalism that barely exists today, but which is, well, a helluva lot more fun than the corporate drivel that fills most newspapers.
London wrote narrative news accounts for newspapers, wild political tracts for magazines, and books for an adoring public that had never seen someone write so clearly and honestly about them, the nation, and the world.
He lived in the shadow of a bad childhood and poverty and when he died was badly in debt, despite having earned several fortunes.
Many of his books are still in print and while he is frequently miscast as a child's author, because of books like Call of the Wild, London as a social critic is great reading too.
If London were alive today, he would likely challenge George W. to a pistol duel. But then again, if London were alive today, it's also likely that George W. might not have been elected at all.
Every so often, when I feel overwhelmed, I yank out that TRUE magazine article and reread it. It's still the most inspiring piece of work like that I've ever read. (I've also read every biography of Jack London ever written.)
This week in San Francisco there is an exhibit of some of the photos London took of San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake, the fire from which he could see from many miles away.
After that fire, London outfitted a sailing yacht and headed out for the Pacific, a largely uncharted ocean and sans any sexy electronics or radios.
London lived in a simpler world that is reflected in some ways here in Mexico, a life that doesn't revolve around television or the latess episode of Desperate Housewives.
But the questions for this gringo to answer are: "What would Jack London do if he were me?
Sail off again?
Retire to the seaside and sip drinks?
Or climb onto the horse again for one last slashing (and likely futile) attack at the bad guys?
Guess it's time to drag out that TRUE magazine piece one more time.
Thursday, January 05, 2006
La Manzanilla - a real Mexican paradise
LA MANZANILLA, Mexico - We spent two nights in a beachfront apartment at Palapa Joe's, the kind of place where you want to spend the rest of your life.
The ocean - 100 feet from the front door at high tide - was warm. The restaurants and tiendas in town of excellent quality (and by American standards, very cheap). And the people of the town (tourists included) were all very friendly.
We first visited the town about five years ago on a road trip and have hit it yearly since, usually coming in and anchoring Sabbatical in front of the town while we went in for a one-day foray for supplies and lunch.
The pueblo has grown some, though not anything like what we experience in the states. In California, when you drive to work and see a bulldozer on a vacant lot, you can be pretty sure some construction will be ongoing within a day or so. A week later, a new Taco Bell or 7-11 is born.
In La Manzanilla there are a couple of more restaurants and bars than two years ago, even two internet cafes now! But the tortillerias, stores and farmacias are pretty much the same with the same people running them.
Five years ago we thought about buying a piece of land. Should have. Be the family expression is: shoulda, coulda, woulda...
Now prices have started to climb and the only view lots left in town are on the side of hills so steep four-wheel drive vehicles can barely get up them.
One posting I saw at Palapa Joe's said "Creative Architect Could Do Something On This Lot."
Something indeed!
The ocean - 100 feet from the front door at high tide - was warm. The restaurants and tiendas in town of excellent quality (and by American standards, very cheap). And the people of the town (tourists included) were all very friendly.
We first visited the town about five years ago on a road trip and have hit it yearly since, usually coming in and anchoring Sabbatical in front of the town while we went in for a one-day foray for supplies and lunch.
The pueblo has grown some, though not anything like what we experience in the states. In California, when you drive to work and see a bulldozer on a vacant lot, you can be pretty sure some construction will be ongoing within a day or so. A week later, a new Taco Bell or 7-11 is born.
In La Manzanilla there are a couple of more restaurants and bars than two years ago, even two internet cafes now! But the tortillerias, stores and farmacias are pretty much the same with the same people running them.
Five years ago we thought about buying a piece of land. Should have. Be the family expression is: shoulda, coulda, woulda...
Now prices have started to climb and the only view lots left in town are on the side of hills so steep four-wheel drive vehicles can barely get up them.
One posting I saw at Palapa Joe's said "Creative Architect Could Do Something On This Lot."
Something indeed!
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
The waters of Tenacatita Bay are kayak heaven
LA MANZANILLA, MEXICO - The waters just off the town of La Manzanilla are easily 5 degrees warmer than those of Banderas Bay and the kayaking has been excellent.
Our traveling compadres explored the local waters yesterday, ending their sojourn with some wild surfing in to shore - a little of which is shown in the photo with this blog.
This town has been special since we first checked it out five years ago and it is growing, slowly, with a half-dozen more restaurants and small tiendas added in just the last two years.
The crocodiles are bigger and fatter than ever and the people who buy fish to feed them are as looney as ever, too.
Our beachside apartment has a palapa overlooking the water and the view is the kind you find on postcards - and can't believe. Last night the houseman, Javier, cooked us dorado on the grill downstairs and made us a special gift of home-made salsa fresca, better than anything you would ever get in a restaurant.
In the meantime, the emails are pouring in from friends in Northern California who are battling flood waters and nervously watching creeks and coffer dams along the rivers. My old stomping grounds of Petaluma were flooded and the editor of the newspaper where I once worked - The Argus-Courier - put in a dozen photos on the web to show the damage.
We seem to have picked just the right time to be hiding out in Mexico, far from bad weather, intrusive government and bad air. Too bad we have to go back to Sacramento at all.
But, just as Willie Sutton said when he was asked why he robbed banks - "That's where the money is."
Que lastima!
Our traveling compadres explored the local waters yesterday, ending their sojourn with some wild surfing in to shore - a little of which is shown in the photo with this blog.
This town has been special since we first checked it out five years ago and it is growing, slowly, with a half-dozen more restaurants and small tiendas added in just the last two years.
The crocodiles are bigger and fatter than ever and the people who buy fish to feed them are as looney as ever, too.
Our beachside apartment has a palapa overlooking the water and the view is the kind you find on postcards - and can't believe. Last night the houseman, Javier, cooked us dorado on the grill downstairs and made us a special gift of home-made salsa fresca, better than anything you would ever get in a restaurant.
In the meantime, the emails are pouring in from friends in Northern California who are battling flood waters and nervously watching creeks and coffer dams along the rivers. My old stomping grounds of Petaluma were flooded and the editor of the newspaper where I once worked - The Argus-Courier - put in a dozen photos on the web to show the damage.
We seem to have picked just the right time to be hiding out in Mexico, far from bad weather, intrusive government and bad air. Too bad we have to go back to Sacramento at all.
But, just as Willie Sutton said when he was asked why he robbed banks - "That's where the money is."
Que lastima!
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