chicken bus

well, i fell off the wagon a little in the blogging, but happy to say that i got on a chicken bus instead (the old school buses used for local transit in Guatemala). i never did fit really well into school bus seats, with my knees somewhere up around my ears. things haven't changed in that regard.

the big news is that i'm back in Oaxaca. no, the big news is that i'm heading back to the States on Monday. no...the big news is that i'm going out west for some farming action (which is not meant to be a euphemism, joanna). i'll give more of an update on that later. suffice to say some changes are afoot.

i also wanted you all to know that i did manage to extract myself from oracles and pyramids and made it to Santa Cruz (also on the lake) and Panajachel (also on the lake) and Tapachula (hot and muggy and definitely not on the lake, given that it's in Chiapas) before I got back here to Oaxaca. Santa Cruz was a highlight - where, if it wasn't for me still recovering from a cold, i would have been able to participate in a rockin' Saturday night cross-dressing party at my hostel. i did attend the dinner, and what a treat to see men in dresses again. it does the heart good.

i also ran into my friend, Mariah, in Santa Cruz. she and i had done the trek to the lake together. after a brutal 13 rounds of pool, we finally had to admit - only to each other - that we only actually played three rounds, which were only brutal in the force with which we knocked the balls into various configurations on the table. Mariah so kindly knocked a few of my balls in (ouch), which made the competition tighter, but also left me with the feeling of not really having won, you know? not that i need to win...but a girl's got her pool shark reputation to protect, after all.

but why am i talking about pool when clearly the question on all of your lips is: if you come back to the States, what happens to the blog? What becomes of 'beer in Mexico'? well, my friends, take heart that there will still be plenty of beer in Mexico, even if it's not being drunk by me. i leave that to Liz and Ed and Chelsea and Mathew and Christine and Jorge. Go for it, kids! And as for the blog, i hope to keep it going, because i'm not really through with the travels at this point. 'Beer in Washington' doesn't have quite the same ring to it, though. but i'll come up with some way to keep you all up to the minute on the incremental growth of radishes and salad greens.

i do need a new theme song, though. any suggestions?

i'll also be uploading lots more pictures soon on the Flickr site. More on that in my next post.