puerto vallerta - the bad

• the heat. Oh, wait, it's the humidity, not the heat. I never believed it till now. I mean, I grew up outside the Atchafalaya basin, a feat which astonishes me to no end now. But, as I recall, the outdoors was never much of an attraction, especially in the summer. Which lasts from April to September. I was always the palest child in my elementary school.

I'm not sure if it would have been better or worse without A/C. In Boston a few summers ago, I got "used" to it to the point that by the end of the week I wasn't completely dying, but I could drink the water there as much as I wanted. But, anyway, I nearly fainted a couple times and that wasn't so great.

• the sunburns. These weren't too bad except my Eucerin face lotion has worn out. Meaning that the one time I slathered it on my arms, they turned pink within 30 minutes. And one day my tank top straps rubbed the stuff off my shoulders, so they got rather crispy. Reg's got worse, or at least more all-over, which was also bad, as it led to a distinct lack of romance. We could barely hug.

• the coffee. Not that I'm a freakin' coffee snob, but I know what I like, and I like caffeine. We had a Krupps in the room but it broke the second day, and while it was fixed a few days later, the local roast was shit.

puerto vallerta, the good

• getting to go at all; great thanks go out to Reg's parents. A week off work in Seattle would have been cool, but in a tropical paradise it was sublime.

• the Grand Mayan; I wish I could have taken a photo of the main entrance area, but it was far too ridiculous. Seven huge stone-looking statues going up fifteen feet high in a semi-circle, with some ambient tone-less music going to make it feel primal. Marble countertops everywhere. Reg and I got the nice big suite with the view of the beach. A kitchenette and 1.25 baths. Well, technically there was also a big tub in the bedroom. Anyway. Fucking nice hotel, and it had about half a mile square of pools as well. The highlights of that were the big "mayan temple" that had a nice slide going down to a wave pool, and a "moat" (canal) going around the whole thing that had a wave pool effect going every afternoon.

• the cheapness. Not so much in the Nuevo Vallerta area, but the instant we got in to Puerto Vallerta proper, everything was insanely inexpensive. Not that I really had any money, and reg kept losing his "allowance", but it allowed us to have, say, $16 cartons of cigarettes and $70 nice dinners (including wine). and red bull for only a dollar! I also got a $35 Diesel dress that Reg wouldn't allow me to wear b/c i was too sexy in it, or something like that.

• the food! Oh lordie, I must have gained 10 pounds the past two weeks. Except for the coffee, everything was a million times better there, even the Coke. They use sugar instead of Corn Syrup, you see. Candy was better, need I even say the chips and salsa were better. The duckling was better. Hmmm.

• farmacia. Not as wonderful as I'd been led to believe, but still decent. Ultram, antibiotics, prednisone and Soma. What more could you ask for without a doctor's prescription?

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We also went parasailing and horseback riding. The former was better than I thought it would be, although having to ride around on the little boat afterwards made me violently seasick. Thank god I refused the sailing trip. Horseback riding was fun, although I was so incredibly sore afterwards that it wasn't even funny. Plus I got serious shy bladder syndrome halfway through.

Anyway. Pictures tonight.

books read in mexico

I finished Lamb's Genghis Khan book. It was good, he's a great writer, i mean, they don't write now the way they did in 1928, more's the pity. Oh, maybe they do, but why bother, right?

Shakespeare of London was also a fantastic book. It made me want to watch Branaugh's Hamlet, except that it isn't out on DVD, wtf. Maybe i'll rent the videos. Anyway it just really pulls you into Elizabethean England, with its odd mix of medievalism and capitalism and Puritanism.

I'm nearly done with Gore Vidal's Hollywood, which is a lot more about politics than I'd like it to be, and really confusing in the who's sleeping with whom realm, but everyone is properly cynical about it, so that's ok.

I'm also nearly done with Campbell's The Power Of Myth, although I took a break towards the end to re-read Me Talk Pretty One Day, Permanent Midnight, Soul Music and Kept Boy, which everyone on vacation should read. But back to Campbell, most of what I got through covered the importance of rituals and stories. I think there needs to be some more overlap of rave culture/technoshamanism with Campbell; that would be rad. I guess you could approach it through a normal religion too, if that's your thing, but my favorite part of church was always the music, and that's my religion now. But yeah, as long as you understand the meaning of what's going on instead of interpreting everything literally, I can dig it.

(no subject)

does anyone use ares? I like soulseek but sometimes i just want a stupid Chicago song.

phew

pics are up.
(warning LOTS OF PICS in that page!)