Itasca

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I am back in Itasca safe and sound. At first I was only annoyed by the waiting at the airport and so forth. Then I was sleepy on the plane. Then at some point I became overwhelmed and broke down, crying uncontrollably at the idea of not going back to Guadalajara or seeing Wendy for a long long time. Now I'm just feeling tired and worn out and pissed that I have to go to work tomorrow. But enough of the bad things... let me talk about Tlaquepaque and the fun times.

So, Tlaquepaque is a suburb of Guadalajara, about 25 minutes from the Centro by bus. On the bus I met this guy Carlos, who talked to me in English using the F word a LOT about how cool mexico was and how great everyone and everything here was. He was also going to the market at Tlaquepaque and seemed to know everyone there, as I ran into him shopping and most of the vegetable vendors knew him by name. btw, it costs 20 pesos to pee in mexico. I forget if I've mentioned that already, but it's so hilarious to see a guy behind a table in front of the bathrooms like "yeah, pay me". Upstairs were the artisans, or rather, the people who bought stuff from Tonola (the artisan village) and then resold them in Tlaquepaque. I didn't have time for Tonola and I needed christmas presents pretty bad, so this was going to have to do. Guadalajara is known for pottery and glassware, so that's mostly what I got, although eventually I wandered around and bought all kinds of crazy stuff, all of which I will post pictures for later (i'm hoping tomorrow, it's way too late to do it tonite). it was good, because in town in Guadalajara I was really lacking good gift ideas, and I felt bad because I did no shopping at all before I left, so this was a good thing. In the middle of this I took a lonch break for some birria, lamb/goat stew kinda, and it was awesome, though I feel like the one Wendy got at that place in Mercado Libertad was better. The one I was served at Birria Carillo was in huge chunks, and required some cutting with a spoon edge. I asked the birria people if I could take their picture, and the goat cutting guy was like "only if we take your picture with this!" and pointed to the remains of a goat head sitting on the counter. So I was like "alright" and took their picture, then was ushered behind the counter with the goat head, which I (to their surprise and amusement) picked up and kissed for the picture. hahahaha. I got called "loco" and then I left. About 5 minutes later I realized that I hadn't paid for my lunch, so I went back and paid them and they made some gringo jokes at my expense which I didn't quite get. it was all in good fun. I bought more stuff, went to an ATM, bought more stuff, and hopped on a bus home. On the bus I met this guy who turned out to be the vice principal at a school in Guadalajara, but I found this out just as it was awkwardly too late to ask for a card or something as he was crossing the street in a direction opposite where I needed to go. Maybe I should have. Anyway, I packed up all my stuff, asked which bus to take, and took off. Talked to this crazy watch salesman on the bus who offered me cocaine, some sort of pill, and some watches, and I told him I was completely uninterested but that he should have a great time. He kept giving me this look like "you don't even know" through his one messed-up eye. odd... then I met another guy who was studying rock music and he told me his favorite band was "Heroes del Silencio". I'll look them up later. Then I met another guy my age who was working at Fed Ex at the airport, really into it, and proud to be learning English. We talked about the merits of living in an area where it snows, and I told him it was just nice to have a break from it all. He pointed me towards my terminal and I checked in, just in time to have to wait an hour and a half, talking to a girl named Maira from Joliet about our mutual December 22 to January 2 vacations. How weird that we were on vacation at the same time! She had gone to Manzanilla and then visited her grandparents' ranch. The flight, as I said, sucked. I was sleepy at first, then watched "The Guardian" just to pass the time, it was OK. Near the end, all of a sudden something struck me, like that I was leaving Guadalajara, and images of my trip, my friends I'd made, especially of Wendy, flashed through my mind and I broke down crying. It was nice, in a way, because I haven't been able to cry for months. The last time was in May I think, when I'd let my parents down for something major. All the crap that's happened since, just flooded out. It was good, but at that moment I wanted nothing more than to hijack the plane and turn it around. Or just catch another flight back sometime this week. Ugh.... This trip has been so good for me, such a growth experience, it's hard to believe it's over. And I will miss Wendy. But these are things I should really give some time to settle before thinking about too hard. So I will leave it at that for now.


Marc and Missey picked me up at like midnite, cuz they're awesome. Missey even had a sign that said "Mr. Whiteway"... hahaha. We went to Steak and Shake because Missey can read minds and knew instinctively that I would want a hamburger when I got back. I showed them the stuff I'd bought, gave them their presents, and found that two things had shattered during the flight, but nothing of grave importance. Good times. Good night. Buenas noches

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