Okay, all, talking with Mexicans here, it seems normal that three weeks to a month is normal to expect for a letter or a package delivered with normal postal service. So we are still in the normal time frame for the arrival of the card. I am not sure it is clear to people why I came back to Veracruz, so I am going to explain. I made it as far south as Catemaco. Then, I made a decision to go back to Tlacotalpan to experience the festival of the Candelaria, which is the anniversary of the baby Jesus reaching the age of 40 days old, and his baptism. The patron saint of Tlacotalpan is the Virgin of the Candelaria, a virgin who commemorates all of the candels that followed in the procession of Jesus' baptism, the ceremony of the Holy Spirit entering the Christ child. It is celebrated Feb. 2 all over Mexico, but Tlacotalpan celebrates for nine days because it is the festival of the town's patron saint. Their celebration includes bulls running free in the streets, as well as a three-day traditional music and rhyme (jaranero and decimista) gathering. The festival was well worth it. Then, I lost my glasses and my camera broke, plus I met somebody who works for a digital camera company (Steren) in Veracruz who said his company might be able to sponsor me and he invited me back to Veracruz, where we could talk, and I could go to the Carnaval, which is the biggest north of Rio. My friends from Hotel Imperial also invited me back. I figured I could see Carnaval, get new glasses and a new camera, and I would have a place to stay and have my card sent to me. Carnaval was great, but as you know I am still waiting for my card which I can use to get new glasses. Since the camera deal has not succeeded yet (the guy came to the hotel once but I was asleep, so he left, wrote that he would come back, but hasn't yet...), I may end up buying a new camera as well. Then I can move on. (I really miss my camera.)
Today, I got up, streched, then shaved, washed my face, but didn't shower in a lenten "giving-up" to save energy. Then I went down to have an employee meal of vegetable soup and rice--pretty good. Ran into my friend Paul from England who works as a diver on the oil platforms. He is going through a divorce, so it's kind of trying him. Then I visited the local cathedral--somewhat spectacular, not really, though. Then I went to see if I could find some chloroquine/malaria prophylaxis. My friend Lindsay told me one of the local pharmacies had it for $7. I checked out "Ahorro's" and "Simi's", but neither had it. Where did you see it, Lindsay? Then I got a tour of Hotel Colonial, which is a couple buildings down from my hotel, Hotel Imperial, on the Zocalo. Hotel Colonial has some great terraces above, and a heated indoor pool (big energy user, but obviously attractive), but it lacks the elegance of Hotel Imperial, which has a foyer that extends five floors to a stained glass sky light, beautiful arch architecture throughout, marble stairs, and the oldest elevator in Latin, if not all of, America. Okay, after touring the Hotel Colonial, I walked along the portales and noted the name of each restaurant/bar and hotel. I went into "Caliente" to see what they used their upper levels for. Caliente is a betting center with TV's showing all types of sporting events going on mostly in Mexico and the US--horse racing, basketbal, soccer, dog racing, etc. I sat down and started watching basketball, and eventually horse racing and soccer. The waiter asked if I wanted anything to drink and I asked him if it was required to order something and he said no, he was just offering, and I said I just wanted to know what the upper floors are used for--hotel, storage, residence, etc., and he said right now, the owners are not using it at all. I found it interesting that such prime real estate was being unused as such. I continued watching--I think UNC beat Duke, Phoenix beat the Lakers...In the first horse race I watched, the lead horse was overtaken by two horses just in the last stretch. In the second race, the lead horse led the whole time, and ran away with the victory in the end. Anything can happen. Then, my favorite team in Mexico (at this point), Pachuca, started playing one of the most popular teams in all of Mexico, America from Mexico City. Pachuca scored a nice goal off a corner kick and ended up winning 1-0. After the match, I went back to my hotel, and I overheard English. I introduced myself to what ended up being five Americans from the northeast (New York and Philly, primarily) who were into Tai Chi, and who were on a trip to attend a Tai Chi conference/class in Patzcuaro, west of Mexico City, but they are seeing a bit of the country before the conference starts. They invited me out to dinner and I accepted. We had a nice dinner, talked about some of the movies they saw on the bus which were dubbed but they couldn't hear the sound anyway, so they sort of made up their interpretations of what they saw to each other as they watched the movies. They said they could start up their own film-scripting schools using such exercises of interpretation as fodder for plotlines. After dinner, four of the five went to the malecon (dock platform area) for coffee, but one, Emily, and I went back to the hotel because it was too windy and a bit chilly (we were wearing less clothing than the others). After returning to the hotel, I went to check email, and write to you! I will now put up a section of links to sponsors and those who helped me on the way so far.
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