Well, the time has come. I leave for Mexico City this Friday the 22nd. It’s almost hard to believe my stay in China is just about over. I’m all ready to go, yet it doesn’t seem real that I will spend Friday night in Mexico.
It’s not without some ambivalence that I go. The main thing is Myung isn’t coming with me. She is planning to join me at some point, but there is no time frame for that. She’s planning to come whenever she can get someone to take over her lease, but she has had very few nibbles. Maybe there is a way to speed up the process, but so far she hasn’t done that. One of her considerations is she doesn’t really want to backpack endlessly and would like me to settle, more or less, in a spot. I have a few ideas where might be good, but I plan to head out and see where the wind takes me. I’ll keep an eye out for places I like and play that one by ear.
Meanwhile, I booked a room in Mexico City for a week, and will stay till I’m done with that place. It could easily be more than a week, as I will just be getting my feet wet and figuring out an itinerary. So far, I think I will maybe visit the south and the east coast before the hot, rainy season kicks in, then maybe go toward the highlands where it is relatively cool. I’ve got the Lonely Planet e-book on my computer and e-reader, and have been reading up. That’s all I know. I’ve hardly been to Mexico, even though it’s next door to the US. Hard to believe, but true. I drove down to Guaymas with my, then, wife, her brother and his wife in about 1972, made a couple of brief excursions over the border, and in 1984 took a cruise down the Pacific coast which stopped in the bay at Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta, Zihuatenajo and Acapulco. That’s it.
I studied Spanish in school and have had occasion to use a little bit, off and on, since then. Recently, I’ve been studying hard to get the rust off so I can function in Latin America. Actually, I’m pleased with what I can remember. I think, before long, I’ll be fine. Verbal comprehension at normal speed will be the hard part. It sure was that way in South America. I can express myself okay as long as I have the vocabulary word I want.
Not much new has happened in Chongqing and I’ve definitely been in waiting mode. The winter wasn’t too bad this year, but I stayed in a lot, anyway. Now Chongqing is in full spring bloom and quite pretty in some places. Below are some pictures taken in the park across the street.
Notice the birdcages. It’s popular for guys to bring pet birds to the park, hang the cages in trees and socialize near them, listening to the birdsong. Talking birds, like mynas, are very popular. The guys also hang the cages along the bower walks. This makes for nice walking through the park, especially so because there are not many wild bird in the city, no doubt because of the environmental destruction which has not spared Chongqing.
We’ve been getting in in a bit of last minute socializing. A couple of days ago, we had a last dinner with our best friends here, the ones who originally encouraged us to come, PiPi and his wife, Xue Xue. Below are some pictures of a dinner we had with the shop owners on Myung’s strip of shops. The families came. We ate soooo much, and a few of them had many beers.
It was “bottoms up” I don’t know how many times! I actually stopped drinking beer almost entirely, trying to recover from that decompression sickness I gave myself in the Philippines. thank goodness THAT seems to be finally over. It took long enough.
I don’t have a lot more to say at this point. I’ll be posting on this site more often, now that I will be on the road again.
thanks to any and all of you who read my babbling.
So, until we meet again, be well, all of you.