ay yai yai

Me-heee-cooo. Spent four days in guadalajara, jalisco, mexico, center of the universe. Got sick, but that was bound to happen, drinking wine like water, dirty water like soda, soda like air, squeezing tequila from the agave plant for one more taste of authenticity. Authenticity. Authentic. From the plane ride from LAX to leaving Guadalajara that would be the right word to describe such a trip. On the plane a woman next to me performed six hail marys full of grace before the wheels left the asphalt, turbulence/discomfort from lack of space (a given due to the cheap seat of an AUTHENTIC airline: aeromexico), and cheering as we landed on a dirt air strip. Surreal bus rides that should have been amusement rides not means of transportation, but all the better I say. Finishing the trip off with a bowl full of cow face soup, a delicacy in such a place. Well fed, staying with a loving family with a heart of hospitality and generosity that you generally don't encounter in southern california. Long nights led to long mornings, third day in after roaming the streets we headed over to Mariachi street, where every hour is an hour of festivities, as long as you have the money and time. Convinced one of the band of brothers to come back with us to where we were staying and as they quietly set up at five thirty in the morning on the front porch of the grandparents home that we were staying, we opened the doors for all to hear. The band began their renditions around six, and played till seven thirty, with nonstop sounds and dancing coming from the tired streets of the neighborhood. They came out in their pajamas, the whole lot of them, all to dance with tired eyes but a smile on each persons face. Requesting songs and singing along, the way life should be led care free and enjoyed. Walked in the streets for days, the locals telling stories of revolutions and religious relics that they held close to heart, giving what little they had to those more in need, a country of selflessness, or so it appeared from quick glimpses. Beautiful through and through.