Tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo — not Portland’s 5 de Mayo, but the REAL deal. So I’m boarding an autobus in about 2 hours for Puebla, where the battle took place 150 years ago. Can you imagine a French Mexico?  Quelle horreur!

Puebla’s pulling me away from DF. And although I flew out of Puebla to New Orleans last summer, I didn’t see much of the former because I had only one night. Now I’m hoping for a party to rival any day in New Orleans. And if that’s not what it’s about, that’s ok, because it’s a beautiful city regardless. I want to see more than church exteriors. I want to eat mole.

Leaving is not without some sadness, but I’m returning later this month, so all is well. Although I’ve made friends where I’m currently staying, I may change to a different hostel when I return. I have several friends living in and near Coyoacan, where Frida Kahlo and Diego Riviera shared their home. So perhaps that’s the right spot for me.

After Puebla, my tentative plan is to return to Oaxaca state, where I spent two weeks last summer. But I’ll likely be going to the playas this time, specifically Mazunte, promised by several locals to be miraculous. I feel a little guilty going to the coast. I don’t know why, but I do, so I’m going to look for a Spanish teacher there and put in a few hours each day on the beach and in lessons.

Then it’s on to Guatemala. I’ve only been to Tikal, so this will be a different part of the country and a different experience. I’m hoping to land one of the legendary Maya homestays, complete with meals and five hours of immersion per day for $90 USD. That’s for the week; not per day.

I’ll also be meeting with Thomas Germano, a fellow fellow from last summer, and his friend. They are visiting Tikal and Copan, but I’m meeting them for something more touristic: the giant market in Chichicastenango.

Finally it’s back to DF. I estimate I’ll be back in the big city I now love for a little over a week. It’s enough time for more Spanish classes and trips to a few museums. Maybe I’ll even return to a few of my favorite dance spots.

Instead, I should simply fill you in on where I am and what I’m doing. I’m sitting in Crisanta, a great cervezera, which has Rogue, among others, ready to serve to beautiful, mostly young Chilangos. Tonight an experimental father-son jazz band is performing on instruments they’ve apparently created themselves. I discovered Crisanta when I arrives on Monday, and though it’s more expensive than other meals I’ve eaten, it’s also a perfect place, two minutes from where I’m staying.

Casa de los Amigos is another story. From house volunteers, to refugees, to random guests, like me and Paul, a British journalist working on an El Paso/Juarez border story, there’s a lot of social opportunity. I found out a friend stayed here ten years ago. From his description, the cast of characters is essentially the same. I didn’t know until today, when I learned from Dan, the retired school librarian volunteering for the house library, that the house was the studio of Orozco. I had a self-satisfying cultural moment because I’d seen his murals on previous trips and could add an intelligent comment or two.

I’ve met some great locals too, like Merari, a Chilango friend of a friend and Ricardo, who dropped a bigger bomb than Shakira’s free concert I attended in Merida last summer: Lila Downs is performing for free a week from today. Ricardo grew up on a ranch which grows maize. He showed me photos of the families blue corn harvest on his iPhone. He juggles between that and his iPad.

Merari, her children, and her mother are piling into a car and taking me to Teotihuacan tomorrow. I’m interested to see how it differs from the Maya sites I visited last summer. But I’m equally interested in trying to see Popo erupt.

Crisanta has amazing food, but I’ve had plenty of great meals at about $3 US apiece. I never tire of mushrooms, cheese, and tortillas. When I see guests at the Casa cooking in the shared kitchen, I wonder how it could possibly be cost effective. I’d rather spend my time hunting down the next comida.

Upon my arrival at the airport, which I’d been to once before on a layover, I took the Metro to the Casa. A pair of drunk homeless men guided me from the station. With all of the crime warnings I’ve received from well-meaning friends, I was expecting them to turn me around a corner and into the path of a knife-wielding narco-wannabe. Instead, they explained their situation: living in the park by the train stop. I gave them 5o pesos and said goodbye.

From mezcal to music to an eye-opening look into Mexico City’s goth culture, I feel like I’ve been here for years. I’m lucky to have more than six weeks left.

I’m leaving tomorrow for Mexico City and return to Portland on June 1st. What will I be doing? I’m not really sure. Other than last year’s two weeks in Oaxaca state and 2007′s week on safari, I’ve always been a travel planner. I’ve known where I’d go, where I’d stay, and most of what I’d be doing.

This time I have the luxury of traveling alone and making plans as I go, the way I prefer to travel. I’ll be in México Distrito Federal for at least one week. As I’ve never spent any time in a city that large, I don’t know if I’ll hate it or love it. Thankfully, I can choose to stay or move on.

My only other definite plan is to visit Puebla, where I spent a night last summer without seeing much of anything. Puebla is where Mexicans successfully battled French occupiers on the 5th of May, 1862. In the United States, Cinco de Mayo is often mistaken for Mexican Independence Day, but I know better. That’s why it’s important to me to be there for the 150th anniversary.

Wherever I end up, I’ll be taking Spanish classes and posting updates here as often as possible. Please check back frequently and post any tips you have.

Adiós!

I’m currently thinking 1-3 months in Mexico, Central, or South America. If I go, my resolution is to be a Spanish student, informally out of need, and formally for structure. I’ll have the luxury of time away from my job, and it would be quite easy to lie in a hammock for 90 days and nights. An immersion program would be a good challenge. So that’s my contingent resolution.

If instead I go back to Asia, I resolve to learn a few more phrases in whatever language is needed. It’s polite. It’s important. But I also know my limits and the truth is that I will not likely ever learn an Asian language. I also resolve to go to Burma or Laos if I’m bordering either country.

A few weeks ago I spent an evening as an extra for the filming of Chervona’s holiday/New Year video. I met some new friends and had a great time.

Two of my new friends mention me on their own blogs. Read more at the American Robotnik and Chicken Dragon.

I’ll see everyone at Chervona’s Russian New Year Party!

It’s not that long of a story. But I guess it’s easier to claim I was being a pain than for you all to admit you were thin-skinned censors.

Here’s the story as I recall. I created a site called Metaflippant, endorsed by Cortex, and posted it on the Metafilter Projects wall. I believe he even claimed it was funny. Matt didn’t like it so much.

All broke down when a Metafilter “poweruser” sent me an unsolicited direct message saying the same thing which is basically being repeated by some in your current thread,  (which is what alerted me to it. For the record, I’m not the twitter user everyone’s whining about.)

I featured the poweruser’s initials (initials that stand for a screenname of one of tens of thousands of MF users, rather than a real name) on the Metaflippant site, along with a half sentence from her quote. Jessamyn and I knew of each other prior because we share a profession and some national attention for different reasons. We later met in person at a Metafilter event in Portland, so I was surprised she took the link down to Metaflippant without any discussion. As a fellow librarian, I found her action deeply troubling.

It soon came out that she and Cortex are friends and/or bandmates of the poweruser. So both opted to side with her. I assume Matt and Paul are buddies with her too. I’d met and even shared a few meals with them and once gave Matt a $50 gift certificate he didn’t acknowledge. Paul chose a Metafilter event to make a friend I brought feel unwelcome by approaching him, laughing with an Iphone displaying a Metafilter thread in which one of his poweruser buddies physically threatened my friend for allegedly paying the $5 to join and attend for free beer. Ha ha. My friend, btw, was a VP at Akamai when they went public. I talked him into attending the MeFi meetup because he was looking for “talent” for his then-new company. As you might imagine, he doesn’t need handouts.

Anyway, back to my story. I chatted with Jessamyn and it quickly devolved into a righteous speech from her and a declaration to take it to whatever the board is called where Metafilter mediation supposedly takes place. That was a joke. Paul was the first to post, preaching that I’d posted contents of a private email. Nevermind that it was unsolicited and there was about 0% chance of knowing who sent it as I posted it with initials accompanying a pseudonym. He set the tone for a pile-on.

Eventually Matt canceled my membership at Metafilter. As it’s something that one pays for and he was unappreciative of my gift to him, and because I don’t want him to earn advertising revenue from my posts and comments, I told him he would have to remove them all or I would get a lawyer. Cortex can call that being a pain all he wants.

Incidentally, the poweruser who essentially ended my relationship with Metafilter had marked one of my posts as best answer. A colleague of mine is her next door neighbor and tells me the house is constantly filled with smoke. Perhaps it’s time for a little less weed and paranoia? Perhaps it’s time for thick skin and transparency too.

I don’t wish ill will on any of them, but I do wish I had a bigger venue for telling the true story. In fact, I saw Matt and shook his hand on opening night of Conan’s tour. As usual, it seemed like he had no idea who I was. I was just glad he was attempting to have a sense of humor.

Happy New Year everyone!

1. The winner is SiriusXM. After my frustrating chat, I spoke by phone with a a gentleman who got my service straightened out and replaced a defective radio for free. The radio arrived promptly and Jackie activated it with a push of the button and good cheer. I was impressed all around.
2. Comcast is meh. I turned off my digital voice service in lieu of VOIP which is a few bucks a month. Paid to have my current number ported from Comcast, which conveniently neglected to cancel the service.
3. Loser: Capital One continues to disappoint. More wasted phone time. More paperwork on the way. They canceled my old card and sent a new one “with complimentary shipping.” Seriously? Like I was gonna pay for that? Do they really want to continue to make me work for the unlawful $28 charge in Mexico?
4. Bonus Loser: ODS. No word from corporate.