reflection over the canyon

reflection over the canyon
Originally uploaded by LeishaJo.

in the hostel

meeeeexico hostel
Originally uploaded by LeishaJo.

my new favorite tshirt. :)

mmmm tequila

mmmm tequila
Originally uploaded by LeishaJo.

hehehe...

quedándome en guadalajara

so when i arrived in guadalajara i had no real intentions of really sticking around all 5 days, but one night here, one day here, turned to a few more nights and a few more days here and still i remain in guadalajara. i really like it here... and flexibility is a fabulous thing, as well as traveling by myself-- i get to make decisions like this.

what i´ve done: listened to a lot of awesome music (live). world music, cuban music, reggae-rock-brasilian-mexican style as well. gone out a few nights. met a ton of awesome people at the hostel (and hence every morning they ask me if i´d like to stay another day-- and i say hook me up!-- and they smile and say no problem)... met a bunch of awesome people in other places, as well (finally meeting more locals, that hasn´t happened in a while, and it´s been almost instant). yesterday, saw a beautiful, beautiful canyon just 20-30 mins outside the city. it was a beautiful haven. after, i went back to the market to take advantage of more of the extremely illegally copied and sold cd´s (ummm i mean it´s perfectly legal... it´s just... sharing... for cheap), and ended up making like 5, 6, 7 new friends (what would you know they were all guys, but just happened to be around my age). ended up staying a while, talking (the subject of EL MURO between the states and mexico came up, and i was glad it did), was offered my first shot ot tequila (gosh thanks guys) and as i tasted a sip of it and got this god-awful look on my face they laughed so hard... tried to get me to take the rest of it but i insisted it was a gift from me to them... was too fun... and perfect because guadalajara is right next to the birthplace of tequila (la ciudad, tequila). and after they closed down, i went with one of the guys to play pool. i was terrible at it, but it was sure fun, and the company was great. i love meeting new locals. really love it.

every day i think it´d be cool to be back in guanajuato, but..... i´m really happy with all the friends i´ve made here, the chillin´, the........ just being on my own. i look forward to getting back there, but really, ......... i dunno. any which way, i´ve bought my bus ticket for 9 in the morning, so that means up bright and early to catch a taxi to the bus station. wheee!

it´s saturday which means i´ve got ONE WEEK left until i´m back home..... ONE WEEK, only ONE WEEK! whether i am excited or frightened or sad or what, i´m not sure, but i know i´m sure excited about AT LEAST seeing my family when i arrive at the airport again. the rest, i can worry about later. my goal for now is just to enjoy this last week as much as possible because....... well, it´ll go by quickly, just like this whole semester has. (is it REALLY the last day of the year!?!?!?!?)..................

alrighty, all for now.
i still promise to really update later, probably after i get back, which by that time everyone will have heard so many stories that they wouldnt care to read any, but..... oh well. such is life. just no time right now, and i´m limited on money.

:)

viva méxico!

God´s really good...

...to poor student travelers like me.

ok, so i don´t know what it is about buses in mexico, and the fact that all of the ¨gringos¨ (ok, NOT that i´m fond of that term in any way, shape, or form) just HAPPEN to sit in the very back, but... this evening on my way to GUADALAJARA (yes, you may add in here a little rendition of elvis´s famous ¨guadalajara, guadalajara¨ if you wish), i sat in the back, again, and just happened to meet two more people from the united states, again (and again a young happy traveling couple, just like last time). so, halfway to guadalajara they ask me if i´d like to join them on the taxi ride to the center of guadalajara since it´s a ways away (hadn´t even thought about that fact yet). yes, please! i ask them how much of the money they´d wish for me to cover, and they say, no way!, we got it! (thank you!) so we get to the center. does leisha have a place to stay?, nope, she was really planning on winging it and seeing if the hostels nearby had any beds. they tell me i should see the awesome hotel where they´re staying-- it´s the place that this one guy always stays when he comes here with his family-- so we walks a few steps and around the corner and there we are. they say i can call from the hotel to see if there are any beds available, because it would be safer for me than walking around with my stuff, so standing there thinking about it for a split second, i overhear him say to the lady behind the desk, ¨a room for us and a room for her.¨ and i stand there, still, like.... whoa... is this... wait, hmm???, and they say, this way you´ll be safer, and you´ll have time to search for a place tomorrow before checkout at 2.¨ ¨whooa, how can i repay you guys!?¨ and they look at me like it was an unnecessary question, and they simply said, ¨just remember to treat the next single traveler you meet really well!!!¨ (ok is that SOOOOOOOOOOOOO pay it forward or WHAT!?!?!?)........ so we walked up the stairs until i got to my floor...... we shook hands and they said we probably wouldnt see each other again because they´d be out at 5 the next morning, so good luck and all......... we shook hands...... then we went our ways!

so now leisha has a very nice (ok, compared to sharing a room and shower with random people--which i mean is fine with me and all, but...), comfy, warm room to herself, in this big beautiful very old-arquitectura hotel, and has it ALL to herself until 2PM! woot!

soooooooooooooooooo... leisha´s answer to her ¨God, please let me find a good cheap room tonight when i arrive in guadalajara¨ plea has been taken care of. (i mean come on, they didnt even ask me, or question it, they just went and reserved me one, paid for it, with a smile, and there it was! and no mom and dad, they were not dangerous people, and for everyone else, there were NO drug deals involved or anything of the sort). ah, sigh. this is the kind of stuff that makes me want to blog. (notice i haven´t really blogged a lot since... well, the LAST time i was in mexico!?!?!?... whooooooa. dude...)

so here i am.

and i really like guadalajara so far. home of the mariachi, and the town, tequila, is nearby (too bad i´m not more interested in the drink itself). i got in on the end of a free symphonic concert here in the center area, and i read just now that the glenn miller orchestra will be here (like right down from the hotel) on friday night. free performance. yes, the glenn miller orchestra from the good ole u.s.of.a. so, am thinking i may be staying here a while?...

as they say here in this fabulous país....... VIVA MÉXICO, CABRONES!!!!!!!!!!! (ok, virgin eyes, don´t read that last word, please.) ;)

p.s. mom and dad, can i have a little more money put into my wells fargo account? just in case? :)

christmas in mexico

until i have time or energy to really blog about how everything`s been for me in the last... well, forever (don`t worry i`ve been writing a bunch, just never online-- i`ll update once i don`t have to live in internet cafes any longer-- whooa, i wonder what it`ll be like to have my own computer again!?!? brilliant...), here`s a little update about how christmas went for me.

friday: went to a posadas, a very traditional mexican christmas celebration...
saturday: christmas eve-- family came over, lots of good food (at a very late hour), opened presents, ate some more, went to sleep
sunday: felt like crap as i woke up, threw up everything i`d had the night before and that morning, talked with fam on the phone (yay!, the whole gang!), felt homesick, threw up more, tried to sleep but only seemed to throw up and NOT sleep some more, ended up trying to sleep the day away and at about 11:30 pm linda tells me she thinks i should go to the hospital, and that she and alma will accompany me there. we go, i get checked out a little bit, i get put on this machine thing that allows me to become re-hydrated (because apparently i was just about as dehydrated as could be, as a result of not being able to keep ANYthing down me that day) for an HOUR, i felt like i could very well die (and the notion of having to continue thinking and speaking and understanding spanish just about put me over the edge at that moment, i felt like i was good for absolutely nothing in that area-- in fact, i think that tired me out more than anything else!) , but as soon as the hour was up i had rested a little bit (finally), and color reappeared in my face (so they said), and i could see a little more clearly. got to the house, took me some meds, and ended up sleeping quite well after that (thank goodness). whew. feliz navidad, hmm.

so leisha`s idea of traveling a bit in mexico this week may or may not happen. vamos a ver.

alrighty........ that`s about it for now.
hope everyone else`s christmas day was better than mine!!!!! :)

back in the gto

...... and so glad to be.

will update eventually.

mañana, probably. ;)
(currently developing the mañana syndrome....)

oh to feel alive

how good it feels to hear just a simple ¨i love you¨ from a friend,

how it makes all the bad stuff go away and allows for the good stuff to enter and remain,

like hope. warmth. feeling alive.

i`ve lost sight, especially lately, of that last piece of good stuff.

thanks, jodes, for our conversation online tonight (or should i say today, as it`s 7 hours earlier there). and for the post. you`re a blessing, truly.

faith my eyes

as i survey the ground for ants
looking for a place to sit and read
i'm reminded of the streets of my hometown
how they're much like this concrete that's warm beneath my feet

and how i'm all wrapped up in my mother's face
with a touch of my father just up around the eyes
and the sound of my brother's laugh
but more wrapped up in what binds our ever distant lives

but if i must go
things i trust will be better off without me
but i don't want to know
life is better off a mystery

so keep'em coming these lines on the road
and keep me responsible be it a light or heavy load
and keep me guessing with these blessings in disguise
and i'll walk with grace my feet and faith my eyes

hometown weather is on TV
i imagine the lives of the people living there
and i'm curious if they imagine me
cause they just wanna leave; i wish that i could stay

and to visit places from my past
but only for an hour or so
which is long enough to smell the air
to tell the tale and find the door

but i get turned around
i mistake some happiness for blessing
but i'm blessed as the poor
still i judge success by how I'm dressing

so i'll sing a song of my hometown
i'll breathe the air and walk the streets
maybe find a place to sit and read
and the ants are welcome company

and i'll walk with grace my feet and faith my eyes.
and i'll walk with grace my feet and faith my eyes.
--caedmon`s call

a bit inspired

waiting for the pen to dry up so she can start fresh with thoughts that are worth new ink

impossibly balanced between her memories of herself & her mirror in real life

i knew a man in college who grew up in the inner city of chicago & what he was doing in iowa i never did figure out. but whenever he would see a jet trailing across the sky, he would stop everything he was doing & he would watch. once, after a jet was gone & there was nothing left but the white line disappearing like a scar into the blue, he turned to me & said, an airplane is a miracle & i didn't give it much thought, but now & then, when i am ready to give up hope for human beings in general, & for one or two of them who are bugging me specifically, will look to the sky & there will be one of those miracles & i will remember it's all about concentrating on the right thing

sending postcards to himself saying 'wish you were here' so when he gets back home he doesn't forget

gathering up bits of the world & setting them out in an order that her children can understand


i was never good at hide & seek because i`d always make enough noise so my friends would be sure to find me. i don't have anyone to play those games with any more, but now & then i make enough noise just in case someone is still looking & hasn't found me yet

the most important thing you leave behind is the stuff that turns into treasures when children find it

some days i think life would be a whole lot more fun if i just knew how to make it a whole lot more fun (& you can pretty well imagine how those days go)

sometimes i think we should bury all our money in a hole & go back to enjoying life again, he said. it'd probably be a good idea to make a map of where the hole was just in case it didn't work out though

i think my life would be easier, she said, if i could just get my selves to agree on something

dancing in both directions at once so everyone won't notice that he's never heard this song before

we sat side by side in the morning light & looked out at the future together

they came to sit & dangle their feet off the edge of the world & after awhile they forgot everything but the good & true things they would do someday

i wouldn't mind being grownup, she told me, if i didn't have to get up & be grumpy right away every morning

this is a loose-fitting body, so it's still comfortable after a long carbohydrate binge

what would happen if all the time everyone was naked? my son said & i said that i, for one, would stay at home & cook more in the wintertime

--storypeople.com

when in sevilla..........

more flamenco divas
Originally uploaded by LeishaJo.

flamenco dance!!!!!!