senor garncarlo goes shopping...twice.

tonight was another trip down to the zocalo because earlier today i was finally going to bite the bullet and buy a pair of over-priced runners to replace the ones i left at home. the last thing i would have seen as i was going out the door.
anyhow...when i got down to the zocalo today i realized i had left my credit card back at the apartment so...no shoes. after i had had my lunch - a very tasty chili relleno torta - i came back here to have a little relax. and, after some pre-studying (i gotta get a jump on this stuff...) and a little nap - i know...super geezer - i walked back down and, after eating some mystery meat tacos with some locals (big smile), i went over to hugo (shoe store) and bought some adidas runners that will do the trick. after i ended my walk today i was some sore - my back mainly. my apartment is at the top of a hill and the sidewalks are very bad so it's kinda like hiking to get back here. plus i always have a bag and stuff with me and i'm old and....so, hopefully these shoes will be better than my other, more hangin' out, dinner casual numbers (my medium/house design wood grain wallabee kinda numbers.) oh, and the altitude is a bit of a killer too. not in a huge way but i am definately feeling it. it's also very dry and i feel that as well in my breathing.
i have to say. today was kinda hard but good. there's nothing quite as humbling as a test. any test. but especially a test to see how much spanish you know and you realize - fuck! i don't know much. at all. i mean i can order food, know numbers well enough to get by and can point pretty well but, after this little test, they better put me in with the sweat hogs. i think it will be good too. i have, in recent years, kinda gone into a social shell and don't like crowds and gatherings and more because they make me uncomfortable and i'm not even sure why. for a long time i had to be that guy - out smoozing, my life in the music/art community as garn the guy on the radio or the guy who wrote a little here and there, etc...and i didn't mind it but now...not so much. i'm not sure when it started but i prefer now to stay home or just be with a few.
anyway....my point is this - i think this trip may be about learning spanish or trying to, but also about getting outside my current comfort zone and doing things i don't like doing - or am scared to do or...whatever. like walking into a small crowd of mexicans tonight, sitting down and basically breaking bread with them. what's the worst thing that can happen, that's what i try and tell myself. i do find it hard, but i'm trying it. and when i have to be in a classroom with X number of other students and have to say something in front of the class...killer, i'll hate it, but i'm gonna have to do it. i guess.
oh...tonight i saw some killer break dancing...no shit. and i forgot my camera. i have seen breaking before but, these kids were awesome - i was transfixed. these crazy one armed hand-stands that went on for a minute or more - you try that. and they weren't just using one arm, they were moving up and down on that arm - jumping if you will - while they balanced there. and flinging themselves around on the pavement. it was pretty good...i hope to see them again and get some shots and maybe some video. (note to self - take your fuckin' camera all the time...)
ok. tomorrow morning i am going to meet a couple of the students - a young guy from baltimore who goes to vassar college and an older woman from i don't know where - and we're gonna walk around a little together. where? i dunno....he's interested in film and was, at one point, going to go to vancouver to take some film courses, and now that he knows i work in film is into, seemingly, hanging out and, hopefully, we can help each other learn a little spanish.

ok.

see you tomorrow.

g. xo

long shot of senor naptime.

i bought this horchata in a small market where i also got some other stuff for the fridge. it was good....

speaking of good...my lunch. a chili relleno torta. with potato salad.

and you know...? i know the baskets and blankets are kinda a dodgy thing but these women make them right in front of you and they're beautiful. i may get one just to pick up my groceries.

bummer, good, bummer, good.

this morning i got a taxi from james and antonio's and made my way to the apartment i have rented for the month and into december. i didn't get a chance to look at it when i first got here but am here now and it's great - though i do hope the birds outside my window in the cage know when bed time is so i don't have to shoot them. since i've arrived, after going for a long walk and getting to the bank, etc. the woman in the apartment next to me has chatted non-stop on the old internet and i may as well be in the same room with her as i can hear both sides of the conversation. hopefully she doesn't talk into the night or i may have to kill her as well. she's some sort of eco/government worker/writer/student form the convo i've been hearing...
anyway....
the apartment is huge, or at least far more than i expected. it'll be a good place to come and chill and just be. nice. i have my own kitchen, bathroom, internet, three rooms to use...i'm gonna go and get some staples later so i can have some stuff to eat here.
i had an orientation this morning, along with some other students - ranging in age from 22 to 60 - so i'm not the geezer in the class. the classes are from 9 am until 1 pm, monday to friday and after school there things you can sign-up to do that are taught/instructed in spanish so you get a real hands on kind of thing. trouble is, the one i wanted to take they're not offering right now - the cooking class. a lot of the students are bummed by this and are trying to get them to get the class added again. i know that one of the major reasons i came here was to learn to cook after the classes. i'll get along just fine but i can't lie and say i'm not disappointed. onward and upward.
i came back here and realized i had been wearing my name tag from the school for the entire time i was out walking around and looking in stores and going to the bank. nice. hey touristo.

ok. i need some food...

g. xo

a low, slow kinda freak-out...

really, more like a mumble, under my breath..."shit...now i'm fucked...what the...? ok...figure this out..."
and so it was after i had gotten into a taxi and given him the business card of the bed and breakfast i'm staying at and asked him how much it would cost to take me there...except there's no real address on the card - or at least one he understood...so, outta the cab i go and back onto the street. new plan. i needed a new plan to get home - thus the mumbling. sure, i had the phone number of jim and antonio's but i wasn't gonna phone them to rescue me. so i did the next thing i thought i knew how to do - get a 'colectivo' cab at the macdonalds. now, for those of you not familiar with this type of cab, it's basically a cab that's more like a bus. it's a small car that people pile into, as many as they can get in, and away it goes. the thing is, you're all going to the same area but not the same place. make sense? it's kind of a taxi that had a specific route and you get out when you're kinda close to where you need to go. i kinda had an idea of where i wanted to go...so...what you look for is a 'colectivo' with the name of the area you need to go to and you get in. there were three of us when i got in the front seat of the car i needed. by the end of the ride there were five of us and the driver in what was a car about the size of a small toyota. and when the dude we picked up joined me in the front seat and the driver had to still use the stick shift...that was some exciting driving action. all for ten pesos - about a buck. but now i'm back and it's all good.
tonight antonio gave me a ride downtown left me near the 'zocalo', or main plaza of oaxaca. (zocala proper is the main square in mexico city but they call the main square here this too...) i was looking for shoes - that i did not find - and also some dinner. it's a cool area. the day of the dead festival has just ended and there are still many signs that it was going on including these large heads/skulls that were all painted by different artists that lined the street and bands marching through the streets playing. i walked around for a while and then decided i needed a snack.
i went into a taco joint that was more a restaurant than a taqueria so when i wanted to get my tacos and gringa to go they were a little confused. the manager finally figured out what i wanted and all was good - so good....because they usually bring six different things - salsa, limes, onions, etc - to the table, they put a bunch in my bag as well. probably enough for ten tacos and i only had four. i sat out in the square and made my own little dinner. nice.
then i went and found a cab that had no idea where i wanted to go.
big smile, great night.

g. xo

(**for some reason my spell check is checking in spanish not english so...if there are things spelled incorrectly...sue me...)

tonight's dinner...well, one part of it...and the bags of salsa and such that came with it.


the large paper mache heads that lined the streets near the zocalo.

just get on the bus...gus.

last night ricardo came by my hotel to say hello and see if i wanted to go out for dinner with him and some friends but i was already in sleep-mode and didn't really wanna go eat at 10:45 pm..or rather leave to go in a taxi for 20 minutes then eat...i needed some shut-eye. we did have a nice, if short visit, and made plans to meet when i get back in a month's time. he also gave me some survival pointers while in mexico (don't wear a watch, show your tattoos, etc...) that i'll keep in mind. he also told me about a small diner for breakfast that i went to this morning and had some eggs wrapped in tortillas kinda thingy..it was good. not great but good...and some coffee which i needed. then it was time to check-out and hit the road....by bus. new for old garn-o-la.
it was a good ride, about six hours. i arrived here around 4:30 pm and am now holed-up at a bed and breakfast janine and floyd have stayed at before. in fact, the owners, james and antonio, have become pals with floyd and janine or/and vice/versa and they recently all went to peru together. so i'm in good hands. in about half an hour i'm gonna go with antonio downtown to look for shoes while he gets his hair cut...i'll probably snag some food while we're out as well as all i had was a sandwich on the bus.
not hot here, overcast and a little windy - good thing i brought a few different jackets and such.
ok...more later.

have fun.

g. xo


now why wouldn't you just drive around on a hot day with boxes of beef in your pick-up?

shots from the bus - just outside mexico city.

look at that trick sink in my hotel...nice action.

big smile - mexican sidewalk taco style

ok.
so, for all my (lovable) gumpiness from time to time, i am, really, fairly easily satisfied and there are a couple things that bring an instant smile to my face...(and before i say what they are i want to say that this short list does not include people who make me happy and bring a smile to my face...) in-n-out burgers, baseball in any park but especially wrigley field and any spring training park, driving through the desert and, as of last year sometime, modelo especial beer and, of course, tacos - they've always been on the list.
tonight i had two of those things.
i walked over to ricardo's store, headquarter, and saw eric - a great guy that used to work at the headquarter in vancouver and had a chat with him. he told me richardo would be in around 6:30 pm but his meeting ran late so he may come by here later on. i hope to see him before i leave tomorrow so we can make some sort of plan for when i come back. so on my way back here i stopped at a taqueria not far from my hotel - that now i'm hoping is open late because i may have to go back...i had a el pastor con queso (with cheese) taco (pork meat that is cooked on a spit not unlike a donair but they also put a light basting on it and have a pineapple on the top of the spit that drips down on the pork as it cooks...jesus) and a modelo especial beer. good lord i had a smile happening. it was really great. four tacos and a beer for 7 dollars. (what a rip....)
i'm gonna look into the bus schedule now and see what's what...

more. later.

g. xo

el pastor con queso tacos.

made here.

ricardo's store. the bottom of the store is actually a skate shop and his upstairs.

i left my runners at home so i went out looking for new ones and came across this great uniform store. wicked.

got me a little frank black right now...in mexico.

(three views from my hotel window here in mexico city.)

yup.
i got me a headache. super duper full enchilada headache - and i rarely get one like this but it's been a long day on not much sleep.
the flights were a-ok and i'm now at my hotel in the heart of mexico city. i'm gonna go out and get a snack and some head meds and maybe try and find ricardo's store - headquarter - which is suppose to not be too far from here.
ok...
i'm beat....

g. xo

checkin' it twice...

last night, after dinner, garvie and i were sitting around, havin' a few laughs and decided to check the time of my flight today.
good thing we did. (thank god for ailsa taking care of me...)
i thought i left today at 9:45 a.m. but indeed leave at 6:30 a.m. so i had to be here at 4:30 a.m. not 7 a.m. nice. so on a few hours sleep here i am livin' it up at YVR and getting ready for the first of my two flights today. good times.
have a great day!

more as it develops.

g. xo

hot plumber action

i found myself in a bit of a thing today as i tried to help ailsa out with a plumbing problem she was having...one that i could have solved given the right amount of time but since it's my last day here, i maybe shouldn't have opened that can of worms.
but i did.
and in the end it's all perfect and water is flowing as it should, etc. but i had help. and this help is the kind of help i wanna pass on to you. to you mighty blog reader. because the good guys are hard to find and the really nice, hardworking, excellent tradesmen are even harder to find. but i, with the help of corie (because this plumber/gas fitter did a lot of work at corie and katherine's new house) am now going to pass this name onto you.
drum roll please.....
bill fermaniuk (owner/journeyman) of generation 2 plumbing and heating. awesome.
i had a problem and ii made the call and he came and helped me out and that's no small feat in today's world of tradesman - not that they're bad, but they're busy and they're not showing up a couple hours after a phone call. not generally. bill did. and bill kicked ass.
so. i'm saying it now. if you need some quality workmanship done by a guy you'd love to have a beer with afterwords. bill's your man.
period.

his contact info is as follows....

bill@generation2plumbing.ca
778.840.9285

i'm not just sayin' it.

g.

back and forth and back again...

just because.
i keep thinking - each time i leave there (the BOC shop) that it'll be the last time before i leave. it hasn't been that way - yet. i keep going back to get stuff i need for the trip - pen, paper, school stuff, my broadcast spreader (fertilizer spreader) because one of lawn order (older) folks has asked if i would do her lawn as it seemed to help the last time i did it...ok. sure. fine. i'll do it. i'm hoping i won't have to go back again before thursday morning. that said. i'll probably be there three more times.
tonight, for dinner, katherine and corie treated me to a dinner at refuel - where k-win was dining as well with some friends. it was good. nice to see them, nice to see k-win. nice to have two burgers in one day. katherine and corie are going to be staying at my place while i'm gone so i had to give them the shack rundown so they know what's what and it all goes just fine.
why has my fuckin' ipod gone on the fritz just days before i go away...? oh i know, it's because i'm going away. the last time i hit it to mexico, my laptop died...nice. do i buy a new one or just use my iphone? fucki it, steve jobs gets no more of my money right now.
and should i buy a new camera before i go? say a Lumix GF-1? nice action that one. i have been thinking of buying a new camera that i can change lens on but i don't really want a full-on DSLR. life's tough questions...
ok. more packing, cleaning, etc...

rock your own self today.

g. xo

burgers, errands and sask. fan action.

big day today.
mishi and i made our way out to number five road in richmond and met-up with issy for some burgers at brown's social house. now, i have to admit that i had low expectations for brown's but, that fuckin' kobe beef burger is a winner...and according to mishi the salmon burger is excellent and issy says the hickory burger was wicked. so there ya go. i stand corrected on brown's social house. well, at least the burgers. it looks and feels like every other of its kind - cactus club, earls, etc...so i'm not about to be hanging out there, but the burger may bring me back...nice to have lunch with issy and mishi as well.
afterwords mishi and i went by andy's shop to pick-up my go-ped and see andy, andrew and dan...so i said my good-byes to them as well...and then we headed to burnaby and winston street, home of el comel mexican foods. mishi had wanted to go there to get some of their tamales. so we did. i use their tortillas when i make tacos as does la taqueria. good stuff.
then it was off to the BOC, the ethical bean for some coffee and then to corie and katherine's to show mishi the mayhem. but now, the real mayhem is over. the hardwood re-finishers were there today doing their thing, the painters had been in over the weekend and done 85% of their j0b - the rest to be done after the windows go in, and the kitchen stuff is in the basement cooling its heels until it goes in...it looks really great there and will be delicious when it's done.
and now, it's game five of the world series - i missed games three and four but have settled in for game five. and regardless of what happens - if san francisco wins it's awesome because barry bonds won't get a ring and if texas wins, texas wins and cliff lee gets a ring and, well, texas is a state i like a lot. there ya go.
ok...baseball.

g. xo

bonus pic. this dude was on the ferry on the way back from victoria sunday. wicked.

the weekend in three parts...

part one...(no pictures to prove it but it did happen...)

ailsa and i headed over to my dad and janine's saturday morning to see them before i headed off on my mexican adventure and to run some wires for his stereo through the crawlspace...(where i re-discovered my claustrophobia...good times.) it was good. we got the wiring done, floyd and janine have music now, ailsa got to do a little relaxing, i made my famous pulled pork and it seemed to go over well and there were bunnies running around the back yard - i really could have just made rabbit stew instead...nice to see them before i took off, to hang with garvie and nice to ride the ferry back to vancouver sunday morning with a hundreds of face-painted cfl football fans...weird. oh, i had the sunshine breakfast - or whatever they're calling it now - as well...not so good.

part two..(i have the pictures but wasn't part of it...)

the bombers game was a special affair saturday night with all the boys sporting glue-on moustaches and such...nice work boys...i'm very proud of you!



part three...pictures and all...


tonight was fiona's big halloween night, complete with a second incarnation of her corpse bride costume and a fireworks display at a park nearby her and ailsa's house - it seemed like the whole neighbourhood showed-up to watch some of the men from the hood put on a pretty good display. we started the night at ailsa's pals, rob and paula's - where we ate a wicked meal prepared by paula - and then, after it got dark, we rallied the troops and headed-out to let the kids, fiona along with paula and rob's kids cohen and nathan, and paula's parents - nancy and frank, pillage the neighbourhood. (frank and nancy did no pillaging...) their 'hood was packed with kids and their parents and many of the homes were decorated and some of the homeowners dressed up as well for the occasion. good fun.

fiona with her sparkler.

some of the decorations.

rob wore a classic costume.

paula's dad donned the horns.


paula and ailsa were happy for another successful halloween.

the neighbours had some great costumes.



fiona and nathan out collecting candy.

cohen had some vision issues from time to time.

fiona pre-outing.


cohen.

nathan gets in on the candy.

fiona and cohen survey the bounty.

be careful today.

this is not being careful.

take note.

g. xo

sowing seeds for halloween

the other day i planted my winter flowers, very manly, and today - after soaking the seeds overnight - i planted my winter garden. i'm a little late in this but after talking with the dude down at art knapp, i'm willing to give it a go. i've planted some seeds directly and others i have in cups in dirt trying to germinate them and then plant them. so i have two chances to get it right...i also put more seeds in the ground just now to really up my chances - if they all sprout i'll just pull some out. i planted parsnips, carrots, chard, red onions, yellow onions and beets. tomorrow, after soaking them, i'm gonna plants spinach that mishi gave me seeds for.
here goes.
ailsa's daughter, fiona, is having her halloween action at school today and wanted to be a corpse brind - i mean, what little girl doesn't want to be that? ...so ailsa made her a great little costume that she'll wear today to school, and then again sunday night when she goes trick or treating...nice action. good work garvie.
ok. i'm off to run errands...and maybe a taco or two...

g. xo

new ian dury's.

that's a reference that, probably, no one will get...anyhow...i like these new pf flyers.

and i know they're shoes not boots..

just sayin'.

g. xo