la neta, guey

Computers are annoying, especially when they won't upload your pictures to your blog. I can't seem to find a computer that will correctly upload my fotos to the web, so that's why there continue to be no new fotos. I also can't find a scanner that works, which is why I can't share my bike zine nor pix from my most recent trip to do repair workshops in communities. I've said it once and I'll say it again: Technology will be the downfall of humanity!!!!!

So, yeah... I took a week off from spilling drinks on tourists -- I mean waiting tables -- to do some more bike repair work. I went to the Zapatista community of Roberto Barrios, which is outside of Palenque, in the steamy jungles at the base of the Yucatán peninsula. Things went really well. I worked for 3 or 4 days with some of the compañeros staying in the community. There is no functioning bike repair shop in this community, so the work is a little tougher than in the other communities I've visited; we only have the tools I've brought with me to use, and they're far from complete. Still, we were able to cover a lot of repair topics, and through improvisation, resurrected an old kids mountain bike that was left over from a previous bike donation to the community.

By the end of my time there the compas were riding the little bike around the basketball court in the community. Many of them didn't know how to ride a bike, and were practicing with the bike we put together. That was pretty cool to see. It reminded me of the day I first rode a bike all by myself, with my dad in the field behind the highschool.

Working at the Casa del Pan, or the "House of Pain" as my friend Vann likes to call it (get the joke!?!?!), is going fine. Not much in tips, cuz high season is not yet upon us. I enjoy working there for the free food, but more importantly cuz the kitchen ladies are soo cool. We laugh a lot. They always forget my name, and call me Geronimo, or Lorenzo (prolly cuz the other waitress is Laurena). This week we had a bonding experience. We killed a pair of rats that had infested the kitchen by smushing them with brooms. It may sound really repulsive, and it was kinda morbid and gross in the moment, but it's things like these that bring people together, ya know? Doña Reina was laughing for the rest of the night that three of us used 5 brooms to kill 2 rats. I guess you had to be there... I heard some new rat sounds there yesterday, tho, so maybe I'll take some pictures to send y'all when we have our next rat hunt. Betcha can't wait...

I actually gave notice at the restaurant last week, and not because my dad was giving me grief for choosing waiting tables as a career. Since December is, believe it or not, my last full month here, I don't want to be working the whole time. So why work at all, right? I'll be traveling around to make final visits at the communities I've been working in before i head back to Gringolandia (aka USA). And of course returning to visit my friends Basi and Reina in the kitchen.

This Thursday we'll be feasting Thanksgiving at the Peace House, being thankful for, among other things, friends, cheap beer, and not being in the US (just kidding! kinda). I'm definitely thankful for all of you, my faithful blog readers. The only thing I'll be missing this year is the Wild Turkey, tho I'm sure I'll find an acceptable substitute.