Thoroughly bussed

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March 11/09: Arrived here in Albuquerque this afternoon after some 30 hrs of bus travel. It all went pretty well for a language impaired old gringo; connections were OK, not too much waiting. Caught the local bus in Real de Catorce back out through that tunnel (2.3k long, not 1 mile as I'd thought) first thing yesterday morning, then the big bus back to Matehuela where I caught a second class bus to Saltillo that wound up backtracking to almost where I'd started out in the morning. That was a long slow trip but I've learned there are benefits to second class bus travel. They include: 1) usually no movies (This is a big benefit for me. I find the movies almost impossible to keep my eyes off, try as I might, and they detract greatly from the scenery.); 2) food vendors get on the bus periodically and often have some nice goodies, gorditas, empanadas, burritos, etc; 3) they're cheaper. The downsides are: 1) there's no bathroom (which, given the state of many bathrooms on 1st class buses, may, in fact be a pro. A rule of thumb is to avoid a seat too close to the bathroom to avoid the smells that often emanate from them.); 2) they make frequent stops and, thus, take longer; 3) they're generally grungier. Some of the 1st class buses are really nice, comfy, fully reclining seats, big windows, lots of legroom, and there are buses a step above 1st class that are consistently superb; headsets for the movies so you don't have to hear them if you don't want to, very clean, including the bathroom but more expensive. Of course, more expensive translates into just a few dollars when converting pesos. But they're aren't many of those buses. Another bus observation: the company that operates the buses that run up into the States, Americanos, operates quite nice buses in Mexico but, at the border, you have to change buses and the ones they run north of the border are pretty much like 2nd class buses with a bathroom (usually vile). On the subject of buses, the drivers all seem stamped out of a similar mold and look almost identical: white shirts with dark, conservative tie, black pants and shiny black shoes. And they're uniformly arrogant and self-important.

But I digress. I arrived in Saltillo mid-afternoon, a city of over half a million in a quite pretty setting surrounded by those stark desert mountains. Had time there for some food, then caught another bus to Torreon from where I caught yet another bus, an all-nighter, to El Paso where the border crossing is and where we changed to the grungy bus after an excruciating wait. That close to my destination, I was getting antsy. The time for departure was 10:00am and I watched that time come and go on my watch until I realized that I was in a different time zone and it was an hour earlier. But, once again, I saw 10:00 come and go until, at around 10:30 we were off. Finally, on the last leg. We went about 3 blocks and pulled into the Greyhound station. What the.... Another 15 min there taking on more passengers. Then, at long last, we were really off, heading up the freeway to Albuquerque! Until we made a rest stop half an hour later. Good grief! I recognized this gas station/restaurant from my other trips along this route. They stop there going both directions. Must have some kind of deal with the place. And, again, we were off. Then we pulled over and stopped for a minute for no apparent reason. And started again. An hour or so later, a stop for the border patrol. They opened the luggage compartment of the bus, pulled a few pieces of luggage out and brought over the sniffer dog. It sniffed that luggage then hopped into the luggage compartment with the other luggage and sniffed there while a very brusk, business-like US Army soldier got on the bus and examined everyone's documents. He didn't like the look of one young Mexican man's papers and ordered him off the bus where he could be seen sternly talking to the young man. Then he took that young man into a building and we waited for the outcome. The young man never did come out and we were signaled to proceed without him. That kind of cast a pall on all of us passengers for a bit. I think we all found it unnerving. Wonder what he'd done wrong and what they

did with him.

And that was pretty much it. Arrived without further incident or stops, thankfully, mid-afternoon and was picked up at the bus station by my beloved cousin, Kathy. A beautiful, unseasonably warm day in Albuquerque and I was very glad to have arrived with my belongings intact and in one piece if a bit bus lagged.

Mar 2/09: Several days have passed here in Albuquerque. As usual an action-packed time. Being with my cousin, Lance and his wife, Kathy is always interesting as they are intensively involved in the community here and always have a lot going on. And the weather has been a treat, unseasonably warm for here and I'm enjoying that in anticipa tion of cold, wet weather at home. So I'm out walking a lot, enjoying the sandhill cranes that spend time in the field across the street on their way north, walking in the the nature centre down the street and around the neighborhood, taking in the art museum. One of the most noteworthy experiences for me was participating in Tibetan New Years again. Lance and Kathy have been involved with a Tibetan family for years stemming from the time they lived in Nepal. They've helped and supported this family with their immigration issues and, of course medical issues and so forth and have a long-standing relationship. All three of the times that I've been to Mexico, I've used Albuquerque as a springboard into the country and an exit point and every time my visit here has coincided with Tibetan New Years. Their celebration actually encompasses several days and on one
of the days, this family invites their non-Tibetan friends from the community. The preparation goes on for days and a lavish Tibetan banquet is laid on. An elaborate shrine and offerings takes up most of one room and we were given an explanation of the significance of the items that were carefully laid out. A complex cosmology of gods and goddesses, intricate tankha paintings, food laid out in specific patterns as offerings. It is usually a more festive occasion but, because of the dire conditions in Tibet right now and in the recent past, the Dalai Lama advocated more subdued celebrations. I consider it an honour to be able to take part in this tradition and feel very lucky.

As most of you know, I am a chile head. Many years ago I subscribed to Chile Pepper magazine, published here in Albuquerque. Every year they featured the Fiery Foods festival, a big event here where the manufacturers of almost any sort of hot food condiment show their wares. I've always wanted to go and was fortunate that my visit coincided with this year's show, the 21st such. An amazing event it was with hundreds of booths, thousands of people and every sort of chile pepper related food product you could imagine, but mostly hot sauces. Kathy and I must have sampled 150 hot sauces, salsas, marinades, jellys, chilies, chowders, dips, candies and we just scratched the surface.

The next day was a music day. The first event was a performance at the Church of Beethoven. This is a weekly event organized by one of the cellists in the Albuquerque Symphony in a small venue, maybe 100 people, featuring all sorts of auditory arts, if that's the correct description. It started with a short reading about Darwin as part of a series of Darwin related orations since this is his 200 birthday followed by a Prokofiev piece played by some members of the symphony and some students. Then a quick dash home for lunch then back to the Hispanic Cultural Center and a quick viewing of an exhibition there followed by the Albuquerque Symphony. There was a piece for violin and percussion featuring a guest percussionist, Simon Boyar who was terrific.

Yesterday a lovely hike at the base of big, pretty Sandia mountain with a friend of Lance's. I really love this area, so big and open, intense blue sky, puffy white clouds and a totally different end of the colour palette than I'm used to.

So today I was cycling through town to a lunch date with Lance and as I was cycling along I looked at the date on my watch and saw that it was the 3rd. I knew that before but it didn't really penetrate. Then somehow it dawned on me: my flight left early this morning. !!!!!! I just totally spaced it out. I suppose the mitigating circumstance was that, while I was traveling, my point of reference for the date was my watch which allotted 29 days to February, making the 3rd a Wednesday. So I'd been going on the assumption that I left on Wednesday. I was all set to leave tomorrow. As it turned out, I was able to get the same flight out tomorrow anyway for a few extra dollars but, nonetheless, it sent me for a loop. So, home tomorrow it is.

And that's the end of the blog. I hope that those of you who have followed along have enjoyed it.

Nope, I lied; one more blog to come.

Saludos and adios amigos y familia.