Back From Hiatus, To a Certain Extent

I'm back on the Internets, having been on a shorter than normal hiatus from access to a computer. Typically, I am known to spend months away from any internet access because I still don't own a computer, even though I am very computer literate. It's nice having a roommate that allows me to occasionally commandeer the magic Internets machine, but I don't utilize that to my advantage nearly as often as I probably should.

I have been spending a great deal of time travelling between Mexico and southern California, as I live in both regions about equal amounts of time. It's really kind of awesome getting to immerse myself in the culture of a foreign society, and the Mexican culture is a rich one, if slightly bogged down by the immense amount of religious fervor the people down there have. The predominant denomination is Catholicism, as it is in most Spanish speaking countries in the world, though there are several other groups of Christian sects represented in the areas I travel through. An interesting development recently, though, is a seemingly sudden influx of Islamic Mexicans in the major cities like Tijuana. This is really kind of humorous to me, as it isn't something a great deal of Americans (myself included) would expect to see. There are a couple neighborhoods that have larger percentages of Muslims now than Christians, and the change in the population seemed to be nearly instantaneous in the last few years. I have been flitting back and forth for almost a year now, and it's been a great learning experience for me. 

Many of my personal friends ask me what it's like down south, as most are also Americans who haven't spent much time in Mexico. "It's really not that different than the U. S., except there's more Spanish being spoken and the water can kill you," I reply, with a laugh. And, it really isn't dramatically different. The police are just as crooked, the rich subjugate the poor, religion runs rampant in the populace, and you can get robbed just as easily any time of day if you aren't observant. Just like everywhere I have lived in the U. S. 

I haven't really gone into the deepest parts of Mexico, yet, Rosarito is where I live when I'm down there, but I eventually plan on going to some of the Aztec and Mayan ruins to see the amazing architecture that those civilizations built before the "Western Civilizations" erased the empires with disease and guns. It fills me with awe and wonder to think that most of the work was done without the use of the wheel, because most of the terrain where the monolithic structures were erected were not conducive to rolling wheels through. Jungle and mountain landscapes were easier to walk through, and so the wheel wasn't as great a tool for the purpose of transportation as it was in the Old World. Not to say it wasn't used for other things, pulleys were very likely a crucial component to getting large stones from the ground to the higher places within the buildings that they were needed. (In the case of the Mayans, the wheel was also where they put their calendars, as it really didn't have many uses; I joke about that with my roommate in Rosarito, because he knows a great deal more about the history of Mexico than I do, and we laugh.)

The thing that is really the most inconvenient about travelling back and forth is really the border crossing itself. The waits are usually insufferably long, plagued with vendors and beggars that target anyone that dresses even remotely nice (like a collared shirt of any kind, even a tacky polo shirt or a collared sweater, seriously, and I'm not really any better off than the beggars themselves as I am also nearly penniless), the obnoxious people in the lines also waiting to cross that cut into a lane that seems to be moving faster but isn't, and of course lastly, the inhospitable border patrol agents that seem to find new ways to make the line move slower than a 3-toed sloth crossing the road. I swear that they do it intentionally, it's like they really want everyone to spend a minimum of 3 hours waiting to taste the sweet air of freedom. That's not to include the time they spend searching vehicles, they get a bye for that, but most days, the agents just lag and don't search more that 10% of the vehicles crossing. They appear to lag for no reason at all the majority of the time. They're worse than the DMV and Health and Human Services COMBINED in terms of expedience and attitude.

I am just glad that I don't cross everyday, and crossing south is a breeze, normally the Federales don't even stop you unless your vehicle is loaded down with a lot of stuff. Even then, they usually just ask for your registration and peer through the windows to vaguely see what weighs so much, and send you on your way. No sonar pillars, no IR tags, no facial-recognition cameras, and no gigantic X-Ray death machines radiating everything in your vehicle on the southbound side; instead a standard stoplight weight sensor, a tollbooth style gate, and some speed-bumps, easy-peesy.

Enough about that, though. It's starting to depress me. I hope to be posting more regularly in the near future, and I have a bunch of ideas for the next few posts on this blog, as well as a possible redux of the appearance soon, to make it more visually pleasing. Any suggestions will be considered, and probably implemented if they pertain to readability or format issues specifically, I want this to be easy for you to enjoy. Suggestions on topics will require me doing some research, and may not get priority, but if you want to see something, let me know and I'll try my best to accommodate. 

And as always, thanks for reading. Here's something extra for those of you who have been anticipating this as much as I have.

Venture Bros. is making a triumphant return after 2 year hiatus.