caminando y cayendo

so here i am in mexico, walking and walking and eating plenty of iceblocks. i´d really rather not be on the internet, but i keep getting these fiddly lil jobs to do. as a result this is gonna be short.

arivaca was interesting. i will write about it in more detail for newmatilda, so i won´t extrapolate here, but on a selfish level it was great to spend a week in the desert hiking. there were phenomenal storms. i had a lot of serious dreams. the sonora was particularly green and lush which sent me into desert snobbery.

the campers were generally great, though occasionally it was frighteningly like being on a christian youth camp. i saw javelinas, rattlesnakes, a tarantula, and many cool bugs. i think i´m a bit too antisocial to be a humanitarian, but it was fun, at least when i got a chance to forget about the bodies of those who don´t make it.

a friend passed away in Alice last week in eerily similar circumstances, so i´m a bit sore on the whole desert hiking thing right now. i´m off to baja this evening by the overnight ferry. might lie on the beach and read the grapes of wrath again before i set off on any wilderness challenges.

it is good to be back in the world of poorly constructed buildings, handpainted signs, holes in the footpath, ad hoc traffic arrangements. so far my language has been almost acceptable. it is good to be back in the world of feeling a bit stupid-foreign. there´s nothing like U.S.America for making you think you´re pretty smart.