The Sky is Falling, as are people...

Good Evening all,

It has sadly been about one week since my last post, and I have a great list of things to blame: on and off wireless connection, school work, fell asleep on the couch etc. I also blame all of the things I shall soon discuss, as they took time to ummm experience. Nevertheless, I pledge to be more diligent in the future.

On Saturday, the Canadians/Americans (we now have yanks among us) went to Cola de Caballo which I was told was going to be a waterfall. Imagine my absolute elation at the prospect of a waterfall made entirely of Coca Cola, and if it truly had been, nary would be my return. The waterfall, as it turns out, is fed by a natural stream high in the Sierra Madre. The cascading curtain over air and shale is quite a sight , and there was an extended round of picture taking before we proceeded further into the park. At the largest and most majestic part of the waterfall there are some souvenir stands, ice cream, and balconies; there was also a mysterious hole in the chain link fence leading out into an irresistible path running parallel to the waterfall. After informing our school guide that we'd be "just a couple minutes to look at the first few meters or so" we were off. Caroline and Jeremy, perhaps against their better judgment, followed me up a steep, slippery, twisting, and densely littered goat path to the headwaters of the falls. The view was worth the exertion, as I'm sure you'll agree from our soon-to-be-posted pics. We then also realized we could have saved 80 pesos had we entered the park from the somewhat backwoods road on which we were now standing. However, a few minutes and meters had somehow slipped into several hundred meters and the better part of an hour. We returned downhill in some haste to the rest of our friends who had decided that bungee jumping would be more their cup of tea.

Later, standing on a balcony in 35 degree heat, my sweaty palms extending our digicam over a precipice of 60m, I filmed what may have been the last living images of two of our Canadian colleagues as they committed the great elasticized plunge. Thankfully, they did live; I did film it, and I will ask them if I can post the video on this blog for all you morbid folks wondering what a $32 Mexican bungee jump looks like. I enjoyed my free-of-charge excursion and had a wistful nap on the ride home. Oh, to dice the chronology a bit, that morning we had tacos at a traditional highway open air restaurant. The occasion is only noteworthy because of Caroline's daring consumption of a stuffed, angry-looking pepper purchased by our ever-patient driver. I had about half a dozen goat meat tacos and an ice-cold glass bottled coke (hope this hasn't been too much product placement).

Again, I must alter chronology and tell you about the most apocalyptic thunder storm Caroline and I have every witnessed. The sky was muggy, hot, and heavy all day. The air was tense with.........heat. About two hours after arriving home for the evening, the rain started to come down innocently enough; masquerading as the light pattering nature intended for delicate flower petals and song birds to drink from. Then came Thor. The sky opened, and the cast iron clouds took vengeance upon the relentlessly blistering sun. The mountains were lit up in the dusk by massive purple lightning bolts (and that is not blogger's license; the bolts were purple!). The thunder reverberated and lightning struck at the same time; the rain drove down in torrents; the canals were filled to bursting; the foundations of the houses began to shake; and Caroline suggested we take a stroll to investigate further (just a few minutes, just a few meters). We ended up using the shelter of the trees to make our way to the neighborhood park in some dryness. There we sat under a gazebo and watched the book of nature wax hyperbolic upon the landscape, which is to say, we watched the storm in all its violent grandeur. A very exciting evening for a Thursday, but I hope these don't happen too often.

I would like to say a bit on our night at the infamous Cafe Iguana, but I think I'll post this wee tome rather than chance the inconstant wireless connection. Therefore, vaya le bien!