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For those of you who might be new to this website, and unfamiliar with our "People's Guide" style of travel and writing, be warned that there is no particular order here. The material that follows is right off the top of my desk, out of my notebooks and sometimes off-the-wall. Lorena eventually reorganizes these entries and links them to the central People's Guide archives, located deep within an abandoned silver mine somewhere in the state of Chihuahua.
After months of frustrating computer problems, Carls Mexico Notebook is not only back again, but offers frequent updates on a variety of subjects.
Thanks to the brilliant minds at Blogger.com, I now have the means to add instant updates to my Notebooks (without having to plead for Lorenas time and assistance). Anything and everything that crosses my desk can appear on Carls Mexico Notebook --interesting emails and reports from our readers, travel tips, Mexico retirement suggestions, recipes, book reviews -- in other words, the usual curious, ever changing collection of Peoples Guide To Mexico facts, trivia and personal advice.
Bookmark Carls Mexico Notebook and check it frequently for updates! http://www.peoplesguide.com/notebook.html
¡Saludos! Carl and Lorena
Earlier Notebooks
On January 01, Lorena and I emerged safely from our Y2K bunker, saw our shadows, and like good ground hogs immediately returned to our work. Taking a cue from anxious survivalists, wed laid in quite a supply of emergency rations: 2 liters of extra virgin olive oil, 8 pounds of popcorn, several mystery novels (in Spanish of course) and a box of instant flan. This surplus wont see us through the millenium, but at least were off to a good start.....
It was seven a.m. and Steve was in the kitchen, blearily preparing atole* for his newest baby. The latest arrival in our growing family was perched on the back of a wooden chair across the table from me, teetering dangerously as it screamed its fool head off for breakfast.
Seasons of The Heart" featuring Susana Trilling -- a fine video cooking series on the foods of Oaxaca produced for PBS.
Making chile rellenos at home that taste like the real thing takes a certain sazon (cooks touch), so weve also added Steves Chiles Rellenos to our Recipe section.
Youll also find Amber Zavadas excellent Vegetarian Fusion recipes for enchiladas, bean soups, and flan.
In her never-ending quest for the perfect bug dope, Lorena finds a human volunteer for a frightening noseeum experiment on the coast of Nayarit.
¡¡Last Minute BULLETIN!!
Mexico SUSPENDS Implements New Vehicle Bonding Regulations on Wednesday, 1 December 1999
October 10, 1999:
Lake Chapala,
Jalisco, Mexico
May 20, 1999:
San Miguel de Allende
Guanajuato, Mexico
I won't waste your time with apologies; Lorena and I have been on the road in Mexico for over three months, and this is my first update to The People's Guide To Mexico website. Rather than wring my hands and bore you with the technical challenges we've finally overcome, let's dive right in and clear out some of the backlog from my overflowing notebooks and clippings, ¿qué no? .....
In this Notebook:
Having launched this rather aimless ramble through my chaotic files and over-stuffed archives in issue #6 of this Travel Letter, Id like to jump right in by thanking S. Guzmán-C. (who signs himself Rio) for sending me the 3rd edition of his book, A Vagabond In Mexico
Returning from plugging the 25th anniversary edition of The Peoples Guide To Mexico in the Bay Area last week, I snatched up a first edition of Bordering On Chaos by Andres Oppenheimer ....
Get-togethers with our friends often turn into a frantic swap meet of travel tips, favorite books and magazine articles, newly discovered music and "you gotta try this!" recipes. As Lorena extols the virtues of lime juice on mosquito bites, Linda describes an avant-garde Mexican movie and Hank paws through overflowing bookshelves, hoping to trade Gringo by Charles Portis for my mint copy of Lost World of Quintana Roo. Jack suddenly asks about travel-related resources on the Internet, but before I can answer, Steve drips huitlacoche sauce over the Momostenago blanket that Tina has accidently spread out over Churpa's drawing of a Mexican olive factory. Before the confusion clears the phone starts to ring: Mike is leaving for Guatemala in the morning and desperately needs last minute advice and suggestions. Our old cabin erupts into bedlam.
As you can tell, Lorena and I are blessed with interesting lives. The question is, how can we possibly sort all this stuff out and get things reasonably well organized and under control? After decades of futile attempts, the answer is now obvious: we can't. In fact, we officially give up. Our new motto: when in doubt, meditate..... (more)
How Carl's Notebook got started.....
Dear Friends,
I sit at my laptop computer, flipping through a stack of travel worn pocket-sized spiral-bound notebooks. This is the record of my last winters journey, five months spent vagabonding through Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica and Panama. Catalogued now with boldly printed labels: SeaTac to Chihuahua, Fall 95, Mexico 95/Guate 96, Honduras to Panama 1996, Misc Costa Rica, Panama Contacts & Recipes, the entries evoke everything from smiles, Consider eco-tourism in the light of Xaviers observation that 'parrots are meat, too'," to mere puzzlement 81 Chev van 944307 Mexico/Guate."
Hundreds of seemingly unconnected thoughts spill out of the pages: addresses and book titles, itemized expenses, hotel names, reminders, snatches of conversation and overheard remarks, insights and middle-of-the-night observations. One carefully penciled notation after another Breakfast Izucar de Matamoros 22.5 pesos Singapore Airlines or Cathay via Hong Kong. Take a tent.
A long-forgotten encounter with another computer user yields the suggestion,Use unscented Aqua Net hairspray as a cheap fixative for ink jet print-outs" while the next entry evokes vivid memories of a long night in an especially grim Guatemalan pension : "For reasons I prefer not to explore, theres something about the electric water heater attached to the shower head in this room that reminds me of my opposition to capital punishment.
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