Day 111 Monday

Chuidad Juarez

New years Eve was a quiet day for me, once again I phoned the insurance places which were closed and the family took us all out to lunch, to a Steak house…. Maybe I should repeat I don’t eat meat a little louder, although I thought we were going for Tacos… I slobbed around until the evening watching Mexican Soaps with Grandma (and switching to Seinfeld when she went to the bathroom) and not getting much done. People started arriving so I went for a shower and changed my clothes to something less ‘backpackery’ and when I came down there were 2 Mexican guys in white shirts serving drinks to everyone. Posh!! They didn’t give the maid a night off though which was something of a shame… New Years Eve was just like Christmas really, drinking, snacks, some songs on the piano, someone brought a guitar and no one could find the right channel at midnight to do the countdown. I was handed 12 grapes which I was apparently supposed to eat as the clock counted down the seconds but I was probably the only person who finished them completely, but then Im a tourist. I then set off attempting to wish everyone else a happy new year but should probably have sat in one spot and let them come to me because everyone set off around the house trying to hug everyone as quickly as possible. More smoking and drinking commenced but I grabbed Raphi’s ipod and watched Superbad with Dani which would have been a much better option the day before. Quite hilarious! Mc Lovin!!!!! :p

Day 110 Sunday

El Paso, Tx

That night I had gotten my camping mats out and slept away from the kitchen table. All the events in Ruidoso needed to be explained to the rest of the family that were left behind and they were chatting, laughing and smoking long into the night. I tried calling some insurance places in El Paso but they were all closed, although I did get a few addresses. I gave my parents a much overdue call and then Dani and I went back into the States to go shopping. The border wasn’t too bad, although they did take my Organic eggs. As if you can get those in Mexico! I couldn’t complain and off we went. I was looking for a small computer to replace the hopelessly crap one I had, an Asus EEE which is a tiny thing and rather cheap but after checking multiple stores couldn’t find one anywhere. So much for the American Shopping Sensation! In circuit city they had a sale on and had 14″ laptops for only $500 which was pretty good and go me thinking….

I dropped Dani off with her mother-in-law and instructed her to get as much free stuff from her as possible while I went geek shopping on my own. I didn’t do much as I found a free wifi spot and spent most of the time chatting to Miriam on Skype. She was getting excited now by her looming trip to Europe and had bought her ticket. She still couldn’t find her passport though which might be a problem. I’m sure she’ll work it out. I picked up Dani and we went off for a nice Indian meal and then went to the cinema. Why is it that Will Smith takes classic novels and manages to pervert them into a action flick? Like ‘I, Robot’ before it, ‘I Am Legend’ was only loosely based on the novel of the same name and managed to pack in machine guns and hand grenades aplenty. Fun, but ultimately puerile. 6/10.

Day 109 Saturday

El Paso, Tx

I don’t quite know how they all managed to accumulate so much stuff but it was everywhere and we were supposed to be leaving at 11am. It said so on the door, check out at 11am or have a $25 fine charged to your credit card. I think they justified it by saying the house wasn’t ready at 2pm when we arrived and hence we could check out late. I’m not sure how they justified ignoring the big ‘no smoking’ sign on the door but they did. Typically the woman from the office came to see if we had checked out and collared me by the front door. I said I would hurry them along and we finally left at 12.30pm. It was a long drive back to El Paso but I missed the fact that we wouldn’t be heading back there but instead were going tubing. Short snow covered slope meet fat American on a rubber ring. Sounded like a $20 waste of money, one I didn’t even have to pay for myself but still I refused. The queue was horrendous and it was cold, I would rather sit in my warm car fixing little things. I took my steering column apart and found that the connection to the wheel buttons had popped out. 2 minutes work meant I could now use my cruise control again and most importantly, my horn! That saved me $30 at a Mexican car place I’m sure.

When I had gotten through dismantling my cup holder in a futile search for a missing memory car I went searching for the tubers. Seems they had gotten about 3 goes each after 2 hours of standing around, plus 30 minutes waiting to pay and sign the disclaimer forms. What a rip-off. Just go find some rubber rings and a small hill, why pay $20 to be frustrated. Hopefully now we could get going, but instead of hitting the road we went for something to eat. I thought the ‘Still Smokin’ BBQ’ place was sweetly ironic since that’s all the women in the group had done all week but it still didn’t help me find something to eat. The place was packed to the rafters with blackened meat and I simply smiled when they all asked me if I wasn’t getting something to eat. I just couldn’t be bothered to remind them for the umpteenth time I didn’t eat meat. At least we got the kids in the car for the trip back and could listen to some nice music again. I felt bad back in El Paso for all my negative thoughts when they presented me with a Ruidoso T-shirt for my patience on the ski fields. I had a great time overall, they were all warm and friendly, I just wish I understood more of what was going on and they wouldn’t all smoke so much :p

Now we were supposed to go back to Mexico for New Years but I was paranoid about the border and accidents. If I had a crash I would be in serious trouble and no matter how much they all tried to reassure me I didn’t know if my insurance was valid. I rang my emergency number but the guy was less than useless in answering my questions. If I didn’t go back to Mexico, what then? I didn’t have much choice so I reluctantly went back over the border and hoped nothing would happen. I was a fool for risking it the first time but I was hardly helping by doing it again. It was late, I was tired and hungry, besides, everyone wouldn’t fit inside just one car. At least I could set my cruise control on ‘really slow’ and keep my foot hovered over my brake now! :p

Day 105

Ruidoso, New Mexico

Only 4 of us were brave enough to head out that morning but I had already bought my lift pass the previous afternoon so I really didn’t have a choice. I tried to tell someone that they could do with a lesson but I wasn’t getting through, maybe it was my lack of Spanish skills. We got up to the slope and it was snowing now, usually a good sign but I wasn’t equipped for cold. I passed out the hot hand packets and hope my charges would make it through the day, it was -5 and I was with 3 Mexicans! I would be lucky if they didn’t all die of exposure. I decided the best policy was to keep them moving, so set them off on the very very green run we had been doing the previous day. They did it with no problems but then I saw the queue for the lifts. I left them queuing and skied back UP the slope and got there faster than them. There were only 4 lifts open, all the top runs were closed and the gondola would only take sightseers up. What the hell was  I doing here?? I scoped lift 4 and it seemed to be quieter with a ride to a long green run. That was the plan, I got them moving up to lift and we waited and waited. When we finally got to the front I took Stephi up as she hadn’t been on a lift before, and we somehow made it off without falling over before seeing Dani come up and not get off before jumping off at 2 meters! I nearly had a heart attack. I then saw Raphi come up and fall over before he left the chair! Then I looked down the run and saw this green was so blue you could use it to hide the Blue Man Group! With 3 beginners!

I thought it was too late to put them back on the chair and if I had know how long it would have taken me to get down I probably would insisted they put them on the lift but once we got started it was too late. I told Raphi to snow plough over to the main run and he said ‘what’s a snow plough?’. I then realised he had only been a couple of times when he was 6! I have no idea what he was doing the day before but Dani and Stephi managed to get over to the run and start going down, but Raphi didn’t even know how to stop. Everytime he moved he turned, went backwards and then fell over. If he got any speed up he would probably kill himself, or worse, someone else. I had argued for proper lessons the previous day but my concerns fell on deaf ears. I was the only skier but obviously I didn’t know what I was talking about… The slope was far too steep to get down safely but the girls were slowly moving down, I had to concentrate on Raphi. I made him hold my pole and tried to get him to slide down on the sides of his skis. It seemed to take forever… I would have skied down in 2 minutes but it took more than 30 minutes of falls and frustration.

When I was done I pointed them at the easy slope and went off to find a proper green, but first I stood in the line for the other blue run, I needed to work out some of the stress of anchoring a beginner down a blue run so no one would get hurt. Only 4 lifts open and the place was packed. They had a line for single skiers but far too many lifts were going up with only 1 person and there were no ropes to divide the skiers. After the ease and speed of skiing in Canada I was sorely disappointed by the American experience. I didn’t understand why so few lifts were open! At least the ticket price was reduced but I didn’t think I got any kind of value for money for the day. I wanted to be skiing and keeping warm but instead I was waiting for an inefficient lift. I found a nicer green for the others and directed them onto it, now with the slope being less scary I was able to give them some tips and advise, but I’m not sure an Englishman instructing 3 Mexicans was the best plan. :p

The slopes were full of Texans but there was non of the chat I enjoyed while skiing in Whistler. Going up on a long lift and talking to the people I was sitting with was always great but I didn’t get any of that in Ruidoso. I guess I wasn’t having a very good day :p It didn’t take too long for Stephi and Raphi to give up and go to find  some warmth while Dani and I did a last run but I was tired of waiting for 30 minutes in line for 2 minutes fun. One days skiing gave me about 7 runs down which was hardly sufficient and left a bad taste in my mouth for American Skiing but at least I had some time back on the slopes, possibly my only chance this trip, although I suspect there is some good skiing in South America. I certainly hoped so.

Up to the ski fields/3 lifts open/no gondola/another lesson/blue not a green run

107 Thursday Ruidoso, NM

Lilys brother slept downstairs in the living room and woke up me up a couple of times moaning and talking. It sounded very weird! Everyone eventually dragged themselves up and stated the purpose of today was to go skiing. That sounded fine but when you looked outside there was no snow… I dressed myself up in all my appropriate clothes, such as they were and piled the teenagers into the back and headed up to the mountain. At least we had an hour of decent music on the way. We followed the winding road and a few cars and at around 2pm we made it to the Ski Apache field. There was snow, not a massive amount,  but most of the lifts were shut. It certainly felt cold enough to go skiing. I wasn’t going to bother but Dani’s dad offered to pay for my gear for the day so I had a dilemma. The lifts were due to close in an hour or so, so a half day lift pass would probably be a waste of money, by the time we got our gear sorted. I said I would give everyone a ski lesson and we got kited out. It was pretty much a waste of time though, it was about -6 degrees, no one was wearing the right clothes, or even enough of the wrong ones. We were going 50m down a slope and then having to walk back up. Stephi and Dani were doing surprisingly well though, I didn’t watch Raphi since he said he had been several times before. We did about an hour and gave up and went for hot chocolate.

On the way back we went via the local Indian Reservation Casino, more for a look than to gamble, but it looked just as crazy as the vegas ones. I should know better but a Star Wars slot machine caught my eye and before I knew it I had blown another 6 dollars on 2 spins of the wheels. It was the only way to win the $1.5m prize, but I’m a sucker and after 2 spins with multiple chances to win at least something I got nothing out of it. What worse is that I didn’t have any change so put $20 in knowing I could cash out and get a redeemable voucher. When I came to get my $14 back the stupid machine broke and we then stood around for 20 minutes waiting for someone to give me back my $14. I’m never gambling again!

Day 106 Ruidoso, Nm

Well I was up for 8am just about, I gazed longingly at the breakfast bar which looked quite good but we didn’t have time for that. We high tailed it over to the house and… sat around the table smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee for 2 hours. I dont know what they were doing but it wasn’t driving. So much for the early start. I got some breakfast but it would have been nice to get 2 breakfasts in :p Eventually we got packed up and ready to roll. My minivan now only has 4 seats but I was required to seat 5 which I wasn’t exactly thrilled about but what could I do. We first had to cross over the border and had been asked to put something in my cooler (it was the fish dish from xmas eve). It did cross my mind that I was smuggling a huge hash cake or something, but the US border does that to you. US jails are just too scary. We went across with no problems though, the guy looked at the passports and waved us through. Easiest border crossing ever. We needed to do some stuff at Walmart and we met up there. It gave me a chance to pick up some cellphone credit since I had used all mine up sending xmas texts.

» Continue reading “Up to the Mountains of New Mexico”

Day 105  Juarez Mexico

After the excitement of Christmas eve the next day was quite a lot more relaxed. We all watched TV, I finally signed up to Skype and called my parents in the UK. My brother finally officially asked me to be his best man, so it looks like I’ll be taking a break from the road in May. We were going back in the States the following day to visit a nearby ski resort and my vehicle was required so Dani and I tided it up somewhat and moved some of the more useless stuff into the house to make some room. Some people came back in the evening to drink more tequila but at least I didn’t have to sleep on the sofa again, someone had a room at the holiday inn in Juarez they weren’t using so we went and crashed out there. We had to be back at 8am sharp though as we were going to get an early start! Don’t be lazy and don’t be late!

Merry Christmas!

Day 104 : Juarez Mexico

It was Christmas Eve, my favourite time of the year…. Not. Its not that I hate Christmas but I think that its been perverted by capitalism. I’m not a Christian but I’m expected to celebrate it non the less. Sure there should be a time in the year for families to come together and give out gifts but why should it be the day that Jesus was supposedly born for non-Christians. Atheists should swap out Halloween and Christmas, give out gifts at he end of October to each other and dress up as zombies in December. Seems like much more fun. After completing so many miles the previous day we only had a short hop ahead of us into El Paso. The sun was shining as it always does and we followed the signs for the highway. Just on the intersection there was a guy with a cowboy hat, a guitar case and a big smile holding out his thumb. Getting Daniella’s opinion first we pulled over to pick up the hiker…..

» Continue reading “Mexican Christmas”

Day 103:Arizona

As tempting as it was to stay longer in the amazing hot bed of vice and sin we had to get a hustle on back to Texas for Christmas. I was looking forward to my first Christmas in America, despite the fact I didn’t eat turkey I’m sure it was going to be a great traditional time of the year! We said goodbye to Chad through the bathroom door (Leon was off hiking again somewhere) and took the interstate back through the heart of Darkness to the freedom of the desert. We had to negotiate the Hoover Dam once again which was gridlocked with people desperate to get away from Vegas. Helicopters filled the skies overhead like carcinogenic belching dragonflies, $28 a flight the signs proclaimed but when you got there it was really $58 to see the dam. I can imagine the childrens tears as their daddy tells them he’s too cheap to spend another $30! We sat in the jam practicing my terrible Spanish over the buzzing of the propellers.

» Continue reading “Surprise! You have diarrhea!”

Day 102: Las Vegas

That morning Leon had disappeared off to some hiking place in the nearby mountains and we had a city to explore. He had furnished us with maps and some suggestions but the first thing we wanted was some food. We headed to Chinatown and after a wander around found a nice Thai place to get lunch. This was the nicest meal of the trip so far, we both agreed and since it was Vegas it was pretty cheap. Further into town we started looking for a place to park and drove back into the strips gridlock. We were surrounded by posh shiny new cars and we were sitting in a 10 year old minivan which was still covered with the mud from Monument Valley. I wasn’t embarrassed, I just wished I had my website name on the side :p We took a few wrong turns and ended up by the Sahara and decided to park there. All the casinos have free parking but we had chosen the one furthest from all the others which wasn’t so smart, but I needed the walk since I was getting lazy and we hiked down into town. I wondered how long the $50 I had allocated to my gambling would last….

» Continue reading “The Heart of Darkness”