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"Silence is the element in which great things fashion themselves together." Thomas Hardy

Cuernavaca is full of noises. Every shop is fronted by a p.a. system playing cheesy music for mexican lovers., which blend into a melee of heartfelt sentiments competing for your attention.

A twitch of the ear and a girl is bellowing a sales pitch for underwear, framed by a piece of plywood with weather yellowed Y-fronts nailed up in faded glory.

Distracted once more by a lad with a plastic pumpkin head to celebrate the halloween-corrupted "dia des muertos" (day of the dead). "un peso signor....ooon Pay-soh"

Gently rebuffed, his pleas are replaced by vexed car horns signalling their displeasure. A trolley load of childrens dolls, with distressing and garish faces,has spilled into the crossroads. The traffic policeman mouths something, but is masked by the belly-thud from a souped-up rustbucket with go-faster stripes. The backseat is burdened by a speaker with a bass cone the size of a the livi bowl and an empty bottle of corona where the tweeter once called home.

Searching for a higher octave to balance the growl, i am assailed by the tandy mixer FX from an autobus de morelos , who´s blurb claims it is "driving towards a better Cuernavaca".

No time is afforded to mull over such patent irony, as I am stepping trhough the door of my hotel. A shrill electronic beep denotes my arrival to the ever-giggling sisters at the reception desk, who smile while quizzing me about an unpaid soda. All this to the tune of a screaming child with a snotty nose, who poked me in the leg on the way out.

I fall asleep for what seems like minutes, yet the darkness leaking in the window proves me false. There´s a sound, which i just can´t seem to place.

I grab my board and tiptoe out, heading for the biggest hill in town. The place is dead.

That sound confessed to me upon waking, that embrace of absence and peace, was silence. The canvas is unspoiled, and i fill it with colours of my own; tracing and sketching down the long smooth road.

The noises are all mine, until tomorrow.

Been really lazy today. went out last night with thorulf the swede to dinner in a big, posh house in the southern suburbs. this city was originally built as a retreat for rich mexicans from mexico city, and is packed with swimming pools. this house was incredible. dinner was a buffet affair with refried beans, hot salsa verde and roja, tortillas, veg, tacos, queso blanco and sol beer. others there were english teachers. Very nice people, who made us feel very welcome. Some very interesting chat, especially with a 45 year old californian surfer with whom i could compare skateboard injuries. the huge plate in his arm beat me hands down.

oops,place is closing.more to tell.back soon

Hello hello

Trip here was very very long.Up at 4am after nae sleep, off to edinburgh airport. Flew to Frankfurt for a 3 hour wait, and then off on the 11hour flight to Mexico City. Arrived to a huge immigrations queue and on to the bus for the 2hr trip to Cuernavaca. Hotel Americo is a fiver a night and it´s actually not tooooo shabby, so I´m happy.

Up this morning for a stroll and some breakfast. People wish you good day in the street, and are exceptionally helpful, just as i remember them.

They are big on eggs for breakfast, which is fine by me!

Got some time here (2 weeks) to soak up the atmosphere and relax a bit. get some writing done and catch some sunshine before heading down to the coast. will upload some photos really soon.

besos
mark

well, it's the night before the trip. A very quick jaunt to edinburgh to do some last minuto nonsense, a quick skate in kirkcaldy and now for some fooood in my neglected belly. It's starting to sink in a bit now that tomorrow is going to bring an enormous change in scenery, but I am still fairly relaxed about the whole deal. I've been there before, and left home on so many trips, big and small, that this really shouldn't phase me too much. Still, there is the inevitable dull ache of panic in the corner of my mind that I have overlooked something vital.

Secured my new passport by making up a cry-baby story which i am to embarrased to recount here. I was VERY lucky to get one the same day. They refused me first until I pleaded. Myt old passport is stained and stinks of superglue, and would never get me past even the most docile of customs officers. I am very relieved to have that particular item replaced.

Lost all the music on my hard drive, which I had planned to transfer to my mp3 when i got here. Been frantically downloading more, but it's not the same.

Plan is to post as many short stories as possible up here, and document thsi trip in a less traditional format. For the other kind (today we did this, and the weather was great...ha et cetera) I have another site on MSN. will email you all the adress.

hasta la pasta amigos, stay in touch.

Mark