Southern Dispatch

as you might already know, the time has come for me to depart these mexican environs and make my way north once again to grigolandia. suddenly i’ve become one of the migratory folks who make this town so transitory in nature. i recently made a quick trip back to texas and had an adventuresome drive back down that included my first run-in with a crooked cop who took me for $50, an outright shake-down by federales armed with machine guns who searched everything right down to my allergy pills, and fog so thick i couldn’t read the signs on the side of the road. two 15-hour days of driving and almost 700 pesos in toll-booth fees later, and i’m back in san cristobal.

perhaps in conjunction with the coming changes, the social scene down here seems to be experiencing a recent revival of activity, not that it ever really disappeared. last night my friends jay and anne (a new orleans native) hosted a mardi gras party we’d been planning for the last couple of weeks. we garnered two of the best bands in town to play the event and distributed flyers [see below] in advance. the result was a huge success and probably the best party i’ve ever been associated with, organizationally speaking. i’d estimate we had about 150 people show up. after the bands finished someone walked over to the ipod speakers and selected cuban music and the entire place erupted into salsa-dancing mania. there were limbs and hair and feet and hands flying every which way. i was in awe and, frankly, felt very white.

on tuesday night we’re headed to the local sports bar. my friend meredith convinced the owner of the place (“tequila zoo”) to reserve a room for us so we can watch the results of super tuesday as they come in. this level of nerd-dom is unprecedented, i realize, but i’m ok with that. i plan on wearing a shirt given to me by bruce that says “barack and roll.”