It's Not Without A Little Broken Heart

I'd been in Mexico for a few days now when I met this girl down in Akumal. She was a guide for an eco-org that made sure the local sea turtle eggs didn't get destroyed. I only talked to her for a few minutes, and then it was time to say goodbye. So, I did, and then it started to drive me crazy.

The next day I woke up, I went for a run, I ate breakfast, and I came back to my hotel room, all the time with this gnawing feeling that I had missed an opportunity, that I should have asked her out or something. It wasn't the first time that I had felt that way about someone, but it was the first time I felt like I was threatened by my own inaction. Sometimes I get a bit intense about things.

So, I rented a car and drove back to Akumal to see if I could find her. It was a real passion play, impetous, a bit silly, fraught with the twin perils of embarrasment and wasting time. I swear to God they were playing the latin version of the Rocky Theme music as I left my hotel.

I drove to Akumal and headed toward the turtle center, on the spare Mexican Highway that runs south from Cancun to wherever it stops running. The car had no radio, so I was alone with my thoughts on the half hour drive. When I arrived, I headed towards the turtle center to find no one, not her, not anyone else around. In for a penny, in for a pound, I decided to head towards the little office, and as I opened the door, I saw that among the 4 or so staff members, I knew no one. Excellent, now I can embarass her in front of all her co-workers with my little stalking.

Fortunately, Jose came out to help me, and after bullshitting him regarding my interest in a local lagoon, I gave him a square look, the kind that men use, when they mean business, and no they have no choice but to ask another man for help. I said to Jose, "I'm looking for a girl..."

Quick Byte Owner Steven Lastoe Live On NBC Nightly News

Not 24 hours after I returned from the Yucatan, I was called by NBC who informed me that a piece I had filmed for NBC Nightly News With Brian Williams would be airing Saturday night. The piece has aired, and it is now available on the Quick Byte web site, mentioned prominently on the front page where it can exert mighty marketing power. Filming this piece was a lot of fun for me and I hope to do more of this sort of thing again. Lester Holt was awesome to work with, as were all the NBC folks. Check it out. The NBC Clip

Fishes?

I sort of got two extremes of water sports (not those kind hashers) the last couple of days. On Sunday, i took the ferry out to Cozumel and rented a car so I could check out some of the snorkeling, something I had never really done successfully. A few years ago, Whitey, Asian Fetish, and I were travelling in Costa Rica, and tried in poor conditions with crap gear, and ultimately lost all the gear and a couple of cameras in a canoing incident, after we gave up.

Anyway, the waters off Cozumel were crystal clear, and I had a fantastic time at the beaches that were either not destroyed by Hurrican Wilma, or closed for Mexican Election Day. Plenty of fishes were seen including one large manta ray, well I think it was a Manta Ray.

Pumped up by this, I decided to take the next logical step and do an introductory scuba diving course. This involes spending a couple of hours learning about all of this gear in the pool, this gear which keeps you alive mind you, and then they take you out for a little dive, about 40M deep, just a bit off Playa. If you know me, you can only imagine how this worked out.

First of all, I never do well with gear. I´ve been snowboarding for a decade and still can´t sort bindings out. The lack of gear is probably why I like running so much. Ultimately, all you need is shoes.

Second, I seem to be suffering from a bit of....seasickness. I think this has as much to do with just being in the heat for so long. I don´t remember having a problem before, and the Staten Island ferry has never been a problem.

Long story short, I was neither confident, nor feeling very good by the time I reached the bottom, and I´m not ashamed to admit that a few minutes in, it got a bit overwhelming, and I bailed. The following half an hour was not pretty, hangover sick on an empty stomach, but no worries, and at least I got to see the bottom of the sea. For now, snorkeling will be enough.

Tchoke Nation

Ask my parents. Whenever we went on a vacation, I had to get some sort of stupid trinket. Toy London cab, sure. Oversized penny and nickel commemorating the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials, oh yes. Piece of crap from Disney, of course. And so on...

This need to bring home something, this compulsive capitalism, was so overriding, so all-consuming, that my favorite part of any trip, anywhere, was inevitably the gift shop, I'd spy it on the way in and visualize it until we left, of course stopping on the way out to buy something, (anything!) before we moved on to arguing in the car. Almost any of those purchases are landfill, though the handsome cab is on a bookcase in my kitchen along with a replica of OJ's Bronco, I received for answering a trivia question in a bar.

I grew out of this, and my now my tourism is consumed by the adult pursuits of experience, food, and of course women. I have no interest in tchokes anymore, perhaps a little too little.

In Playa Del Carmen, the fast exploding tourist town I'm based in, the streets are lined with vendors selling all sorts of the usual shit; tacky tourist delight, Mexican style. It´s nothing you haven't seen before, the prices range from ok to exorbitant, and for the most part it's nothing you can't get at home, all too often nothing I can conceive of wanting, so why anyone would waste their vacation $$$ on most of it is beyond me. Yes, there are exceptions but a lot of it is completely disposable.

The best example of this is Senor Frogs, historically just a crappy Latin American destination tourist bar, but now, apparantly well branded enough to have a store the size of a large American Apparel or Gap. Inside you will find the Senor Frog logo plastered...everywhere.

The store is closed right now, but as near as I can tell, not a single item is Playa, or even Cancun specific, though surely some of them have to be, right? In fact, right now some imbecile is taking a picture of his girlfriend posing in front of the store. "Honey, remember the great times we had at the Senor Frogs in Playa, or was that the one in Coconut Grove? I think there´s one opening up in the mall soon, ooohhh." If Senor Frog has a real mascot, I´d like to eat the little bastard and then make disparaging remarks about how it tastes like chicken,

Now, I realize this all makes me sound like a bit of a spoilsport, but all of this made me think, apparantly really think, about what I might really want to bring home from Mexico, and I´ve been wandering into stores here and there with the notion that if I found something, anything that I truly wanted, I would buy it. So far, there has been nothing really. I´ll probably buy a piece of jewelry, but it´s nothing I can´t get at home. Last night, I would have bought a shirt from the place we went to see the turtles breed, but they were out of any size but small and extra small. No turtles either, though I´´m sure there are plenty of shells to buy in the stores of Playa.

Death To El Presidente

Due to the Mexican elections, there is no alcohol for sale all day today. Can you believe that banana republic shit?

&¿&¿& >Computers

Just a quick note to say how much I hate fucking computers, particularly ones where the keyboard varies even slightly from the fucking norm. 13 years since mosaic and the mexicans are still using this bullshit layout where the at key is off the fucking map, no wonder they have nothing going outside of areas like the mayan riviera.

fucking computers