a few days of reprieve in mexico city

Stories pile up like leaves in fall, and in the five or so days since our last post in San Diego weve experienced far too much to tell. That being said, first the important stuff...we are in mexico city, at this very moment at a cyber cafe in Zona Rosa. It is a stormy night and we were rained on hard today for the first time in a very long while (check the photo of christine seeking shelter). Beside that small inconvenience we are well and healthy, if a bit overwhelmed with the scope of the decisions that we need to be making.

our next step is to travel through Central America to reach Nicaragua where we intend to spend at least a month studying spanish. We are getting by okay right now with the combination of both of our mediocre skill sets, but there is a great deal more to learn with better communication brought to bear. We had originally planned to go to oaxaca city and spend 5 or so days there enjoying the sights and sounds of Dia de Los Muertes. Based on the latest info we could find, though, it sounds as if Oaxaca City is growing more and more unstable by the day as the result of an intense organized people{s revolt against the state government of the state of Oaxaca. Given that Oaxaca made the perfect stopping point as we make our way down the isthmus we are left scrathcing our heads wondering where to go. Perhaps San Cristobal...

Given that, we will likely spend at least one more day here and hope tomorrow to see our first soccer game in Central America. Cruz Azul of Mexico City plays Chiapas tomorrow at 5 pm. if all goes well and we can figure out Mexico city{s stunningly complex transportation system WE ARE THERE!

Enough about now ' what about the past...As you all now know we finished our bike trip a few days back and experienced the pleasurable irony of running into Nancy and Randy on our last day of riding. if you recall, they were the couple, riding from the arctic to south america, that we ran into on our first day of riding. it was an incredible bout of serendipity that brought that about. The photo is of them hi0'fiving christine as we close in on our finish point. Riding the coast was such a fantastic experience, and already I miss the camping and physical aspect of it. We don{t have all of the numbers worked up yet, but we think we rode about 1308 miles, averaging 32.5 miles per day on our riding days, and took 8 rest days for a total of 48 days on the road. We spent an average of $72 dollars a day, with $35 of that being on food. We lived pretty well...And, yes, I finished with my board. I{ve attached a photo of the rig that made it possible. Despite having it I only got probaly a total of 12 or so sessions in. swell where i didn{t want it, no swell where it should have been. classic story...

ian