More Pics...

Random Images & Thoughts...

I complain about needing new shoes, then I saw someone who had no feet.

What good is it to be able to spread your wings if you can't fly anywhere? (Tio Francis can I please free these birds?)

↑ Those birds gotta hate this one ↓

Below are images that I took at Thermos del Rio, which is a basically a hot spring. The waters are warm due to geothermal heat coming from adjacent volcanoes. These thermal waters are said to be both therapeutic and healing because of its heat and high mineral content.






This is mi Tio Carlos. He is my grandmother's brother (on my father's side). He is 82 years old and can still hold it down with the whiskey!




My father peeled this orange, with no intention of having it photographed, but I had to take a picture after I saw the craftsmanship.


This is what they serve at the donut shops here. All this for only $5 and it tastes home-made.

Below are images of the house I'm staying at in Santa Ana. It's been in my family since about the late 40's. My grandparents, Papa Toño and Mama Alis raised their children here. I was brought up here the first couple years of my life as well. Many of my cousins were also brought up here. Today it belongs to mi Tio Francis, one of seven children that were raised here by my grandparents. He's rebuilt the house from the bottom up, but at the moment it's empty since he is currently in Lawrence, Massachusetts.





La famosa pila. This is in Salvadorean home. I like to bathe here. Some times you have to because there is no water, which was the case the first couple days here.


El mango verde o mango tierno - it's delicious with salt. I think this is the color my uncle was going for when he painted the exterior of the house. LOL

My uncles old chevy...A work in progress.

I like to call the photographs below my "Drive-By Shootings" since they were all taken from the passenger seat while driving.

Still Stuck In Victoria...

...And we are going to have to spend another day here because the truck requires a part that will take an extra day to arrive. It seems that the problem was actually worse than what was originally diagnosed. Unfortunately, we found this out a little late in the day, and by then it was too late to get a room at the hotel we stayed at last night (it was completely booked). So now were at another hotel, which isn't too bad, but stinks like cigarette smoke and dirty feet. Below are some images from our surroundings. I found this old train that was stationed right in front of our hotel...I thought that was pretty cool. Oh yeah, I made another video...Check it out:

Click here to view the video

Stuck in Texas...

We are stuck in small town in the middle-of-nowhere, Texas - Victoria, Texas to be exact. We had transmission problems and had to exit here in Victoria. Good news is we found an auto shop near by. Bad news is that they will not have our car ready until tomorrow (Tuesday) afternoon. So we have no choice but to call it a day and get a hotel near by. What a way for my father to celebrate his birthday...Sucks! But, we'll make the best of it...I think I saw a little bar near by :)

From Victoria the Mexican/American border is only 2 hours away. Got to say I'm glad that the breakdown happened here and not in Mexico, because then I think we may be in a little bit of trouble. Anyways, I'm using this downtime to catch up on work.

Even though we had this minor mishap, I have to say the trip has gone well overall. We've crossed Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Washington, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. Some cities worth mentioning are Jackson, Mississippi and Birmingham, Alabama which played a huge role during the civil rights movement.

Well, tomorrow we still have about 2-3 days of driving. We still have to cross thru Mexico, and Guatemala - approximately 1,800 miles. They're announcing rain in this areafor tomorrow, so the drive might get a little ugly. I'll keep you posted :)

Lawrence Surprise & The Road Trip Begins...

We are on the road. Here is a little video intro...I was gonna edit it to make it sound professional, but I decided not to because I want to give you an an experience that is raw and uncut! Plus, it’s kinda funny.

Click here to view the video







My stay in Lawrence was amazing. I surprised almost everyone. The first victim was my cousin Ronald. I knocked on his door early Wednesday morning. He opened the door, not having a clue that I was in town. All he could do was laugh and say, “You’re crazy!” (Where have I heard that before)

His girlfriend Liz was supposed to be another one of my victims, but Ronald had to go and tell her. Chismoso! Liz is super duper cool - genuine, beautiful, sweet and if I wasn’t trying to keep this blog short and sweet, I would take out my thesaurus to look for more words to describe how wonderful she is. (Shout out to La Bori AKA Fifty!) Fortunately, Ronald didn’t tell my aunt, his mom, and I was able to surprise her while she was cooking.



Most of my family found out I was here because my dad did mention it to two of my uncles, and before I could call them to make sure they didn’t say anything, the word had already spread. So, didn’t have much luck with the family.



One of the best surprises had to be on my girl Karina. Ronald, Liz and I picked her up to go out. The only thing was that I was in the trunk. So she had no clue I was in the car. Ronald drove a couple blocks from her house and then pretended that he had left his coat in the trunk. So he stopped, came around the back, opened the trunk and that’s when I got out and nonchalantly went and sat in the drivers seat. I turned around and said, “So where we going.” You should have seen her face! Loved it! Karina is one of my best friends and has a beautiful soul. Mad love for her. (Shout out to Karina!)



Competing for top surprise was also the one I pulled on my girl Mariel. We’ve never met in person, but just from the little that we’ve spoken or written to each other I can tell you that she has the best personality, and she is madd pretty yoh! (Shout-out to Mariel - Dude your super cool!) So anyways, Mariel is a bartender out in a bar in Boston. So my plan was to order a drink (relaciones intimas en la playa, hehe) and see if she would recognize me, but unfortunately while I was coming out from the bathroom, she was walking back to the to the bar - and to MY surprise, she recognized me right away. She said she screamed twice, but I think I was so caught up in the moment that I didn’t even realize it. So, yeah, that was great!



And, Finally surprising my boy Moses, Gabby and El Tico was another unforgettable moment. For Mo, we actually didn’t know exactly where he lived since he had recently moved. My cousin Ronald new where the place was, but didn’t know the exact location. We actually found it because we were able to find his car. Me and Karina went up to the apartment, but then realized we needed to be buzzed in. We didn’t have an apartment number..So, we buzzed all the apartments one by one until he finally came out (Neighbors werent too happy to be getting a buzz at 11pm at night). I tried to hide to jump out on him, but he said he saw my big o’ feet and realized it was me. LOL (Shout-out to Mo-Breezy - Este tipo es calidad -Friends that are hard to find...Only known him for a couple years, but I consider him a brother). The next day me and Ronald paid a visit to Moses’ sister Gabby and her husband George (El TIco). I asked her cousin Manuela, who actually lives in Tampa to give me her address and to call her to see if she was home. (Shout-out to Manuela - mi cariño ;) ) She confirmed for me so Ronald and I headed over there. (to be continued...Tired of writing...Still a lot to be told about my stay in Lawrence, so if I haven't mentioned you yet, believe me I will...more photos too)

Crouching Tigre, Hidden Seat & Breakfast with Kari

You walk on board the airplane and the person sitting in the seat next to yours is so large he occupies part of your seat. What do you do? Well, this is the situation that I found myself in last night when I boarded for my five hour flight to Newark, NJ from Los Angeles. It was like a skit from the early 90's sketch comedy series In Living Color, or Saturday Night Live, where they poke fun at the situation, except this was no laughing matter. It was actually a delicate situation, because you don't want to embarrass the person, nor make it an uncomfortable situation for them. So what did I do?...Well, nothing. I thought about waiting until everyone was seated and then asking to be moved to another seat, but decided not to because I thought I may hurt the person's feelings. So, I took a seat with half my body crushed and the other half crouched over on the seat of Maria, the person sitting on my other side. Maria works on the campaign team for Senator John Edwards and was headed to South Carolina for the democratic party primary. I found this out during our conversation, which I think was inevitable since I was leaning so far over into her seat. I'm glad we began a conversation, though, because it would actually take my mind away from the arm rest piercing my side. After talking for about 1 hour, I think she realized I wasn't going to attempt to move to another seat, and probably couldn't bare to see me in so much discomfort - I hope it wasn't my breath LOL - but she eventually decided to excuse herself to go to the bathroom and cleverly find herself another seat while she was up. Thank you Maria - I'm voting for Edwards now. hehe. I slept the rest of the way to Newark, where I had a 2 hour layover.

In Newark, my beautiful friend Kari met me for breakfast at the Airport. (Shoutout to my girl Kari!) She was nice enough to meet me at 6am in the morning for some NY Bagels, well NJ Bagels...NJ Airport Bagels...They were good though. We lost track of time and I almost missed my flight. Had to cut in line at the security checkpoint, but I made the flight! Wouldn't have mind if I missed it, so I could have stayed in NY for a day.

My family and friends here in Lawrence don't have a clue that I'm here...I told my father not to say anything...Time to go surprise them!!!

The America's Road Trip 2008

In a few days I will begin the journey across North America, going as far south as Central America, and if time permits, maybe even into South America. This blog will document my experience and adventures as I drive cross-country without any schedules, plans, nor established final destination. I will be posting photos, journals and videos to share the stories of different cultures and peoples, or to simply show the breathtaking landscapes of the America's.