I’m well chuffed, one of the pix I sent to a local newspaper got printed today. Mine’s the top left one:

The competition is ongoing for a year and there’s cameras and holidays in Cancun to be won. Details in hungover Spanish here.

I can´t get my head around the time change yet and have been up for a while… Anyroad, just a quick post to thank Jana and Victor for hosting the pumpkin carving soirée yesterday, which was good clean innocent fun despite the Satanic connotations. And plentiful booze. Pumpkin carving is not really a big thing here, but there´s a host of other traditions available related to the Day of the Dead which I hope to be photographing over the next few days.

El Arenal is a sleepy little town on the way to Tequila. It’s also where the jimadores albureros were from, so yesterday I went to deliver them the photos. They weren’t there, obviously. It was 1pm ish and they were up to their elbows in agaves I expect. The matriarch of the family was there, however, and after a fair amount of explaining that I wasn’t trying to sell her anything she was all smiles. I had a quick wander around the town, there’s more to it that you see from the main road. The Guadalajara-Tequila railway passes through it and it has a nice traditional town square and church replete with its neon crosses on the spires. Something I hadn’t noticed before, but thanks to the zoom on me camera is that the neon crosses also have lightning conductors. So much for faith… He helps those who help themselves avoiding relampagazos I s’pose.

SuperNova, a fellow Flickero wrote me a nice email about his memories of the place, specifically a place to get drunk cheaply: Here’s a rough translation… (proper translations cost 50 centavos a word for the record)

Hi Gwyn:

In the interview that Sita did with us the other day I mentioned that my family used to go and buy our tequila in Arenal. I see you’ve been there. If you pass by there again, go to this place, it’s very peculiar. Outside there’s a shop where they sell soft drinks and snacks. You go through the side of the shop and there’s a patio with tables. At the back there they sell chicharron de puerco (glorified pork scratchings) and hot salsa. They let you sample their tequila, but they’re so generous that you can refill your glass as many times as you like. And that’s what people do: arrive, buy soft drinks, snacks, ask for a “sample” of tequila in their glass, then mix their drinks and enjoy the afternoon/evening. They keep asking for more “samples” and there’s no charge. They sell tequila in gallon bottles (with no label) and in normal bottles (with labels).

Then details follow on the name of the place and how to get there. If you’d like to know more shoot me an email and I’ll pass on the directions. Far be it from me to bring unwanted attention to what sounds by all standards a fine institution.

Suffice to say I think we’ll be going back. Anyone fancy being the designated driver?

I had to help her finish it. After devouring my own molcajete de pollo y chorizo…

Fine night out last night to la I Latina with José and Christina. Let´s see what revelry today brings.

Si estás aquí gracias a la página de César, pos qué chido! Como vas a ver hay muy poco de interés aquí si no me conoces ni eres miembro de mi familia. Pero a lo mejor te interesaría ver mi fotoblog, Mostly México con fotos de mi México lindo y querido o mis sets en Flickr.

También hay otra discusión sobre los carros camaleón en el blog de mi amiga, Ana.

Bueno, pues gracias por pasar y si quieres dejar un comentario, échale. Inglés, español o francés sirve. Gales también, de hecho, con los servicios de traducción de mi mamá…

Cheers!