Dispatches from The Mayan Empire

 “Now I know what a ghost is. Unfinished business, that's what.” - Salmon Rushdie, The Satanic Verses     + + + For the last three nights, and potentially four more, I remain in Nuevo Progresso on the interesting side of the US/Mexican border. Not that I dislike the US, but when your options are insanely cheap motel rooms, potent-yet-cheap tequila, strange chemicals of all descriptions, street vendors serving better food than 90% of the Mexican restaurants I've tried, and... Texas. The choice is not a difficult one to make.  [[Walkways only a few short hours ago teeming with vendors and tourists, now empty like the bottle of Cazadores in my hotel room.]] As for the hotel San Jose, I recommend it highly. Friendly staff, very clean, pet friendly, cheap as fuck, close to the border, and excellent wifi speeds when it's working (which is most of the time). They asked me if I wanted to stay long term, a tempting offer to be...

"The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel." - William Gibson, Neuromancer  + + + I've been here for two days and despite the close proximity to the border it is not what one would expect. Mexico is a marvelous place, but make no mistake, it is another country. Another culture, another planet.  Though the border zone is a bit more approachable, a lot more tourist friendly, by design. Duty-free shops selling liquor, perfume, knock-off Versace handbags from China, expensive jewelry which would be sold by street vendors in Saudi Arabia as garbage, and all manner of shitty cigars which the merchants will swear to you in hushed tones are still-embargoed Cubans (hint, they are not). If you desire to cross the bridge on foot carrying pottery, wearing a cheap sombrero, reeking like someone who was thrown out of Paris Hilton's birthday party all the while confidently sucking on a smoldering chair leg then the foot bridge between t...