Eccentric encounters

In many ways, Dave's the classical New Yorker: hyperactive, procrastinating, loud, and (half) Jewish; but he's also a totally unique guy. He's crazy. About girls. And just in general. I met Dave on my last day in Mérida, and we ended up hanging out together for a fair while, in Valladolid, and then in Playa Del Carmen.

Matthias and Kanako found these two girls in Mérida, and convinced them to come with us on the Uxmal road trip. Julie and Kimiko are both Americans, who have spent over 2 years in Honduras, and who both speak very good Spanish. They were willing to squash into the back seat of Matthias's rental car, and to climb the pyramid of Mayapán and Uxmal.

These crazy, married backpackers are two of the nicest and most streetwise people that I've travelled with so far. Both of them have spent over 10 years travelling to the most remote and out-of-the-way places on Earth. Matthias, a Frenchman, is an expert in cutting costs and in proving his favourite saying: "you have a lot to learn about the French". Kanako, a Japanese girl, is much more adventurous than your average Tokyo girl.

These two British lads (both from the London area) are studying at the hotel here in Mérida with me. Karl's just a bit older than me, and is going around the world the opposite way to me: Mexico is also his first stop, though. James is a fair bit older, and is just hanging out in Mexico for a few weeks, while he's got some time off work. Being British and all, these guys were more than happy to go out for some beers, with me and various other people, at whatever pubs they could find.

I met Noam when I checked in at Nomadas this morning. He's a laid-back, good Jewish boy (like myself) from Boston: he's from the same neighbourhood as my cousins, but he doesn't know them. He's been in Mexico for 2 months, and now he wants to go to the UK, and do a masters in anthropology at Oxford.

I had about an hour to spare for dinner while I was in the city of Villahermosa, in between bus trips. So I went across the road from the bus terminal, to grab a taco. The way the local kids there greeted me, you'd think I was a movie star or something! I guess they don't see many tourists round here. They all wanted to sit and chat while I ate my tacos, and then they all wanted a photo with me.

How I managed to meet Mauricio (and, in turn, Lachlan) was another case of fate being mi mejor amigo. A few days ago, a guy called Antonio Ognio, in Peru, emailed me with a Drupal support query. When I emailed him back and told him I was in Mexico, he said that I had to visit his FOSS friend Mauricio, if I was going to be in Xalapa. Well, it just so turns out that here I am in Xalapa!

Steve and I arrived and checked in to Hostal de la Niebla at the same time this evening, with me coming from Mexico City (to the west), and with Steve coming from Tampico (to the north). Since there weren't many other people at the hostel, and since we got on really well, we ended up doing pretty much everything in Xalapa together.

Two crazy Danish girls grabbed three unsuspecting guys from the hostel (one of whom was me), and took us to the crazy bar called Cabaré Tito, in Mexico City's Zona Rosa district.

Only in Cabaré Tito can you watch a transsexual singer performing live. It's that kind of place. The performance was disturbing, to say the least.

The taxi driver convinced me to stay at Hotel Reforma Avenue, instead of staying at a hostel. Despite being more expensive, however, this stay was definitely worth it, because fate arranged for me to meet Jackeline.