Gringolandia

I just arrived in Cancun after a grueling 24 hours of travel. Last night myself and the newly weds  left Casper at about 8pm. We spent an uneventful night in the airport. However, nothing makes me feel more like a bum than crawling out of my sewn up goodwill sheet, and grunting on the floor in the darkest corner of the Denver International Airport.
   This go around I am trying out the international couch surfing circuit, and I am impressed! Half out of necessity, because not a single hostel room was available in Gringolandia on New Years Eve, I searched out a host in Cancun. Irac accepted my request right away, and picked me up at the chaotic bus terminal in downtown Cancun. While he navigated the obsurd  downtown traffic to his apartment, he told me he has lived in every state in Mexico, plus Torronto, Canada and New York City. Once we arrived at his super chic/modern apartment he told me that tonight we are going to party all night long with his friends, and it is going to be a real Mexican New Years celebration. So now I dont want to be the lemon guest that falls asleep before the salsa dancing evens starts! I am taking a power nap, and getting my party face on! PRONTO

Tomorrow I am headed to Isla Holbox to meet up with an Italian girlfriend I met in Costa Rica. La vida esta Buena! Feliz Año Nuevo. Aye, I have to over come my fear and start speaking spanish quickly!

If It's Not Yours, Don't Touch It

           

The MacCarter Family Christmas tree is up, which seconds as the cat lounge when no one is on guard, and we are all excited to spend one of the last Christmas’s with all 4 of us together. Over Thanksgiving my brother shared the wonderful news that he received a promotion for being a bad-ass computer dude and would be moving to the Southeast to… write code or whatever, and make big-ish bucks! Now, my big bro and I have not been pumping the big-foam-finger for one another our entire lives, but hey we’re not in the 90’s anymore and well, I love that guy!

             My brother is the opposite of me in almost everyway. He is a total minimalist. For example once I bought him wall and table décor as a house-warming gift and he rolled his eyes and inquired about the receipt. It was only after convincing him that the ladies need a hallway mirror to check their make-up when they come over that he consented.  So he doesn’t have a lot of stuff, but when he decides to splurge it is on techi gadgets, with price tags that make my head spin. Okay, honestly that doesn’t take much.  I am the girl with the quasi-broken hand me down ipod shuffle with 2 settings play/ off, and the only flat screen I own is a kindle e-reader. But my brother is cool! He’s got it all. The so fast it’ll melt your face Mac-book pro pro, the I-pad, the Mini Cooper, and the swagger like Mick Jagger. Alright, now I am getting carried away. 

            My brother is also the opposite of me in his preparation and organization. Most mornings you’d find me rinsing toothpaste out of my mouth with coffee from my mug, as I sprint to the car. Where as my brother is the annoying guy that arrives to work at 7:50, and has everything lined out for the day. Which is why when he was preparing to come home this evening to visit the family he had his little cooper all stuffed like santa’s slay with gifts and gadgets to give away. Then some sculduggerous Christmas hater chose to break the window of his car, and remove ALL the fun toys.

            Thieves get my blood boiling in a special way. When a thief stole my wallet at a border in Central America I didn’t stand there and just start crying. No, I ran that carnál into the jungle, shouting obscenities I don’t want my mother to read.  Then there was the time my bicycle was stolen from my basement, and I posted signs around town that said “I hope you ride my bike without a helmet and get hit by a monster truck.”

             When someone steals from someone you love it gets you upset in a whole different way. A way that is more helpless and less justified, but equally infuriating. You know what mr. car thief you didn’t just steal a lap top or a jacket. You stole Christmas! You stole a mom getting to coddle her son for 3 of her 7 days a year, and her opportunity to share some part of his exciting big move. You stole a father’s opportunity to tell his son that he thinks “he is a good man, and he is really proud of him.” You stole my chance to wrangle him into making mom-mom’s sugar cookies, and laugh at our silly parents. These are things that would have been humdrum had he been here, but will be missed when they don’t happen. Like a stockings stuffed with toothpaste and deodorant.

Scene of the crime