Amigos Bravisimo

For non-Spanish-speakers, try Google Translate

¡Que bueno ver a Juan y Memo de nuevo!

Conocí a ellos durante el primer viaje a México en años recientes. (Visité a este país bonito dos veces hace muchos años, pero la experiencias fueron muy diferente...en quien yo era y también las metas de los viajes.) Ese viaje, durante 2013, era un celebración de completar el serie de Rosetta Stone Spanish - Latin America. Encontré una festival de circo en México y decidí a ir con mi novia. El festival, El Periplo, era una experiencia fantástica...¡que ha crecido tanto que ahora ocurre durante tres semanas!

Cuando regresé al hogar, recordé muchos de los actos de El Periplo, y en particular los payasos excelentes, Los Hermanos Bravisimo, un acto del grupo Los Bravisimo. Aunque no me había incluido mi mismo en los discusiones del espectáculo del Kansas City Juggling Festival mucho en años anteriores (trababa en los talleres/programa y el alojamiento), sugería muchas veces les Hermanos Bravisimo  -- Juan y Memo -- para el acto principal. En 2015, se realizó, y los Hermanos Bravisimo vinieron a nuestro festival y encantaron nuestro audiencia con comedia maravillosa.

Durante el festival, Jo Kamm creó estatuas 3D de Los Hermanos. Durante los años entre KCJF2015 y ahora, hemos continuado estar amigos en Facebook. Finalmente, during esta aventura, nos vimos de nuevo, aquí en su ciudad.

La vista del Foro Periplo de la casa de Juan.

Ahora, Periplo tiene su propio hogar aquí en Guadalajara: Foro Periplo tiene espacio para espectáculos y espacio cómodo para cafe y bebidas. El festival ha crecido a un evento de tres semanas! Y para nuestro estancia durante PAMA, nos quedamos en la casa de Juan, que está directamente en frente del Foro Periplo, al otro lade del calle.

Nick y yo gastamos dos noches aquí por mantener las motos. Planeamos cambiar el aceite y filtro, pero descubrimos esta mañana mientras salíamos que la batería mía era muerta. Afortunadamente, Nick tiene un dispositivo para arrancar baterías muertas.

Llegamos a MOTO Servicio Serrano por el recomendación de Baketa, un amigo de Memo y Juan. Cuando llegamos allí, nos ayudaron inmediatamente.

MOTO Servicio Serrano...motos adentro...motos afuera...motos al otro lado de la calle.

Para pagar, no tuve suficiente dinero (no esperé la batería muerta). Fui para buscar cajero automático, pero el primer ya no estaba allí...ni el segundo...finalmente, el tercer cajero automático todavía existió y me dio el dinero.

Después, nos reunimos con Memo, y él nos llevó para tour de la ciudad, incluso camarones excelentes con sus amigos de circo y una visita a Tlaquepaque, una zona artística.

Cazuelas en Tlaquepaque

Camote...un placer de Guadalajara.

Que bueno disfrutar la hospitalidad de amigos excelentes...un hogar lejos del hogar. Muchas gracias, Amigos Bravisimos!

The Hospitality of Torreón

Awhile back, in A Note on Safety I cited the goodness of the world in the list of things intended to reassure folks of our safety and security during this trek. There are, to be certain, folks who intend harm upon others. However, I think they are greatly outnumbered by those who are either apathetic toward strangers and those who seek to assist.

In the short time we've been here, Torreón has demonstrated itself to contain very hospitable folk.

A bit after we first rolled into the city, we decided it would be good to pull over and consult the map. The bikes were feeling the heat -- and so were we -- so we both wanted a bit of curbside shade. Nick's curbside shade happened to be in front of Enrique's house. At this point, of course, we had never met (or heard of) Enrique; he happened to come home, though, as Nick and I were consulting the GPS. Wanting to make sure Nick's bike wasn't blocking his garage, we greeted him. Not only was he not worried about the motorcycle, he inquired about our trip. Hearing we had just rolled into town and hadn't yet found a hotel, he pointed us toward a quaint part of town and recommended a lovely hotel. He then extended his hospitality further by recommending an excellent eatery. I gave him a contact card and we parted ways.

Who knew? Don Quixote and Sancho Panza -- two of my favorite characters -- sally forth just a block away from Taco Taco.

Unfortunately, the hotel was fully booked, but there were several others in that part of town, and Nick and I were quickly situated in adequate accommodations. As soon as I logged into the wifi, I found that Enrique had already sent a couple messages via WhatsApp, checking in, offering assistance should we need it, and sending links to the hotel and restaurant he'd recommended. Later, when Nick and I headed to Taco Taco, per Enrique's suggestion, we were discovered by Enrique and his family who has decided to dine there that evening as well. He also ended up recommending a walk down Matamoros street on our way back to the hotel. It was all quite lovely.

The full moon rising over a sculpture in the plaza on Matamoros Street.

When we finally arrived back at the hotel and were preparing to lock the bikes together for the night, the neighbor from across the street came over to chat. I've unfortunately already forgotten his name, but he offered his gated garage for the security of our bikes overnight. We were inclined to take his offer, but after a bit more discussion it seemed more suitable to move them to the sidewalk in the entryway of the hotel. We continued chatting, though, and learned that he was quite a well-traveled fellow: with voyages all over the Americas and Europe. A really friendly and interesting guy!

Más seguro que la calle!

And although I'm highlighting Torreón in this post, I should also mention the clerk at Hotel El Camino Real. When she saw we were from Kansas City, she happily pointed out that she used to live in Salina and Hutchinson. Small world! It was fun to connect about life in the Midwest.

Tolvanera

So there we were, not even 15 minutes outside of Hidalgo del Parral, when we notice that the dust cloud ahead and to the right had an oddly vertical aspect. Clearly time to turn on the camera:

That's right, ladies and gentlemen; that there is the star of this mornings Palabras Nuevas! post: a real, live tolvanera!

I now realize why the definition of "tolvanera" did not include "tormenta". This was decidedly not a storm. More light a tornado-in-training. Still, I don't really care to imagine what it would be like to drive through one on a motorcycle.

There was another we saw later in the day, too...somewhere closer to Torreón. It was too far from the road to capture on video, but was clearly of the same ilk, with the distinct funnel inside of a dust cloud.

Palabras Nuevas!

For non-Spanish-speakers, try Google Translate

Durante el camino el otro día, estaba escuchando un podcast: PodCastle 516b. Era una cuenta se llama "In the Stacks", y incluso monstruos que crecieron cuando oyeron palabras nuevas. Una cuenta interesante! ...que me recordó de Harry Potter.

Después, ayer, por la ruta a Parral, sentí como uno de esos monstruos. Vi unas palabras nuevas, y cada vez el interés mío creció nuevamente.

• La primera: tolvanera. Estuvieron señales avisando, "PRECAUCIÓN. ZONA DE TOLVANERAS". Aunque no he oído está palabras o otra similar, pensé que una tolvanera debe ser una tormenta de polvo porque en New Mexico estuvieron señales avisando que conductores parar durante dust storms y esperar.
  
  Cuando llegué al hotel, de veras, Google Translate me dijo que tolvanera significa "remolino de polvo".
• Ajá! Otra palabra nueva: remolino. Un camino de conejo cuando buscando palabras en el diccionario... YouTube esperé la palabra "tormenta", pero el diccionario me regaló "remolino". Cuando la buscaba, encontré la traducción "swirl; whirlpool". Todavía, mí concepción de tolvanera era seguro.
• Hay muchos camiones grandes en la carretera en México. Muchos tienen señales en las puertas detrás que dicen algo de remolques. Aunque el significante en total era claro, me dieron curiosidad de esta palabra en particular. Cuando buscaba, encontré que remolcar significa "to tow" y remolques son "trailers". Por supuesto.

  

  No podría encontrar una foto buena de "remolque", pero puedes ver el exemplo malo aquí.

• Una más. De verdad, no es nuevo, pero una palabra que disfruto es rebasar. Hay muchos señales de rebasar y rebasando.
  
  Es la palabra para cuando un coche pasa por otro coche viajando en el mismo dirección en la carretera. Señales significan requisitos como "passing zone" y "do not pass".
• Acotamiento no es una palabra nueva, pero es útil.
  
  Relacionado: la palabra paradero es nueva para mi.
  
  El paradero es un lugar en el acotamiento donde se puede parar y descansar. Pero, debes evitar circular allí!
  
  (De veras, no entiendo esto totalmente. Tal vez significa, "no maneje mucho el el paradero." Amigos, ¿qué piensan?)
• Otro señal que no comprendo totalmente: "conceda el cambio de luces."
  
  Aunque no hay palabras nuevas, no sé lo que significa. Low beams vs high beams? Turn signals? Dígame, amigos, ¿qué piensan?
• Otra vez, aquí tenemos palabras que yo sé, pero el uso es interesante: "Pega duro hacia el éxito." La traducción que me ocurre es "Hang tough until you succeed."
  

Otros señales para tu diversión:

ESTE CAMINO NO ES DE ALTA VELOCIDAD

EN CHIHUAHUA QUEREMOS CARRETERAS LIMPIAS
AYUDANOS A CUIDARLAS Y MANTENERLAS
GOBIERNA DEL ESTADO

CEDA EL PASO

POR SU SEGURIDAD UTILICE EL CINTURON

PRECAUCION
ENTRADA Y SALIDA DE VEHICULOS A 1000 METROS

ESTIMADO CONDUCTOR:
TU FAMILIA TE ESPERA
MANEJA CON PRECAUCION

MODERE SU VELOCIDAD

PRECAUCIÓN
TRAMO EN REPARACIÓN

Tengo ganas de las palabras nuevas hoy!

It was a quick jaunt through the states!

Fast but pretty through the states..  We have been lucky with the weather.  In fact, our first hot day wasn't until yesterday.  Today we cross into country number three, Mexico.  Eventually I'll find time to parse through some of my video footage.

Cascade, MT, 5/24

Henry's Lake, 5/24

Blackfoot, ID, 5/25

Big John, Helper, UT, 5/25

Chimney Rock, CO, 5/26

Climbing mountains near Taos, 5/26

Taos, NM

The Weather's-a Changin'!

As expected...and quite obvious...the weather has been steadily warming as we've been driving south. Nick said his bike's thermometer read 99˚F as we passed down through New Mexico yesterday. Dry and hot!

Some chain maintenance in the hotel parking lot last night as the evening cooled.

Amidst the heat, I got a reminder of the cool of Alaska, though: an email from Carl and Jenny, who I met at the Arctic Circle. There was also a tour van that showed up at the same time we were there and we all got a group pic:

With Carl...

...and with Jenny.

It's nice to be reminded of the cooler weather...an image I'll try to keep in mind as I desiccate here in the desert.

Today, we'll cross into Mexico and aim for Parral, just south of Chihuahua. Our next big goal is to meet up with Hermanos Bravisimmo. I met them in 2013 at El Periplo, an excellent circus festival in Guadalajara, and in 2015 we brought them to KC to star in the show at the Kansas City Juggling Festival. They were a massive hit. It will be great to see them again.

What's the dog's name again?

While Ryan and Nick are jaunting across the Americas, the folks back home are minus two rather large personalities. (I say that with all the love in the world!) We're enjoying keeping up with the boys' adventures, and decided to make a game of it. Why should they have all the fun, right? I give you

                                       *

*This card was selected at random
*To be played in the style of "Bingo," formerly "Beano," formerly "le Lotto," formerly "Lo Giuocco del Lotto d'Italia
*Not actual size

Rules- Well, not "rules," really, more like "guidelines." : You may cross off ONLY the items they actually post about. They are under strict instruction to not fake or fabricate any of these scenarios.

So far they have:

Seen a bear

Posted a photo of a moose

Gotten 8 consecutive hours of sleep (those slackers)

Posted a picture of a rainbow (This was an executive decision on my part. There's not been a photo OF a rainbow, but Ryan did post a photo with a rainbow IN it. I decided that should count. Neither of them strike me as the pull-over-to-snap-a-rainbow-pic type.)

Here's the link, if you'd like to play along:
 http://mfbc.us/m/s9af8m

Happy daubing!