I believe I’ve been on the road for about 3 months now, it’s hard to tell really, there aren’t seasons down here, the weather only changes when I change locations.
The nice part, though, is that I haven’t blown my budget and appear to be on track for skipping the cold northern winter.
In fact, I’m doing quite well on a budget. My hair brained scheme to make money online as I travel the world is actually working. Where there is wifi, I can work. And I have been working.
I have been getting new clients and work with writing and editing, but I am also trying to jump start Los Pinche Gringos, trade stocks, study investing and Spanish and travel all over the massive country of Mexico. Somehow I am doing it.
Plus I found a job.
But let’s rewind for a second. My last update involved belching in a woman’s face after eating an entire chicken. I’ve covered a lot of ground since then, and ended up where I least expected a lot sooner than I expected… doubly unexpected!
I had agreed to meet a friend near Cancun, forgot about that, then bought a plane ticket to meet another friend way on the other side of the country. My friend arrived when I was a few cities away and raced to catch up. Jane and her gang have an incredible travel saga involving a 3 day tour with 2 night busses to meet in San Cristobál de las Casas and see some sights along the way so we could have roughly 24 hours together. I showed them around town and bought some strange mystery fruit soaked in sugar water from a street vender. I ate it, and several hours later I was in a tailspin of delusional dehydration as every ounce of water was expelled from my body. I took some pills and tried to sleep to catch my shuttle to the airport at 5:30 the next morning. It was honestly the toughest day of travel I have pulled off yet.
I didn’t have any food or water left in my body and I didn’t want to add any either, I had 2 busses and 2 planes to catch today before getting to a safe hotel (with a close bathroom). When I arrived to meet my friend 8 hours later I was greeted by a hostel hostess who told me I looked very “weak.” Thanks for noticing…
After a day of rest and keeping down some water, I met up with some Durango buddies and they invited me and all my new hostel friends to a Raicilla Festival (thank you Tunes!!).
Unfortunately I was still on antibiotics and under the weather so I couldn’t partake, but I went for social sake. I ended up meeting a few bartender folks and a gang starting a new restaurant in a small pueblo nearby. I assured them I would come and see this “pueblo magico” and then headed for the beach with no intention of returning. I’ve already lived in the mountains…
At the beach I saw one of the bartenders from the fest (yes, she is pretty) and immediately put my horrible Spanish to work. We exchanged contact information and I went on my way north to find the perfect beach town to set up shop.
I didn’t find one.
I accompanied my friend back to PV to see him off and then was left without the faintest clue of what I was doing with my life. I spent Christmas in PV (thanks again to the Tune family) and then realized the whole town was booked up for New Year’s a few days later. I texted my friend to see how she was doing in San Sebastián and she said she was gearing up for a massive opening NYE party at the new restaurant. I jokingly implied that I’m handy behind a bar and could lend some assistance if need be and told her I would come up for a visit in the town since I was getting kicked out of PV.
After I arrived she informed me that she got me the job for the NYE event, and that really, it would go much better with 2 bartenders. Stymied that my sarcasm led to a job, I dusted off my shakers and bar kit (yes I have carried it all these kilometers) and went to work. My first shift in a few months went well, especially for making her 7 ingredient cocktails after never seeing the recipes before… I still need to have a word with her about making more simple cocktails…
After the event, the whole staff was asking how long I was going to stay. Again, stymied, I said I thought I was only working a gig.
So ya… I guess I have a real job now.
But it’s actually turning out to be the exact situation I had been looking for. I have time to do my online work during the day and work the bar on the weekend and evenings. I also get free Spanish lessons at work and am the only gringo living in town. Qué chido.
The travel tip here is don’t stall people. Whatever you wanna do, just go do it. You will never be able to predict the turns your trip (or life) will take, so just be open and run with it.
Life of pfeif 