Well, as usual, nothing much going on around this neck of the woods, but I was contacted by a friend who worked up a niece video about the Texas border.
Unfortunately, I had told him I'd be using it for my blog and that I'd be posting it up. That was a few days back, and I never did because I was feeling overwhelmed with the Hartley case we're working on.
Fortunately, I've finally gotten around to doing it. Here it is:
That video was from Romo0012 who has agreed to help me capture the beauty and peace of our borders.
I have to admit, he is doing above and beyond a magnificent job and I can't wait to see what he offers next.
As for me, I seemed to have misplaced my camera and haven't been able to get around to video taping.
As soon as I find it, I'll be posting up my finds.
So far, nothing much has been going on besides the beautiful weather we are having.
We finally got some rain, and it's been cloudy, raining off and on throughout the week.
The only thing I don't like about the rain is the Texas size mosquitoes that follow it, but I think it's a nice time to go out fishing at the river.
I'll let you know how that goes next time around.
Take care.
m
Friday, July 1, 2011
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Violence on the border?
You know, I wonder sometimes if the media has brainwashed me into believing that Mexico is violent, just like it has brainwashed the rest of the country into believing that this side of the border is violent?
I mean, we see the news every day; the gruesome deaths; the kidnappings; the shootouts.
The violence in Mexico is out of control!
So, why do I have family and friends who live over there telling me otherwise?
From my own experiences in Mexico in the last few months, I know it's not safe.
I'd never experienced being in the middle of a shoot out until a few months ago when we went over there to visit family. Then, almost everyday since then there was always a shootout nearby to where we were staying.
And if it wasn't a shootout, it was roadblocks, but not the kind of roadblocks that Nancy Davis experienced when she was fatal shot to death.
No, these were big rig trucks, or buses, that would block the road to prevent traffic from going through, mainly, I believe, to prevent the military from getting by, or maybe because the cartel wanted to ensure that innocent civilians didn't get caught in the cross fire? Or maybe these were civilians who knew something was going to happen down that road and they wanted to protect others?
I don't know, but I do know that the day we were there when we got caught in the crossfire, we didn't know where the shooting was taking place. When my mother-in-law went to go and grab a taxi to get us out of the danger zone, our taxi, unknowingly, started driving into the area where the shootout was taking place. If it hadn't been for some very big-hearted civilians stopping us and telling us to turn around, we would have probably gone right into the heart of the shooting, but I washed in amazement at the courage of these 3 guys, who a while before had been standing there under the bridge selling roses, now they were jumping right in front of vehicles, risking their lives to make sure others were safe with theirs!
It might not have been much of a gesture to some. There are people in this world who have done greater deeds and we go on to call them heroes, but to me, those 3 guys were heroes. Any other day I would have looked at them and thought they were bums or druggies looking for drugs, but that day, I swear I could see a golden heart shining through their chest. The moment will forever touch me at just how great some people can be, even for such a small gesture as making sure we don't drive straight into a shoot out.
And, so after that experience, it was kind of hard for me to function properly.
I was constantly expecting to hear gunshots start ringing out at unexpectedly, or for a stray bullet to hit me.
And while the site of soldiers, at first, was welcoming, they had been our first warning the day of the shootout. Not to mention the warning from the taxi driver that picked us up before the shooting.
Before the shooting, we were standing outside a store eating snacks and getting ready to hitch a ride in a taxi.
As we were standing there, we saw a caravan of soldiers driving by. I thought they were the good guys, and like I always do, I try to teach my children to show their respect and gratitude for their service by waving and smiling. On this occasion, I wasn't going to do it because I had heard rumors that the soldiers were just as bad as the cartel, but my mother-in-law had been living there all her life, and I assumed she knew more about these things, so when she told my kids to wave at them, I joined them and encouraged my kids to do the same.
We hailed the taxi that was driving right behind the caravan of soldiers. Immediately upon getting in the taxi driver got after us.
"Don't ever wave at the soldiers! They are not our friends! People have gotten killed for waving at them. The soldiers are crazy! You wave at them and they think you are spies for the Zetas! The other day they killed a mother and her children for waving at them. They thought they were spies!"
It was the worst feeling in the world to hear that!
And not for the reasons that you would think.
You see, before I waved at the soldiers, I had thought about the possibility that we might be seen waving at them by their enemy, and the enemy might not like it and might want to retaliate against us.
And while the taxi driver was telling us this, my husband was sending off his own dire warnings to the taxi cab driver.
"You just don't know who to trust anymore. I hear that the Zeta's have now taken control of the taxi's as well. What a better way to keep an eye on the military, especially because not only do they get to travel around undercover, but they also learn from what people say when they hitch a ride. Hey, don't I know you? You look familiar. I've seen you before!"
At this moment, the taxi driver gets nervous and tells us that he cannot continue giving us a ride. We must get off!
"The military saw you guys getting in the ride with me! They will retaliate against you guys and I don't want to be caught in the crossfire! I cannot go any further. Please get off! You don't have to pay me, just get off!"
And with that, he was gone.
About 10 minutes later the shootings started.
Oddly enough, after we had hitched a ride and almost drove right back into the shooting, I saw the taxi driver again in front of us doing a turn around where those 3 guys were blocking traffic. It was the most harrowing moments in my life because as the taxi driver was backing up to turn around, he had been looking back to make sure not to hit the car behind him, and for a brief moment, he looked up and our eyes locked. There was recognition and I fervently prayed that he would overlook our ignorance and just leave us alone.
Maybe it was his past friendship with my in-laws, or maybe he just realized we were ignorant to the going on's of the cartel, but he never bothered us again, thankfully, but one thing was for sure, that taxi driver was working for someone, and his hate for the military only made it clear that he was working for the cartel!
So not knowing made it all the worse. Not knowing who you were dealing with, or not knowing if something as innocent as waving might result in a violent reaction, all of it, scared me.
I was not comfortable and I wanted to go home to safety!
And the day that we got to the Mexican side of the border, there were soldiers there at the bus stop.
The sight of soldiers quickly became one that was not welcoming, not because of whether or not they were the good guys. That I'll never know, but because the sight of them meant that they were looking for someone in the vicinity, and it could be at any moment that a full fledged war could erupt.
To make matters worse, the moment we got there, the soldiers started acting all antsy. It looked like something had happened and they were getting prepared for a fight. We did not want to get caught in the middle of it, and we definitely didn't want to wait to see what happened, so as quickly as we could, we dashed across the bridge never looking back!
That was months ago.
Since then, important members of the cartel have either been killed or captured.
The result of that has led the dying cartel to take extreme measures. In my opinion, the way they want to win is to scare their opponent away by making the death of their enemy as disgustingly horrible as possible, and making sure the world sees it so they can back away.
The reality of what goes on over there, I may never know.
What I do know is that recently family and friends who live over there are surprised when I say we can't go visit them because of the violence.
They don't see it like we do.
And it made me wonder.
Have I fallen victim to the lies of the media?
It didn't occur to me just because.
What happened is that I was doing research and wanted to capture a video from Roma, Texas looking out into Mexico.
The thing was that the Sheriff of Zapata had just recently told the nation that people in Starr County were living in fear and that one home there had been hit by a stray bullet from Mexico.
This was surprising to hear considering that most of the drug wars that occur on the border towns in Mexico, either happen in the city or at it's entrance coming in from deeper Mexico. Rarely do they occur near the river, and I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but I was just wondering how that could be possible in Starr County?
I mean, most of the cities/towns in Mexico that border Starr County are deeper in and away from the cities on this side. Usually, when you stand on this side and look out into Mexico, all you see is either farm land or forest, so the chances of a house on this side getting hit by a stray bullet from a battle between the cartel are almost non-existent.
However, there was one place where this might be possible, but I didn't see how, and that was Roma, Texas.
The Mexican town across from Roma, Texas is Ciudad Miguel Aleman, and the two border cities are almost touching each other had it not been for a river standing between them.
However, Roma sits on a hill overlooking Miguel Aleman, so I had to wonder about those stray bullets, and so I went out there to scope the place out to see if it was possible for a stray bullet to hit a building on this side, and I came to the conclusion that it was possible, but it would have to be coming from a very lousy shooter, or intentionally, neither of which I believe happened.
But to my surprise, when I reached Roma Bluffs and looked out into Mexico, I wasn't expecting to see people down by the river having a good time.
I had expected to see a grim looking city with few people out, and believe me, you can still see a little of the grimness in this video I captured:
To be honest, I don't know if I'm being sarcastic with that last comment. The city in the backdrop does look dead and grim, but these people obviously don't really care, and believe it or not, some of the people down there by the river are American.
If it is so dangerous over there, what are they doing out like this in plain site?
That was the question that kept rolling through my mind, and let me make it clear that I in no way am saying it is safe to go to Mexico. The video was meant to capture the safety on this side, but it did make me wonder if maybe, just maybe, I had fallen victim to the lies of the media.
What if it's not that bad across the border?
Sure, we have blogs like "El Blod del Narco" and "Borderland Beats" that talk about the gruesome happenings in places like Reynosa, et al., but that's what they are focused on.
Imagine if someone were to focus on all the crimes happening in the U.S.A.? I bet you it would make us look like such a dangerous place, but the difference is that crime in Mexico has taken a gruesome turn with the beheadings and dismemberments, making the crimes look more serious, which they are, but it shifts the focus away from the reason for the crime.
Let me see if I can make my point clear:
Imagine for a moment that the gangs in our neighborhoods decided to fight each other like the cartel is doing in Mexico.
Imagine that, instead of just shooting each other, they are now focusing on making sure to scare off their rivals by making sure that once they capture the enemy, they make sure he suffers the most gruesome of deaths, by mutilating their bodies, etc.
Imagine if that were to happen. the reasons for the crime are the same. It is gang against gang. The crime being committed is between them, and along the way, they might murder someone because of mistaken identity, or they might kidnap a family member of the rival to get them to submit, or they might start fighting in public and hurt someone innocent unintentionally because of stray bullets.
The result would be that this was gang related violence.
Some neighborhoods hear about this gang related violence more than others, but for the most part, we are safe. And when we hear about gang related violence, we mainly think that it is between gangs, and the only way a gang will hurt you intentionally is if you are a member of their rival's gang. Or if you snitch on them, or try to walk away from gang life, etc.
Much the same is happening in Mexico, and I hope I'm making my point clear.
It's not that I'm trying to excuse any behavior, because I know I've been accused of that a lot, but rather, I'm trying to break it down to my point of view on things. Is it really that dangerous in Mexico?
I don't know, to be honest with you.
From my experience, it was dangerous over there, but what about now?
We don't live there to know for sure, and several sources tell me I'm letting the media play with my head, and with this video I just recently recorded, it does make me wonder...
Have I fallen victim to the lies of the media? Am I viewing Mexico like people up north view the Texas border?
I'm starting to think I am...what do you think?
I mean, we see the news every day; the gruesome deaths; the kidnappings; the shootouts.
The violence in Mexico is out of control!
So, why do I have family and friends who live over there telling me otherwise?
From my own experiences in Mexico in the last few months, I know it's not safe.
I'd never experienced being in the middle of a shoot out until a few months ago when we went over there to visit family. Then, almost everyday since then there was always a shootout nearby to where we were staying.
And if it wasn't a shootout, it was roadblocks, but not the kind of roadblocks that Nancy Davis experienced when she was fatal shot to death.
No, these were big rig trucks, or buses, that would block the road to prevent traffic from going through, mainly, I believe, to prevent the military from getting by, or maybe because the cartel wanted to ensure that innocent civilians didn't get caught in the cross fire? Or maybe these were civilians who knew something was going to happen down that road and they wanted to protect others?
I don't know, but I do know that the day we were there when we got caught in the crossfire, we didn't know where the shooting was taking place. When my mother-in-law went to go and grab a taxi to get us out of the danger zone, our taxi, unknowingly, started driving into the area where the shootout was taking place. If it hadn't been for some very big-hearted civilians stopping us and telling us to turn around, we would have probably gone right into the heart of the shooting, but I washed in amazement at the courage of these 3 guys, who a while before had been standing there under the bridge selling roses, now they were jumping right in front of vehicles, risking their lives to make sure others were safe with theirs!
It might not have been much of a gesture to some. There are people in this world who have done greater deeds and we go on to call them heroes, but to me, those 3 guys were heroes. Any other day I would have looked at them and thought they were bums or druggies looking for drugs, but that day, I swear I could see a golden heart shining through their chest. The moment will forever touch me at just how great some people can be, even for such a small gesture as making sure we don't drive straight into a shoot out.
And, so after that experience, it was kind of hard for me to function properly.
I was constantly expecting to hear gunshots start ringing out at unexpectedly, or for a stray bullet to hit me.
And while the site of soldiers, at first, was welcoming, they had been our first warning the day of the shootout. Not to mention the warning from the taxi driver that picked us up before the shooting.
Before the shooting, we were standing outside a store eating snacks and getting ready to hitch a ride in a taxi.
As we were standing there, we saw a caravan of soldiers driving by. I thought they were the good guys, and like I always do, I try to teach my children to show their respect and gratitude for their service by waving and smiling. On this occasion, I wasn't going to do it because I had heard rumors that the soldiers were just as bad as the cartel, but my mother-in-law had been living there all her life, and I assumed she knew more about these things, so when she told my kids to wave at them, I joined them and encouraged my kids to do the same.
We hailed the taxi that was driving right behind the caravan of soldiers. Immediately upon getting in the taxi driver got after us.
"Don't ever wave at the soldiers! They are not our friends! People have gotten killed for waving at them. The soldiers are crazy! You wave at them and they think you are spies for the Zetas! The other day they killed a mother and her children for waving at them. They thought they were spies!"
It was the worst feeling in the world to hear that!
And not for the reasons that you would think.
You see, before I waved at the soldiers, I had thought about the possibility that we might be seen waving at them by their enemy, and the enemy might not like it and might want to retaliate against us.
And while the taxi driver was telling us this, my husband was sending off his own dire warnings to the taxi cab driver.
"You just don't know who to trust anymore. I hear that the Zeta's have now taken control of the taxi's as well. What a better way to keep an eye on the military, especially because not only do they get to travel around undercover, but they also learn from what people say when they hitch a ride. Hey, don't I know you? You look familiar. I've seen you before!"
At this moment, the taxi driver gets nervous and tells us that he cannot continue giving us a ride. We must get off!
"The military saw you guys getting in the ride with me! They will retaliate against you guys and I don't want to be caught in the crossfire! I cannot go any further. Please get off! You don't have to pay me, just get off!"
And with that, he was gone.
About 10 minutes later the shootings started.
Oddly enough, after we had hitched a ride and almost drove right back into the shooting, I saw the taxi driver again in front of us doing a turn around where those 3 guys were blocking traffic. It was the most harrowing moments in my life because as the taxi driver was backing up to turn around, he had been looking back to make sure not to hit the car behind him, and for a brief moment, he looked up and our eyes locked. There was recognition and I fervently prayed that he would overlook our ignorance and just leave us alone.
Maybe it was his past friendship with my in-laws, or maybe he just realized we were ignorant to the going on's of the cartel, but he never bothered us again, thankfully, but one thing was for sure, that taxi driver was working for someone, and his hate for the military only made it clear that he was working for the cartel!
So not knowing made it all the worse. Not knowing who you were dealing with, or not knowing if something as innocent as waving might result in a violent reaction, all of it, scared me.
I was not comfortable and I wanted to go home to safety!
And the day that we got to the Mexican side of the border, there were soldiers there at the bus stop.
The sight of soldiers quickly became one that was not welcoming, not because of whether or not they were the good guys. That I'll never know, but because the sight of them meant that they were looking for someone in the vicinity, and it could be at any moment that a full fledged war could erupt.
To make matters worse, the moment we got there, the soldiers started acting all antsy. It looked like something had happened and they were getting prepared for a fight. We did not want to get caught in the middle of it, and we definitely didn't want to wait to see what happened, so as quickly as we could, we dashed across the bridge never looking back!
That was months ago.
Since then, important members of the cartel have either been killed or captured.
The result of that has led the dying cartel to take extreme measures. In my opinion, the way they want to win is to scare their opponent away by making the death of their enemy as disgustingly horrible as possible, and making sure the world sees it so they can back away.
The reality of what goes on over there, I may never know.
What I do know is that recently family and friends who live over there are surprised when I say we can't go visit them because of the violence.
They don't see it like we do.
And it made me wonder.
Have I fallen victim to the lies of the media?
It didn't occur to me just because.
What happened is that I was doing research and wanted to capture a video from Roma, Texas looking out into Mexico.
The thing was that the Sheriff of Zapata had just recently told the nation that people in Starr County were living in fear and that one home there had been hit by a stray bullet from Mexico.
This was surprising to hear considering that most of the drug wars that occur on the border towns in Mexico, either happen in the city or at it's entrance coming in from deeper Mexico. Rarely do they occur near the river, and I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but I was just wondering how that could be possible in Starr County?
I mean, most of the cities/towns in Mexico that border Starr County are deeper in and away from the cities on this side. Usually, when you stand on this side and look out into Mexico, all you see is either farm land or forest, so the chances of a house on this side getting hit by a stray bullet from a battle between the cartel are almost non-existent.
However, there was one place where this might be possible, but I didn't see how, and that was Roma, Texas.
The Mexican town across from Roma, Texas is Ciudad Miguel Aleman, and the two border cities are almost touching each other had it not been for a river standing between them.
However, Roma sits on a hill overlooking Miguel Aleman, so I had to wonder about those stray bullets, and so I went out there to scope the place out to see if it was possible for a stray bullet to hit a building on this side, and I came to the conclusion that it was possible, but it would have to be coming from a very lousy shooter, or intentionally, neither of which I believe happened.
But to my surprise, when I reached Roma Bluffs and looked out into Mexico, I wasn't expecting to see people down by the river having a good time.
I had expected to see a grim looking city with few people out, and believe me, you can still see a little of the grimness in this video I captured:
To be honest, I don't know if I'm being sarcastic with that last comment. The city in the backdrop does look dead and grim, but these people obviously don't really care, and believe it or not, some of the people down there by the river are American.
If it is so dangerous over there, what are they doing out like this in plain site?
That was the question that kept rolling through my mind, and let me make it clear that I in no way am saying it is safe to go to Mexico. The video was meant to capture the safety on this side, but it did make me wonder if maybe, just maybe, I had fallen victim to the lies of the media.
What if it's not that bad across the border?
Sure, we have blogs like "El Blod del Narco" and "Borderland Beats" that talk about the gruesome happenings in places like Reynosa, et al., but that's what they are focused on.
Imagine if someone were to focus on all the crimes happening in the U.S.A.? I bet you it would make us look like such a dangerous place, but the difference is that crime in Mexico has taken a gruesome turn with the beheadings and dismemberments, making the crimes look more serious, which they are, but it shifts the focus away from the reason for the crime.
Let me see if I can make my point clear:
Imagine for a moment that the gangs in our neighborhoods decided to fight each other like the cartel is doing in Mexico.
Imagine that, instead of just shooting each other, they are now focusing on making sure to scare off their rivals by making sure that once they capture the enemy, they make sure he suffers the most gruesome of deaths, by mutilating their bodies, etc.
Imagine if that were to happen. the reasons for the crime are the same. It is gang against gang. The crime being committed is between them, and along the way, they might murder someone because of mistaken identity, or they might kidnap a family member of the rival to get them to submit, or they might start fighting in public and hurt someone innocent unintentionally because of stray bullets.
The result would be that this was gang related violence.
Some neighborhoods hear about this gang related violence more than others, but for the most part, we are safe. And when we hear about gang related violence, we mainly think that it is between gangs, and the only way a gang will hurt you intentionally is if you are a member of their rival's gang. Or if you snitch on them, or try to walk away from gang life, etc.
Much the same is happening in Mexico, and I hope I'm making my point clear.
It's not that I'm trying to excuse any behavior, because I know I've been accused of that a lot, but rather, I'm trying to break it down to my point of view on things. Is it really that dangerous in Mexico?
I don't know, to be honest with you.
From my experience, it was dangerous over there, but what about now?
We don't live there to know for sure, and several sources tell me I'm letting the media play with my head, and with this video I just recently recorded, it does make me wonder...
Have I fallen victim to the lies of the media? Am I viewing Mexico like people up north view the Texas border?
I'm starting to think I am...what do you think?
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Are our borders secure?
Obviously, they are. Asides from my personal opinion, here is video of our border patrol having a good time on our "dangerous" borders.
My point? Well, if the borders were as dangerous as they make it sound, then these border patrols wouldn't have found the time to stop and fool around for over an hour.
Watch the videos, and as a note of warning, I talk through the video for almost an hour, so you have the option of listening to me talk, or, you can skip to the parts where you can actually hear the border patrol having a good time in the background. Enjoy!
My point? Well, if the borders were as dangerous as they make it sound, then these border patrols wouldn't have found the time to stop and fool around for over an hour.
Watch the videos, and as a note of warning, I talk through the video for almost an hour, so you have the option of listening to me talk, or, you can skip to the parts where you can actually hear the border patrol having a good time in the background. Enjoy!
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
An awesome Easter
Well, I have got to be the laziest of bloggers ever!
Sometimes I wish that there was a way to download my brain and I could share it with the world without having to actually type everything I see or hear or experience.
Yes, Iammetx is lazy.
Anyways, I had a great weekend!
On Friday, I didn't not have to get up early to get my girl ready for school. They had the day off for the holidays.
On Saturday, my aunt threw a super birthday bash.
Iammetx was there in all zebra print.
It sounds ridiculous, and I really said that to be funny, but what I actually wore was just a shirt with Zebra print, some tight blue jean pants, and some zebra print press on nails (which I later lost somehow, lol).
There was all sorts of dancing that I participated in. The funniest part of all the dancing was when my cousin's husband decided to do some break dance moves and failed miserably at it. How I wish I had caught all of that on tape!
It was so funny watching a non-professional do a combo of the worm dance and finish it off with a back spin. All on rough cement!
That guy must have woke up with scratches all over his belly and back, ha ha!
Never drink and dance!
And I learned that lesson the hard way!
While I didn't really drink that much, I had a rough time going to sleep that night.
I somehow ended up pulling an arm muscle and so my arm was killing me all night long. I swear all I did was just bob in place while pumping my hands in the air, but apparently I'm so out of shape that that was enough to send my arm into painful spasms. Ouch!
Then on Easter Sunday we woke up to lots of menudo, barbacoa, and some very delicious tamales. After having spent such a painful night with an overstretched arm, I knew I should be careful with what I ate, but I couldn't resist with such good food!
I can always start my diet and exercise tomorrow, right?
But the morning fun was short lived as all the relatives took off early to their homes.
We found ourselves alone and with no one to celebrate Easter with, so I asked my husband if we should take the kids to Falcon Lake to celebrate Easter there.
He had a better and more convenient and cost-effective plan.
He gathered up his friends and we decided to go to our local and favorite fishing spot...the river!
I tell you, at first I really wasn't up to it. My painful arm had kept me up all night and now I found myself wanting to just sleep, but I'm glad I decided to go.
We had four other families join us.
They brought their four wheeler, a motorcycle, and a paddle boat.
In short, we had a blast!
Some of the guys climbed up a very tall tree and dove into the river from there.
I actually got to go into the middle of the river on the boat.
It was very scary indeed, as the river was very swollen and that boat kept tilting to the sides like it was going to flip over!
I had brought my fishing pole, and so I threw the line from the boat, but the current was so strong it kept pulling the line with it, and the guys paddling the boat weren't stopping long enough for me to fish, so I just gave up on the idea of fishing.
One thing I learned, though, is that the Rio Grande River water level rises and drops constantly.
A few weeks back, the water level was about 10 feet lower than what it was today, maybe even lower than that, as I'm sure we'd have been way under water if we could actually stand where we were fishing a few weeks back.
And of course, like always, I forgot to bring my video camera. It would have been awesome to video tape from the boat from the middle of the river, but unfortunately, forgetful me, forgot to bring it. I did, however, bring my cell phone and was able to video tape a little from the banks. Here is a small clip of that day:
Unfortunately, for some reason, the audio wasn't working, so I had to substitute some music using the Youtube audioswap "I'm feeling lucky" button. There wasn't much to hear anyways. It was too windy and you know how that sounds when you record from a cell phone.
Anyways, the kids had a blast too.
We did the egg hunt there on the banks (a little higher up of course). Some eggs had money and candy in them, and my daughter was lucky enough to find an Easter egg with $21 in it. She was one happy camper!
A note of warning, however: The river is not a place to be horsing around!
Unfortunately, some of the families that were there were horsing around too much and we almost had some major accidents that almost ruined our holidays.
For one, one of the guys thought it was a good idea to jump from the boat in the middle of the river. Major no!
The current is too strong, and you couldn't hear it in my video, but there were some pumps turned on in the Mexico side, and the pumps suck water from the river creating an eddy that can pull you under and drown you.
What ended up happening is that the guy dove into the river and the current pulled the boat over him, so when he came up to catch some air, he slammed his head really hard on the bottom of the boat and split his head a little.
Fortunately, there were four other guys there to pull him back on the boat. He was bleeding from his head, but it was not a big cut, fortunately, and asides from being a little light headed, he was ok after that.
My husband was one of the thick heads that also thought it was a good idea to jump into the middle of the river. It was a good thing he had a life jacket on, even though that might not have saved him if an eddy pulled him under with the pressure from the pumps.
According to him, he thought it would be easy to jump in and quickly swim to the boat, but the river is treasonous! Don't trust the river waters, people! People have died trying to cross these waters, but they do it in order to reach the American dream, not just for fun!
So he says he jumped into the water and as he started swimming, he said it felt like the water was weighing him down and no matter how much he tried to swim, he felt like he was swimming in place and couldn't reach the boat. In the end, he finally made it, but not before giving him a major scare.
We normally don't go out into the middle of the river, but this time it happened that way because one of the families brought a boat, but even being on the banks is dangerous in and of itself.
Last time we were swimming there, I was lucky enough to see a water snake pop it's head up a few feet away from me, so that's another risk to look out for.
I'm sure many people think it's crazy to go out to the river and swim there, it being so dangerous and all, but asides from me trying to get the point across that it is not as dangerous as the media makes it sound, violence wise, it's not really a bad place if you exercise some caution and don't horse around.
I usually don't wander more than 5 feet into the water away from the banks, and that's what I would recommend to anyone wanting to visit and swim and fish.
Also, having a look out is always a good thing. While the snakes around here aren't really that dangerous, I'm sure getting bit by one is not going to be fun either.
And, finally I was able to fix up a video of the road we take to get to the river. Here it is for your viewing pleasure:
That was a fun video to make, even though I spent like two days making it because, silly me, didn't save my work, and so the first time, my computer shut down on me because it lost power, and the second time, the program I was using froze on me.
At least now you know that you can fool me two times, but good luck fooling me a third time, ha ha.
Which remind me of how I ended up my Easter holiday.
After we finished at the river, I went over to a friends house who celebrates (not sure if this is an actual way of celebrating Easter or not), but she celebrates "Easter annihilation".
Easter annihilation is basically Easter for drunk adults, lol.
A couple of her friends came over to her new apartment, which is just down the road from my house, and they made some delicious burgers on the grill.
I swear, those burgers didn't need any condiments. They were so delicious, you could just eat them like that!
Once the burgers were done, it was time for the egg hunt.
It was an egg hunt in the dark, and apparently, the first to be able to go out and look for eggs was anyone who was willing to chug a beer first, first one to finish got dibs. Those who chose not to chug a beer had to wait until the last participant finished chugging their beer.
I chose not to chug, even though I did have one beer.
Then the disaster began as a bunch of semi-drunk adults began cracking their newly found eggs on each other, but that's one of those things where you had to be there to understand just how fun it was.
After that was over, I mingled a while before going back home.
Since I rode my bike to her house, I had to ride it back and I had a laugh doing that because there was one other person out there on his bike and I found it so funny when the neighbors dog started barking at our bikes, the poor guy almost fell of his bike!
Then he grabs a rock and lifts it up like he's going to throw it, and the poor dog is tied up running back and forth as far as the rope allows him, and the guy is all talking smack to the dog telling him, "Come on! Come at me you little bitch!" and the dog does this little jump and the poor guy almost falls off his bike again!
It was so hilarious because you'd think that dog was within reach of the guy, but he was really more than the width of the road away!
And, no, the guy never threw the rock at the dog, but he TRIED to ride his bike holding the rock up in the air like he was going to throw it if the dog came at him. Almost like as if he thought the dog would see his raised arm and back off, ha ha.
Yeah right!
That poor dog just wanted to chase our bikes, but he was tied up so all he could do was bark and run back and forth.
Well, that's all for today.
I'll be back soon and hope to share some more about my life on the border.
Take care!
Sometimes I wish that there was a way to download my brain and I could share it with the world without having to actually type everything I see or hear or experience.
Yes, Iammetx is lazy.
Anyways, I had a great weekend!
On Friday, I didn't not have to get up early to get my girl ready for school. They had the day off for the holidays.
On Saturday, my aunt threw a super birthday bash.
Iammetx was there in all zebra print.
It sounds ridiculous, and I really said that to be funny, but what I actually wore was just a shirt with Zebra print, some tight blue jean pants, and some zebra print press on nails (which I later lost somehow, lol).
There was all sorts of dancing that I participated in. The funniest part of all the dancing was when my cousin's husband decided to do some break dance moves and failed miserably at it. How I wish I had caught all of that on tape!
It was so funny watching a non-professional do a combo of the worm dance and finish it off with a back spin. All on rough cement!
That guy must have woke up with scratches all over his belly and back, ha ha!
Never drink and dance!
And I learned that lesson the hard way!
While I didn't really drink that much, I had a rough time going to sleep that night.
I somehow ended up pulling an arm muscle and so my arm was killing me all night long. I swear all I did was just bob in place while pumping my hands in the air, but apparently I'm so out of shape that that was enough to send my arm into painful spasms. Ouch!
Then on Easter Sunday we woke up to lots of menudo, barbacoa, and some very delicious tamales. After having spent such a painful night with an overstretched arm, I knew I should be careful with what I ate, but I couldn't resist with such good food!
I can always start my diet and exercise tomorrow, right?
But the morning fun was short lived as all the relatives took off early to their homes.
We found ourselves alone and with no one to celebrate Easter with, so I asked my husband if we should take the kids to Falcon Lake to celebrate Easter there.
He had a better and more convenient and cost-effective plan.
He gathered up his friends and we decided to go to our local and favorite fishing spot...the river!
I tell you, at first I really wasn't up to it. My painful arm had kept me up all night and now I found myself wanting to just sleep, but I'm glad I decided to go.
We had four other families join us.
They brought their four wheeler, a motorcycle, and a paddle boat.
In short, we had a blast!
Some of the guys climbed up a very tall tree and dove into the river from there.
I actually got to go into the middle of the river on the boat.
It was very scary indeed, as the river was very swollen and that boat kept tilting to the sides like it was going to flip over!
I had brought my fishing pole, and so I threw the line from the boat, but the current was so strong it kept pulling the line with it, and the guys paddling the boat weren't stopping long enough for me to fish, so I just gave up on the idea of fishing.
One thing I learned, though, is that the Rio Grande River water level rises and drops constantly.
A few weeks back, the water level was about 10 feet lower than what it was today, maybe even lower than that, as I'm sure we'd have been way under water if we could actually stand where we were fishing a few weeks back.
And of course, like always, I forgot to bring my video camera. It would have been awesome to video tape from the boat from the middle of the river, but unfortunately, forgetful me, forgot to bring it. I did, however, bring my cell phone and was able to video tape a little from the banks. Here is a small clip of that day:
Unfortunately, for some reason, the audio wasn't working, so I had to substitute some music using the Youtube audioswap "I'm feeling lucky" button. There wasn't much to hear anyways. It was too windy and you know how that sounds when you record from a cell phone.
Anyways, the kids had a blast too.
We did the egg hunt there on the banks (a little higher up of course). Some eggs had money and candy in them, and my daughter was lucky enough to find an Easter egg with $21 in it. She was one happy camper!
A note of warning, however: The river is not a place to be horsing around!
Unfortunately, some of the families that were there were horsing around too much and we almost had some major accidents that almost ruined our holidays.
For one, one of the guys thought it was a good idea to jump from the boat in the middle of the river. Major no!
The current is too strong, and you couldn't hear it in my video, but there were some pumps turned on in the Mexico side, and the pumps suck water from the river creating an eddy that can pull you under and drown you.
What ended up happening is that the guy dove into the river and the current pulled the boat over him, so when he came up to catch some air, he slammed his head really hard on the bottom of the boat and split his head a little.
Fortunately, there were four other guys there to pull him back on the boat. He was bleeding from his head, but it was not a big cut, fortunately, and asides from being a little light headed, he was ok after that.
My husband was one of the thick heads that also thought it was a good idea to jump into the middle of the river. It was a good thing he had a life jacket on, even though that might not have saved him if an eddy pulled him under with the pressure from the pumps.
According to him, he thought it would be easy to jump in and quickly swim to the boat, but the river is treasonous! Don't trust the river waters, people! People have died trying to cross these waters, but they do it in order to reach the American dream, not just for fun!
So he says he jumped into the water and as he started swimming, he said it felt like the water was weighing him down and no matter how much he tried to swim, he felt like he was swimming in place and couldn't reach the boat. In the end, he finally made it, but not before giving him a major scare.
We normally don't go out into the middle of the river, but this time it happened that way because one of the families brought a boat, but even being on the banks is dangerous in and of itself.
Last time we were swimming there, I was lucky enough to see a water snake pop it's head up a few feet away from me, so that's another risk to look out for.
I'm sure many people think it's crazy to go out to the river and swim there, it being so dangerous and all, but asides from me trying to get the point across that it is not as dangerous as the media makes it sound, violence wise, it's not really a bad place if you exercise some caution and don't horse around.
I usually don't wander more than 5 feet into the water away from the banks, and that's what I would recommend to anyone wanting to visit and swim and fish.
Also, having a look out is always a good thing. While the snakes around here aren't really that dangerous, I'm sure getting bit by one is not going to be fun either.
And, finally I was able to fix up a video of the road we take to get to the river. Here it is for your viewing pleasure:
That was a fun video to make, even though I spent like two days making it because, silly me, didn't save my work, and so the first time, my computer shut down on me because it lost power, and the second time, the program I was using froze on me.
At least now you know that you can fool me two times, but good luck fooling me a third time, ha ha.
Which remind me of how I ended up my Easter holiday.
After we finished at the river, I went over to a friends house who celebrates (not sure if this is an actual way of celebrating Easter or not), but she celebrates "Easter annihilation".
Easter annihilation is basically Easter for drunk adults, lol.
A couple of her friends came over to her new apartment, which is just down the road from my house, and they made some delicious burgers on the grill.
I swear, those burgers didn't need any condiments. They were so delicious, you could just eat them like that!
Once the burgers were done, it was time for the egg hunt.
It was an egg hunt in the dark, and apparently, the first to be able to go out and look for eggs was anyone who was willing to chug a beer first, first one to finish got dibs. Those who chose not to chug a beer had to wait until the last participant finished chugging their beer.
I chose not to chug, even though I did have one beer.
Then the disaster began as a bunch of semi-drunk adults began cracking their newly found eggs on each other, but that's one of those things where you had to be there to understand just how fun it was.
After that was over, I mingled a while before going back home.
Since I rode my bike to her house, I had to ride it back and I had a laugh doing that because there was one other person out there on his bike and I found it so funny when the neighbors dog started barking at our bikes, the poor guy almost fell of his bike!
Then he grabs a rock and lifts it up like he's going to throw it, and the poor dog is tied up running back and forth as far as the rope allows him, and the guy is all talking smack to the dog telling him, "Come on! Come at me you little bitch!" and the dog does this little jump and the poor guy almost falls off his bike again!
It was so hilarious because you'd think that dog was within reach of the guy, but he was really more than the width of the road away!
And, no, the guy never threw the rock at the dog, but he TRIED to ride his bike holding the rock up in the air like he was going to throw it if the dog came at him. Almost like as if he thought the dog would see his raised arm and back off, ha ha.
Yeah right!
That poor dog just wanted to chase our bikes, but he was tied up so all he could do was bark and run back and forth.
Well, that's all for today.
I'll be back soon and hope to share some more about my life on the border.
Take care!
Friday, April 1, 2011
Our home
I remember when I was younger, I couldn't wait to get out of here.
There were several reasons why I wanted to leave.
For one, I was embarrassed of my home town. I felt I was better than the people who lived here and to me, there was not much to really brag about.
We had no mountains, no beaches, no clubs, and in short, no life.
Yet, when I got to college, I was amazed at how other people were amazed about where I came from.
Some people thought I came from Mexico because I spoke Spanish.
Other just wanted to hear me describe where I was from, and when they would hear about how close we lived to the border, they just found that fascinating.
"It must be awesome to be the link to two worlds!" One guy exclaimed. "Imagine that! I bet you never saw it that way, but, you are the glue that holds these two countries (Mexico and the USA) together!"
He was right. I never saw it like that.
As time went on, I would hear other people talk about where they came from. They made their home towns sound like paradise, and a small part of me was jealous. I wish I could describe my home town like they did, but I just didn't see how.
But there's a saying that says that you don't know what you have until you lose it.
Something similar to that happened to me, except, I didn't lose it.
What happened was that I didn't know what I had until I had to defend it.
It was when I learned the meaning of "coming in touch with your roots".
So maybe we didn't have mountains and beaches and clubs, but we had culture and pride and history.
We had, and continue to have, like Hannah Montana likes to sing, the best of both worlds.
Not only was there the rich American culture of English speaking residents, who loved their American football and pizza and patriotic holidays, but we also had the Spanish speaking residents, who loved their futbol (soccer), Mexican food, and Mexican holidays.
On top of that, we have our own language - Spanglish!
I remember this one guy from Jamaica who got up from his table of friends and came and sat down at our table of friends and just stared at my group of friends, as we talked amongst each other, in awe. When we asked him what he found so interesting, he would just start laughing in amazement claiming that he had never heard someone who could switch so easily between languages like they were one and the same!
So in time, I learned to be proud of where I came from, and my eyes were opened to just how lucky I am to have come from where I do - the Texas/Mexico border!
Here, my friend, romo0012, highlights just some of the beautiful history we have here on the Texas/Mexico border:
La Lomita, a few years back, was experiencing some major controversy when they wanted to build a wall that would have locked these historic building behind border walls and on the Mexico side.
People who lived here, who would also have been locked behind these border walls, decided to protest, and I had the honor of actually participating in this protest, and I say honor, even though it was unfortunate, but honor because I have never seen our communities so united to defend what we saw as an atrocities.
Here is a video and map to the rally against the border wall that took place in La Lomita Park in Mission, Texas back in 2007:
View Larger Map
Now, look at how close those houses are, and to think that these are the people on the front line fighting a border wall.
Don't you think they'd be in support of one if they were really scared for their lives?
Alas, that is all I have for today. I haven't really done much but laze around the house.
The most interesting that has happened is that I've been seeing many baby snakes out lately. That's about as scary as it gets, as I have to walk these roads to get to my mothers house, and sometimes you just can't see these snakes in the dark!
But, until next time...
There were several reasons why I wanted to leave.
For one, I was embarrassed of my home town. I felt I was better than the people who lived here and to me, there was not much to really brag about.
We had no mountains, no beaches, no clubs, and in short, no life.
Yet, when I got to college, I was amazed at how other people were amazed about where I came from.
Some people thought I came from Mexico because I spoke Spanish.
Other just wanted to hear me describe where I was from, and when they would hear about how close we lived to the border, they just found that fascinating.
"It must be awesome to be the link to two worlds!" One guy exclaimed. "Imagine that! I bet you never saw it that way, but, you are the glue that holds these two countries (Mexico and the USA) together!"
He was right. I never saw it like that.
As time went on, I would hear other people talk about where they came from. They made their home towns sound like paradise, and a small part of me was jealous. I wish I could describe my home town like they did, but I just didn't see how.
But there's a saying that says that you don't know what you have until you lose it.
Something similar to that happened to me, except, I didn't lose it.
What happened was that I didn't know what I had until I had to defend it.
It was when I learned the meaning of "coming in touch with your roots".
So maybe we didn't have mountains and beaches and clubs, but we had culture and pride and history.
We had, and continue to have, like Hannah Montana likes to sing, the best of both worlds.
Not only was there the rich American culture of English speaking residents, who loved their American football and pizza and patriotic holidays, but we also had the Spanish speaking residents, who loved their futbol (soccer), Mexican food, and Mexican holidays.
On top of that, we have our own language - Spanglish!
I remember this one guy from Jamaica who got up from his table of friends and came and sat down at our table of friends and just stared at my group of friends, as we talked amongst each other, in awe. When we asked him what he found so interesting, he would just start laughing in amazement claiming that he had never heard someone who could switch so easily between languages like they were one and the same!
So in time, I learned to be proud of where I came from, and my eyes were opened to just how lucky I am to have come from where I do - the Texas/Mexico border!
Here, my friend, romo0012, highlights just some of the beautiful history we have here on the Texas/Mexico border:
La Lomita, a few years back, was experiencing some major controversy when they wanted to build a wall that would have locked these historic building behind border walls and on the Mexico side.
People who lived here, who would also have been locked behind these border walls, decided to protest, and I had the honor of actually participating in this protest, and I say honor, even though it was unfortunate, but honor because I have never seen our communities so united to defend what we saw as an atrocities.
Here is a video and map to the rally against the border wall that took place in La Lomita Park in Mission, Texas back in 2007:
View Larger Map
Now, look at how close those houses are, and to think that these are the people on the front line fighting a border wall.
Don't you think they'd be in support of one if they were really scared for their lives?
Alas, that is all I have for today. I haven't really done much but laze around the house.
The most interesting that has happened is that I've been seeing many baby snakes out lately. That's about as scary as it gets, as I have to walk these roads to get to my mothers house, and sometimes you just can't see these snakes in the dark!
But, until next time...
Thursday, March 10, 2011
All work and no play makes iamme a dull, dull girl!
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| How iamme feels when she can't write on her blogs |
I finally got a new computer last week, but immediately the day after getting it, before I could even break it in, I received a call from my aunt asking for my help.
She is getting audited and needs all the help she can get.
Since she was the one who lent me the money for the computer (I will be paying it back later), I could not deny her the favor.
So, from here until the 28th, I may not be able to write much, but I will try to keep you updated as much as possible.
For now, I must get ready for work, but thought to let you know that I am OK and the world on the Texas border continues to be as safe as when I last left off, only a little bit busier than usual, lol.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Something is up
I must apologize again for not keeping up like I had wanted to.
A few days ago, my old computer just died on me. Since then, I have tried unsuccessfully to write on this blog and in the end, just gave up and begged a relative to help me buy another computer.
As a heads up, I probably won't be writing much in the following days until March 18th.
You see, in order for me to get my computer, I had to sell my soul to the devil, and the devil has decided that it needs my soul until then. Better put, the person who lent me the loan now wants a favor in return, which means I'll be putting some hard work for long hours on end until the 18th.
It's these kind of favors that make really wish I could win the lottery.
Anyways, asides from that very strange feelings have come across the border. At least for me they have.
For one, there was some news on the Tiffany Hartley case that, to those who have been following that story closely, was very strange.
Also, one of the posts that I unsuccessfully could not put up had to do with the silence from the border patrol. At the time I was writing it, I found it odd that I had seen very few of their vehicles, but since the Hartley story, it was as if they came out of the woodwork. I had choppers flying over my home, and I found that odd considering that I haven't seen anyone crossing.
I'm not saying that they are after me, but I'll get to what I'm saying in a few.
Also going on, Texas trying to ban sanctuary cities and trying to turn police officers into immigration officers. Oh how I wish I could go to one of these things. What are they? City council meetings? The things I would say! For example, all those "damning" testimonies, while my heart goes out to those families, their problem is an immigration problem, but a law enforcement problem. Maybe their loved ones were victims of people who were undocumented and happened to have committed previous crimes, but banning sanctuary cities is not going to stop incidents like these from happening again, just like DWI laws haven't stopped people from becoming repeat offenders.
But back to my life...what is it that I've been feeling in the air?
Sigh...
I hate to say it because I feel people think I'm crazy every time I start to believe in a conspiracy, but I have to this time.
I mean, think about it.
From being quiet and hidden, all of a sudden we have border patrols buzzing back and forth when it is evident crossings are low. Sheriff Sigi wants to post up bigger signs in Falcon warning tourists about the dangers in the Mexican water. Sanctuary cities being attacked, plus a number of other things I've seen but can't explain in words.
Or maybe conspiracy isn't the word. Maybe it's "setup", because it sure feels like these people are up to something that's going to make the border look like a war zone without there ever being a war.
I mean, we went fishing today again and the worst thing that happened was that we didn't catch any fish. This time we fished at a different location right behind the international bridge in Rio Grande City.
So when we see all this commotion with choppers flying back and forth, DPS lined up 3 cars, side by side (no joke), on every turn around for almost 3 miles, but all you hear is silence? And by silence I mean, there are no shootings, no people crossing, no one leading the police on a high speed chase. It's very odd indeed.
So I just think that this whole fiasco is some political ploy that is being put in place to push for more border security on an already secure border.
Anyways, it's late and I have to work early in the morning tomorrow, but I will follow up as much as I can in the days to come.
A few days ago, my old computer just died on me. Since then, I have tried unsuccessfully to write on this blog and in the end, just gave up and begged a relative to help me buy another computer.
As a heads up, I probably won't be writing much in the following days until March 18th.
You see, in order for me to get my computer, I had to sell my soul to the devil, and the devil has decided that it needs my soul until then. Better put, the person who lent me the loan now wants a favor in return, which means I'll be putting some hard work for long hours on end until the 18th.
It's these kind of favors that make really wish I could win the lottery.
Anyways, asides from that very strange feelings have come across the border. At least for me they have.
For one, there was some news on the Tiffany Hartley case that, to those who have been following that story closely, was very strange.
Also, one of the posts that I unsuccessfully could not put up had to do with the silence from the border patrol. At the time I was writing it, I found it odd that I had seen very few of their vehicles, but since the Hartley story, it was as if they came out of the woodwork. I had choppers flying over my home, and I found that odd considering that I haven't seen anyone crossing.
I'm not saying that they are after me, but I'll get to what I'm saying in a few.
Also going on, Texas trying to ban sanctuary cities and trying to turn police officers into immigration officers. Oh how I wish I could go to one of these things. What are they? City council meetings? The things I would say! For example, all those "damning" testimonies, while my heart goes out to those families, their problem is an immigration problem, but a law enforcement problem. Maybe their loved ones were victims of people who were undocumented and happened to have committed previous crimes, but banning sanctuary cities is not going to stop incidents like these from happening again, just like DWI laws haven't stopped people from becoming repeat offenders.
But back to my life...what is it that I've been feeling in the air?
Sigh...
I hate to say it because I feel people think I'm crazy every time I start to believe in a conspiracy, but I have to this time.
I mean, think about it.
From being quiet and hidden, all of a sudden we have border patrols buzzing back and forth when it is evident crossings are low. Sheriff Sigi wants to post up bigger signs in Falcon warning tourists about the dangers in the Mexican water. Sanctuary cities being attacked, plus a number of other things I've seen but can't explain in words.
Or maybe conspiracy isn't the word. Maybe it's "setup", because it sure feels like these people are up to something that's going to make the border look like a war zone without there ever being a war.
I mean, we went fishing today again and the worst thing that happened was that we didn't catch any fish. This time we fished at a different location right behind the international bridge in Rio Grande City.
So when we see all this commotion with choppers flying back and forth, DPS lined up 3 cars, side by side (no joke), on every turn around for almost 3 miles, but all you hear is silence? And by silence I mean, there are no shootings, no people crossing, no one leading the police on a high speed chase. It's very odd indeed.
So I just think that this whole fiasco is some political ploy that is being put in place to push for more border security on an already secure border.
Anyways, it's late and I have to work early in the morning tomorrow, but I will follow up as much as I can in the days to come.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Swimming in the Rio Grande
Well, it seems like the gods are against me this week.
Yesterday, after I finished posting my last entry, my computer died on me.
Yep. It kicked the bucket and so now I'm left to writng these entries from my phone from here until I get another computer which might be weeks from now, hopefully sooner.
Anyways, mom had a cook out this morning so we ate at her house.
Then we went fishing again at the river.
I caught 6 catfish, but had to let two go because they were small and one slipped out of my husbands hands and got away. It didn't leave, however, without first giving my husband a deep sting on his foot.
I was happy to see two other families there. I guess word is getting around.
They were getting in the water by the river's edge, so we decided to get in too.
You know, the temperature was 102 degrees hot, but the water was freezing!
It felt good though.
We left early this time.
Now, we're having a cook out and after that, we're more than likely going to bed.
Until tomorrow...
Yesterday, after I finished posting my last entry, my computer died on me.
Yep. It kicked the bucket and so now I'm left to writng these entries from my phone from here until I get another computer which might be weeks from now, hopefully sooner.
Anyways, mom had a cook out this morning so we ate at her house.
Then we went fishing again at the river.
I caught 6 catfish, but had to let two go because they were small and one slipped out of my husbands hands and got away. It didn't leave, however, without first giving my husband a deep sting on his foot.
I was happy to see two other families there. I guess word is getting around.
They were getting in the water by the river's edge, so we decided to get in too.
You know, the temperature was 102 degrees hot, but the water was freezing!
It felt good though.
We left early this time.
Now, we're having a cook out and after that, we're more than likely going to bed.
Until tomorrow...
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Girls day out
Well, I was not able to do all that I wanted to do today, but it was still a good day.
My husband woke me up like an excited little boy because he had a soccer game today and he wanted me to go with the kids and for me to take the video camera.
"I want the family there, you know. I want that support." He says.
Maybe I'm a bad wife, but the thought of going to go and watch a bunch of grown men kick a ball in the fields was not appealing. I really hate soccer.
But his excitement was worth it, I guess, so I get up.
He left with his friends because he had a game at 10am, but he definitely wanted me to make it for the 12pm game.
I made breakfast for the kids in the meantime and did a little house work and before I knew it, it was already 11am. I had an hour to get dressed, get the kids dressed, and then a 30 minutes drive.
I didn't think I would make it, and I didn't.
To make matters worse, my husband calls me to tell me they lost and I just felt like it was my fault.
I was already on my way, so I had to turn around. I decided to take the children to the park, but we never got off the car because by that time my husband told me he was going to get something to eat with his friends.
Because I had been wanting to take my daughter to this restaurant in McAllen for the longest time, I decided to ask him if he could watch Junior so she and I could go.
He agreed.
I took Leyley to Kumori's in McAllen, TX, and we pigged out like you wouldn't believe.
I had the Spicy Firecracker, we both had the Stuffed Baby Octopus. Leyley got the Eclipse Suchi Roll and I got the Calamari Tempura. Asides from that, we got second servings on the Seaweed soup, and no, that's not what it's called. I just can't remember the name of the soup, but it does have seaweed in it and it is delicious!
Then we went to the movies to watch "Gnomeo and Juliette".
The movie wasn't that bad, but it wasn't great either. It's almost like watching Romeo and Juliette with a lot of comedy and a happy ending.
I liked all the Shrek movies better. Those left an impression and you never want them to end.
If they made a sequel to this movie, I would rather wait to watch it on DVD.
Not to mention you have to pay 8 bucks to watch it in 3D!! I would recommend you watch it in 2D because it's not worth the extra bucks. They hardly had anything that was 3D worthy.
To top it off, they leave you a little note to make sure to recycle your 3D glasses on your way out.
Pfft! I paid 8 bucks for them. Hell no I ain't going to return them.
They should give me my money back, that's what they should do.
Which makes me wonder if I can watch another 3D movie in their theater with the same glasses, and without having to pay the extra 8 bucks?
Anyways, I'm home already and my husband is hanging outside with his friends.
And I am tired, so I will be back tomorrow again with more on my boring life on the Texas border.
P.S. Notice I didn't get shot at or mugged. Neither did I hear any gunshots or missiles or gernades. Although I did forget to mention how some idiot cut in front of me with his truck and then slowed down to almost a stop on a 60mph freeway. I think he wanted me to hit him from behind, but I'm one of the safest drivers out there so I just slowed down with him, pulled around and flipped him off, lol.
Goodnight.
My husband woke me up like an excited little boy because he had a soccer game today and he wanted me to go with the kids and for me to take the video camera.
"I want the family there, you know. I want that support." He says.
Maybe I'm a bad wife, but the thought of going to go and watch a bunch of grown men kick a ball in the fields was not appealing. I really hate soccer.
But his excitement was worth it, I guess, so I get up.
He left with his friends because he had a game at 10am, but he definitely wanted me to make it for the 12pm game.
I made breakfast for the kids in the meantime and did a little house work and before I knew it, it was already 11am. I had an hour to get dressed, get the kids dressed, and then a 30 minutes drive.
I didn't think I would make it, and I didn't.
To make matters worse, my husband calls me to tell me they lost and I just felt like it was my fault.
I was already on my way, so I had to turn around. I decided to take the children to the park, but we never got off the car because by that time my husband told me he was going to get something to eat with his friends.
Because I had been wanting to take my daughter to this restaurant in McAllen for the longest time, I decided to ask him if he could watch Junior so she and I could go.
He agreed.
I took Leyley to Kumori's in McAllen, TX, and we pigged out like you wouldn't believe.
I had the Spicy Firecracker, we both had the Stuffed Baby Octopus. Leyley got the Eclipse Suchi Roll and I got the Calamari Tempura. Asides from that, we got second servings on the Seaweed soup, and no, that's not what it's called. I just can't remember the name of the soup, but it does have seaweed in it and it is delicious!
Then we went to the movies to watch "Gnomeo and Juliette".
The movie wasn't that bad, but it wasn't great either. It's almost like watching Romeo and Juliette with a lot of comedy and a happy ending.
I liked all the Shrek movies better. Those left an impression and you never want them to end.
If they made a sequel to this movie, I would rather wait to watch it on DVD.
Not to mention you have to pay 8 bucks to watch it in 3D!! I would recommend you watch it in 2D because it's not worth the extra bucks. They hardly had anything that was 3D worthy.
To top it off, they leave you a little note to make sure to recycle your 3D glasses on your way out.
Pfft! I paid 8 bucks for them. Hell no I ain't going to return them.
They should give me my money back, that's what they should do.
Which makes me wonder if I can watch another 3D movie in their theater with the same glasses, and without having to pay the extra 8 bucks?
Anyways, I'm home already and my husband is hanging outside with his friends.
And I am tired, so I will be back tomorrow again with more on my boring life on the Texas border.
P.S. Notice I didn't get shot at or mugged. Neither did I hear any gunshots or missiles or gernades. Although I did forget to mention how some idiot cut in front of me with his truck and then slowed down to almost a stop on a 60mph freeway. I think he wanted me to hit him from behind, but I'm one of the safest drivers out there so I just slowed down with him, pulled around and flipped him off, lol.
Goodnight.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Fishing in the Rio Grande Banks
After my daughter arrived from school today, my husband gave me the news that we were going to go fishing....again!
We've been going fishing like fishing hogs for the past couple of weeks since we obtained our fishing licenses. The fishing on the river is pretty good, but we're amateurs, so we kinda suck at fishing.
I really like fishing, especially because I was never allowed to fish when I was a little girl.
As an adult, now I get to fish when ever I want and I have my own fishing pole and bait my own line, etc.
But if I sound like I was annoyed about fishing today, well, I was.
It's not that I didn't want to go. I did, but when you have a 3 year old child that doesn't understand the words "danger" and "no", well, you already know that what is supposed to be a relaxing experience will be more like panic attacks and stressing out.
Not putting too much hope in it, I called mom to see if she was willing to watch Junior for a few hours while we went fishing.
She rarely wants to, so I was not surprised when she said no, but I believed her when she said it was because she had to go to work early. It was, after all, pretty late in the day, and she usually goes in to work by 6pm. It was already 5.
Oh well, we took him anyways.
But the problem this time wasn't Junior.
No, oh no. Junior behaved pretty well.
The problem this time is that my husband and his friends decided to take some left over rotted bait that stank to high hell!
The stench was horrible!
"The fish aren't biting," my husband says.
I stuck my hands under his nose and asked, "Would you eat something that smells like this?"
"I have in the past," he says mischieviously.
Oooh, that man is incorrigible!
I do not, nor have I ever smelled like rotting shrimp!
Not that bad at least, lol.
Overall, it was still a nice experience. It was cool out and we stayed there until it got very dark. Junior built a fire, with our help of course, and Leyley (my daughter) was making sand castles.
Fish wise, we only caught about 6 fish. Pretty bad, but I don't blame them for not wanting to bite into that bait.
I couldn't wait to get home and take a shower!
This was one of those moments where I wish I had taken my video camera, just to capture the night life on the Texas/Mexico river, and I will share some video from this year.
I'll post it up tomorrow.
Experiences like these are what I want to share with the world, that the dangers here are not like what they make them sound.
But it's hard.
It's hard to put into words the experience of life on the border.
Not too far from where we were standing you could hear motor bikes running back and forth. More than likely drug runners.
That's the part that is hard to explain.
You see, our little fishing expedition is dangerous.
It is as dangerous as walking into the forest at night, or walking down an alley at midnight.
If you are from a big city, you run a big risk of getting mugged, hurt, and in many cases, even killed.
The only difference between a big city and the Texas/Mexico border is that you have a big river in between and if you see someone on the other side, more than likely nothing will happen. They'll wave. You wave, and it's a friendly interchange.
However, the phrase that is most common around here is, "Wrong place. Wrong time".
It happens less often than not to regular civilians.
To be honest, I can't recall a moment where a regular civilian has been hurt or murdered by Mexicans for just being on the opposite side of the river.
What I have heard is of American's being by the river at the exact place where they are going to run drugs, and the worst that happened was that the drug runners shot warning shots into the air to scare away the American's from the area.
When it comes to people crossing over, they usually just rush by without a word and continue running. One guy reported that once while he was fishing this guy crossed the river and then came to stand by his side and struck up a friendly conversation with him like they were old pals!
The border patrol, however, experience "wrong place wrong time" more often than not, and mainly because that's what they are looking for. They are looking for what might be the wrong place at the wrong time, because more than likely there is where they will find what they are trying to stop - drug runners, undocumented immigrants, etc. If you ask them, they'll tell you the border is a war zone, but to people like me who live here, that equates to the same as asking a cop if his/her job is dangerous and they'll say "Yes, I bump into killers, rapists, thieves, child molestors, etc. all the time!"
So naturally it is more dangerous for them.
So for me, on this night, I really wasn't scared. Neither was my 8 year old or my 3 year old.
What I was scared of was wild animals, so after a while, I told my husband we were taking off.
Besides, I couldn't take the smell of that rotting shrimp anymore, and apparently neither could he because he said he was taking off too.
It took about 10 minutes to get back home, but guess what the first thing I did was?
You guessed it. I took a bath and believe it or not, I went and had to take another one and another one.
For some reason, I just couldn't get that rotting shrimp smell off of me!
Finally, I just sprayed some perfume on me and rubbed my hands with alcohol.
My brother came over and asked me if I had seen the movie "Spartacus: Gods of the Arena".
I hadn't, so he brought the movie over and that's what I'm about to do now.
I do hope it's a good movie because I don't have anything else to do, and I'll be damned if I'm going to clean the house.
Until next time...
We've been going fishing like fishing hogs for the past couple of weeks since we obtained our fishing licenses. The fishing on the river is pretty good, but we're amateurs, so we kinda suck at fishing.
I really like fishing, especially because I was never allowed to fish when I was a little girl.
As an adult, now I get to fish when ever I want and I have my own fishing pole and bait my own line, etc.
But if I sound like I was annoyed about fishing today, well, I was.
It's not that I didn't want to go. I did, but when you have a 3 year old child that doesn't understand the words "danger" and "no", well, you already know that what is supposed to be a relaxing experience will be more like panic attacks and stressing out.
Not putting too much hope in it, I called mom to see if she was willing to watch Junior for a few hours while we went fishing.
She rarely wants to, so I was not surprised when she said no, but I believed her when she said it was because she had to go to work early. It was, after all, pretty late in the day, and she usually goes in to work by 6pm. It was already 5.
Oh well, we took him anyways.
But the problem this time wasn't Junior.
No, oh no. Junior behaved pretty well.
The problem this time is that my husband and his friends decided to take some left over rotted bait that stank to high hell!
The stench was horrible!
"The fish aren't biting," my husband says.
I stuck my hands under his nose and asked, "Would you eat something that smells like this?"
"I have in the past," he says mischieviously.
Oooh, that man is incorrigible!
I do not, nor have I ever smelled like rotting shrimp!
Not that bad at least, lol.
Overall, it was still a nice experience. It was cool out and we stayed there until it got very dark. Junior built a fire, with our help of course, and Leyley (my daughter) was making sand castles.
Fish wise, we only caught about 6 fish. Pretty bad, but I don't blame them for not wanting to bite into that bait.
I couldn't wait to get home and take a shower!
This was one of those moments where I wish I had taken my video camera, just to capture the night life on the Texas/Mexico river, and I will share some video from this year.
I'll post it up tomorrow.
Experiences like these are what I want to share with the world, that the dangers here are not like what they make them sound.
But it's hard.
It's hard to put into words the experience of life on the border.
Not too far from where we were standing you could hear motor bikes running back and forth. More than likely drug runners.
That's the part that is hard to explain.
You see, our little fishing expedition is dangerous.
It is as dangerous as walking into the forest at night, or walking down an alley at midnight.
If you are from a big city, you run a big risk of getting mugged, hurt, and in many cases, even killed.
The only difference between a big city and the Texas/Mexico border is that you have a big river in between and if you see someone on the other side, more than likely nothing will happen. They'll wave. You wave, and it's a friendly interchange.
However, the phrase that is most common around here is, "Wrong place. Wrong time".
It happens less often than not to regular civilians.
To be honest, I can't recall a moment where a regular civilian has been hurt or murdered by Mexicans for just being on the opposite side of the river.
What I have heard is of American's being by the river at the exact place where they are going to run drugs, and the worst that happened was that the drug runners shot warning shots into the air to scare away the American's from the area.
When it comes to people crossing over, they usually just rush by without a word and continue running. One guy reported that once while he was fishing this guy crossed the river and then came to stand by his side and struck up a friendly conversation with him like they were old pals!
The border patrol, however, experience "wrong place wrong time" more often than not, and mainly because that's what they are looking for. They are looking for what might be the wrong place at the wrong time, because more than likely there is where they will find what they are trying to stop - drug runners, undocumented immigrants, etc. If you ask them, they'll tell you the border is a war zone, but to people like me who live here, that equates to the same as asking a cop if his/her job is dangerous and they'll say "Yes, I bump into killers, rapists, thieves, child molestors, etc. all the time!"
So naturally it is more dangerous for them.
So for me, on this night, I really wasn't scared. Neither was my 8 year old or my 3 year old.
What I was scared of was wild animals, so after a while, I told my husband we were taking off.
Besides, I couldn't take the smell of that rotting shrimp anymore, and apparently neither could he because he said he was taking off too.
It took about 10 minutes to get back home, but guess what the first thing I did was?
You guessed it. I took a bath and believe it or not, I went and had to take another one and another one.
For some reason, I just couldn't get that rotting shrimp smell off of me!
Finally, I just sprayed some perfume on me and rubbed my hands with alcohol.
My brother came over and asked me if I had seen the movie "Spartacus: Gods of the Arena".
I hadn't, so he brought the movie over and that's what I'm about to do now.
I do hope it's a good movie because I don't have anything else to do, and I'll be damned if I'm going to clean the house.
Until next time...
Hello from Texas
I just had to start a diary where I talk about life on the border.
It's pretty hard to describe that what is going on here is nothing like what they say in the news, so I figured that maybe if I share some of the personal things I do, maybe, just maybe, I can bore the hell out of all those people who think and actually believe that life here is like living in a war zone.
No, life is not a war zone here, and as proof, I will produce a glimpse into my boring life here on the border.
I look forward to babbling about fishing on the banks of the Rio Grande River, our trips to Mexico, what we made to eat, going to town, etc.
But I still hope that you enjoy the ride. :)
In the mean time, here's some recommended reading:
It's pretty hard to describe that what is going on here is nothing like what they say in the news, so I figured that maybe if I share some of the personal things I do, maybe, just maybe, I can bore the hell out of all those people who think and actually believe that life here is like living in a war zone.
No, life is not a war zone here, and as proof, I will produce a glimpse into my boring life here on the border.
I look forward to babbling about fishing on the banks of the Rio Grande River, our trips to Mexico, what we made to eat, going to town, etc.
But I still hope that you enjoy the ride. :)
In the mean time, here's some recommended reading:
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