Back in the US

The readjustment to the US wasn't as difficult as a thought it would. The tough part is office culture. I accidentally prevented my boss from scoring a waitresses number at one of our afternoon outings and have feared for the security of my position ever since.

Here's a fast forward of life back in the US.

Back in the US taking my photo in a huge silver baked bean in Chicago.


The huge silver baked bean in Millennium Park. I must note here that Mayor Daley is one of my favorite mayors in the United States right now... Right after my buddy Bing.


Here's a water feature in Millennium Park: a fantastic example of Chicago's continued dedication to the development of open public space.


After a stroll through Millennium Park, it was off to a local neighborhood festival celebrating local fashion and culture.


While these are photos of Chicago, I am in Worcester, MA. This is a piece of graffiti I photographed for a youth organization I started a couple years back called Main South Speaks. The site was down at the time of this posting, but should be up soon.

During my last couple of weeks in Mexico I traveled with a good friend of mine, Juan Rojas, who I helped create the website The Image Octopus which is an online space dedicated to visual research and anthropology.

My time with Juan certainly made me more aware of the use of public space by governments, communities, and dissenters.

Since I am not longer traveling, this "travelog" will be shifted to a place to play with ideas for research and writings I am doing. Fear not though. Future travels are always right around the corner.

A Touristical Weekend

Maya ruins in the jungle, all you can eat steak houses, Chamulan religious ceremonies, Latin American soccer cup, movies, drinks, friends. That was my weekend.

Anything particularly exciting? Not really. That's what made it so nice.

I wore the hat of the tourist which made me think about tourism and what I'm doing here.

A "tourist" is someone who "tours": to go through various places of interest for business, pleasure, or instruction.

A "traveler" is someone who "travels": to go through various places of interest for business, pleasure, or instruction. But it is also to proceed or advance in a way.

The differences are subtle but important. Traveling implies a transformation or evolution. This progress in traveling is the focus, rather than the place one visits in touring. That transformative experience is the elusive destination of all travelers. It cannot be planned fo. Transformative Experience is on no map I've seen.

The quest for the next experience is what drives travellers forever on to the next place. In the same way adrenaline junkies and xtreme sports enthusiasts look for the fastest speeds, the perfect waves, or the most dangerous stunts, so to are travellers compelled.

The travel bug bites hard and once again I've been injected with its intoxicating venom.


Am I a tourist? Obviously.

Rather than an ecotourist, or a sex tourist, or a health tourist, or an adventure tourist, I'd like to think I'm a investigative tourist. Investigative tourism focuses on learning, answering specific questions, and molding experiences to meet these goals.

And how is the food, different from Orizaba?

A great question. On this topic I could write pages and pages of articles... OH WAIT! I have!

In seriousness, the international influence over the food here is stronger that in Orizaba. The Italian and French in particular have put there own spin on food in San Cristóbal.

The street food is more or less the same. There is not a whole lot of indigenous influence over the types of food served, even though most of the street vendors are indigenous.

Some local favorites different from Orizaba are snails, cow cheeks, and queso de San Cristóbal. But the food is pretty similar from what I can tell. A lot of Vitamin T: tacos, tamales, tortillas, tortas along with chalupas, ganachas, quesadillas, and mole.

This wraps up the Kate's questions series. I've been working with a local historian the past few days on a presentation for tomorrow. More on that later.