Going springing...to Paipa, here. Where there are springs with hot thermal water. They are regimented. A friend called them the Communist hot springs - 30 minutes in, and they toss you out like yesterday's spaghetti, into the freezing cold water.

Today Uribe was re-elected. Carlos Gaviria quoted Borges in his concession speech: "La derrota tiene una dignidad que la ruidosa victoria no merece" = Defeat has a dignity that noisy victory does not deserve. My friends were sad. I consoled them with tales of our own re-elected failure. Don't think it helped much.


This morning Aimee and I climbed Monserrate. It rained. We saw: barefoot pilgrims, pregnant teenagers, young mothers with babes in arms, toddlers, elderly couples with canes, 30-somethings with canes, a priest, one nun, soldiers guarding...something (probably us), and countless dogs scavenging for lunch. Oh, and donuts, lots of crunchy donuts hanging in clear plastic by the dozen.



Friday we saw X-Men. Eli asked me why all the X-Men were Americans. Are there not as many mutants in the immigrant population? Is mutation a U.S. thing? I did not laugh. After all, the movie was loud, and loud is often right. Afterwards friends came over to celebrate ley seca with beer. Not sure if this was ironic in the Alanis Morrisette sense or not. How could I not love it here?

But I'm ready to be home, for the summer at least. I miss: wild grass, my family including pets, beasts, and one chilango, baseball (baseball!), the general lack of soldiers on street corners, and summer nights in the South. Also gospel music, crunchy peanut butter, pecan trees, and fireflies. I don't miss the way your clothes stick to you ten seconds out of the air conditioning but I'm willing to live with it.

My new favorite word: jipijapa (Panama hat). It sounds so happy.