One of those days when you know you have lived

Finally some environmental stuff.











A couple of days ago Karen and I went with some of the scientists from the university we are working with (ECOSUR) out to Jaltinango. It is a town of about 80,000 surrounded by steep green mountains. The point of the four hour drive to Jaltinango was to take water quality samples from points all throughout the town's watershed. We arrived late on the night of the 5th, and slept in an "auto motel"!!!!We got up real early on the morning of the 6th and hopped into our ford ranger double cab. Well, since we had 8 people and only 5 seats I actually hoped ON the back bed rail. Riding in the back of a pickup truck over bumps and rocks, having to have to hold onto the rails tight so as not to flop head first over the side, is something that our legal system rarely accommodates anymore. We took samples for about half the day, when the heat and humidity started catching up with us, so at about 2:00 in the afternoon we stopped for some beers. There is just something freeing about drinking an ice cold Tecate, walking down the middle of a dusty street, in the middle of the day, with the hot sun shinning on your face. There is something even more freeing about drinking your second Tecate in the back of the pickup trying again to hold on, this time with just one hand.

As the day was winding down and we only had a few more samples to go, the heavens all of a sudden opened up. It was a thunder and lighting storm as I had never been in before (coming from California its not that hard for me to be amazed by a sudden thunder storm). Streets turned into muddy stormwater rivers, and this time Jesus and I had to try to keep from rolling off the tailgate into one of these rivers as the truck tried to get back to the main road.

The day ended with a wonderful meal at Sinar and Eda´s house, where I learned just how much fun can be had with a four year old boy and a coke bottle cap (I know that sounds horribly dirty and wrong, but everything was completely on the level)


Oh, Carlos and Santos chased me down in the street this evening, and after a two week hiatus, taco night is back on for sunady!!!!!!!!!

(how one gets the pad lock off a cistern lid in mexico)

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Nothing to do with motorcycles or the environment (I know Again)

As some of you know I went to a high school friend's wedding this summer, John Mone's. Despite the intense amount of traveling that had to be done for the event, and simply the total amount I had done this summer, I really had a good time. It was nice to be with my close high school friends for the whole weekend. b-nubs and Poo Crew, Loc Tone and LJ. Even though we aren't real close it was also good to see Jonah again after so much time (See picture above). The wedding was quite nice and well executed. Minnesota is real hot and humid in the summer, weather made more uncomfortable when one has to get dressed up in a shirt, tie, and slacks. Luckily Bruce and I weren't "in the wedding" so we didn't have to have full three piece suits like Adam, Andrew, and Tony; or have to arrive an hour before the wedding started and mill around outside taking pictures. We got to chill out in the air conditioned hotel.

The wedding reception was held down by a lake, that this rural resort town butts up against (the town's name escapes me). The hall had big glass windows that looked out over the lake and the dinner tables had very nice flowers and decorations. Nothing was tacky like I expect at weddings. For some reason, I still don't know the connection, some guy was offering boat rides on the lake, with cold booze. Since I for one do not do well in confined spaces for long periods thought thought a boat ride was a great idea and with John's help convinced others to come along. Now this lake is pretty big and broad, there was also a fairly heavy wind blowing. Both of these things fact led to quite a bit of chop on the lake. As the random boarding and subsequent seating arrangements would have it a young female guest of the Mone's was stuck sitting in the bow of the boat. With all the chop the likelihood of getting wet sitting there was pretty much certain. Since she really didn't want to get her nice dress wet, and I being the chivalrous gentleman that I am, offered to change seats with her and face the waterly onslaught myself (I also offered to change because with such crappy, humid, hot weather, I didn't mind it if my ass got a bit wet). Turns out my ass got more than a bit wet, it actually got soaked. The trip back to the dock was wetter then going out (some of you may remember what happened as the two boats headed back to the dock together!!!!) and by the time we pulled in I actually had to wring out the butt portion of my pants.

Now, knowing that I was going to have to spend the next 4-5 hours sitting around, dancing, eating, and drinking; I decided that soaked, bunchy underwear would be more annoyance then I wanted to deal with; so I made the logical decision. I went out to the parking lot, took my underwear off, and hung then on the rental minivan to dry.
Side Note: The new Dodge caravan is one of the coolest cars I have ever seen, driven, ridden in, etc. If they ever come out with a hybrid version or even just a more fuel efficient one, I would have no problems being a soccer mom for life and having that be the only car I ever get to drive. Good, I got an environmental reference in. I feel better now.
I returned to the reception hall and had a couple more glasses of wine, not enough for me to be drunk but enough for me to start feeling real hot, especially since the air conditioning in the place was broken. So, Tony, Bruce and I, being the logical intelligent young men that we are, decided that the best way to cool off would be to go for a swim in the lake (I swear the initial idea was Tony's not mine). We walked out of the reception hall passed the outdoor patio, where incidentally many of the guests were in their own way trying to beat the heat of the reception hall, and down to the boat dock where we could dive into the lake. Now while Bruce and Tony could simply go swimming in there underwear I had a bit of a problem. Since my underwear was hanging on the side mirror of the minivan I had to be discreet about my entrance into the water. It wasn't that I was shy, I just didn't think everyone else wanted to see all of me.
The swim was real nice. While the lake is big and broad, it is also real shallow, so even after we swam out a ways I was still able to touch the ground. This fact allowed me to always have a huge, squishy, grassy, mud clod ready to launch at Tony's head. After maybe 20min to a half hour we deiced to get out. However (as can been seen in the picture above) "best man" Johna and Dave thought it would be funny to steal our clothes. This was not a problem for Tony and Bruce as they had underwear on, however I was naked, which I subsequently informed Dave and Johna about (I think they knew this, which was one of the reasons why they stole our clothes). Not unexpectedly, this did not change their plan and they took our clothes up the dock and put them under a tree. I for one have never been one to sit idly by and be the but of other people's jokes, so I calmly got out of the water and walked up the dock to the tree with all of me in plain view. I did not view this as me exposing myself to the wedding party and guests, but Jonah being the one doing the exposing of me. It was as if he pantsed me in front of everyone, and I was not going to play along with the joke. The best part of the whole thing however was the fact that as soon as I got out of the water the professional wedding photographer came over and snapped a few shots of me in all my glory.

(this is a family site, hence the black bar)

Now thankfully I don't believe anybody was offended, and due to the distance from the patio and my natural lack of endowment I would be surprised if anybody actually did see anything of note. After I got dressed and returned to the party I was told by a few of the ladies that my butt could use a bit of sun and I was in no position to disagree as my swimming tan lines were very pronounced.

Now there are two reasons for me writing this. One is that I think it is a funny story and I think some of you will get a kick out of it, but other and more important is that it provides a record of what actually occurred on that fateful mid July Sunday in 2006. If any of those present wish to comment or make corrections to the events as I have described them let them comment now or accept my version as gospel.

Oh and to all of my triathlon friends, I have once again faithfully upheld my team designation as most likely to get neked!!!!!!

Peace, Elke