Headin' South

South of the border, that is, and to the Southwest. Not the Deep South. No, I fear that that is somewhere I won't get to for the next five or ten years--long enough time for the damage to be repaired, the buildings to be fixed. But I yearn for the old New Orleans, that which was covered in flowers and moss, gently decaying. The N'awlins made alive in books I've never read, that which is sung in songs I've never heard. That great city I know nothing of and never bothered to visit. Practically gone. My pal Rory writes more eloquently than I of what we have both lost, what everyone who's never visited the Big Easy has let slip through their future memories.

Instead it's up at 4:30 tomorrow morning to catch a flight to the arid land of Arizona. An old high school friend has been begging for a visit these past five years now, and with the settlement money from my car accident I can afford to go. I adore going to new places, and although I've twice been to Arizona I've never gone as far south as Tucson. Nor have I ever gone to Mexico, where we're heading tomorrow for three days. The prospect of leaving the U.S. for foreign soil has me virtually jumping with excitement, as does the thought of writing "Mexico" on the list of countries visited I have taped on my computer at work.

Puerto Peñasco lies a short four-hour drive from Tucson, through the inhospitable Sonoran Desert. It will be my second time seeing the Pacific (if the Gulf of California is considered such); the other time I was seven, in Portland. And it will be the second time I've gone south of the border; the other being when I went to Brazil for a month at 17. I plan on spending the next few days visiting the markets, drinking tequila, laying on the beach, trying authentic Mexican food, and possibly snorkeling. I'll let you know how it goes, and in the meantime, you Yanks have a great Labor Day Weekend, y'hear?

UPDATE 9:42 p.m.: For those of you interested, my brother shared the following:

This livejournal is being run by a guy who's still in
New  Orleans at a hosting company (provides internet
services to others).  They have their own power, and
are apparently the only ones in the city still with
internet.

I recommend skipping to the 4th page, then reading
backwards, as the newest posts are first.  It's pretty
bad there.  The only reason I believe that his
company's still going is he's ex-Special Forces and
knows what to do in situations this bad.  Evidently
the police are now looting themselves and abandoning
their jobs, as they have no communication with
headquarters.  Now the Marines are in, which isn't
good.

On another note, my roommate and I are going to offer
our couch to students from Loyola in New Orleans, as
our Chicago campus is allowing them to transfer up
here.  Hopefully said student will be a hot girl :P