Well, here is the first edition of my newsletter. I am writing from a nice hotel in Oaxaca. I have made this far without any major troubles so far. Today was the first real problem. My camera broke, so it looks like US$60 for a new one. I guess it was foolish of me to expect more than 10 days of service from a quality American made product. Also, tonight when I was walking back from the bus station and man saw me and started whistling and jumping up and down. I tried to ignore him but he started yelling "I know you can hear me America! America, I spit on you! Look at me America! America! America! I hate you America!" It was very entertaining.

The next challenge is crossing the Guatamalan Border. I have heard this could cost me anywhere between nothing and US$20 depending on the Border guard I encounter. That, and somehow Mexican authorities have been alerted to the fact that I have in my possesion the Ultimate Hip-Hop Supermix, and they seem to be willing to do anything to get their hands on it. So far I have managed to stay 2 steps ahead of them, but I may have to sneak across the border under the cover of night.

It has cost me a little more than I hoped so far due to things like the camera and the fact that I have been in big cities so far.

San Antonio was a waste of time. The train got into town 3.5 hours late at 2:30am. I called a cab to take me to my hotel and the first thing I saw of the city was a man and a women standing over a man laying on the sidewalk and kicking him. I don't know, maybe it's because it was the middle of January, but San Antonio was very boring. I saw the Alamo. The vaunted RiverWalk was dead. I ate my last hearty American meal for a long time at Denny's.

Monterrey was sort of boring too. It�s like a dirty AMerican city where nobody speaks English. It also rained while I was there. I did eat at a restuarant there where the waitresses dress as nuns. Probably the best thing there is the Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame, which is located in the Brewery which sponsors it. And there is a big orange sculpture in their main square called �The Beacon of Commerce that shoots out green laser beams at night. The morning I left my shower flooded my entire hotel room, but I didn�t feel like trying to explain what happened so I just checked out and got on my bus to Mexico City.

Mexico City is another story. It is probably now one of my favorite cities anywhere. It is big and it is crowded and the air is yellow for most of the day, but otherwise it is wonderful. There are many nice museums and markets there, and the main plaza, the zocalo, is always crowded with people doing indian dances or selling strange food, or something. I went into a hostel cafe to try and watch some of the Super Bowl, but I got there at halftime, which it seems lasted about 2 hrs, and before the game started again, a Peruvian guy was giving me advice about traveling through Guatamala, and then I started talking to a Canadian guy and British girl, which led to an Aussie guy, a couple more British guys, and a couple of Mexicans, and then I started taking a lot of heat for being an American. I guess we are easy to make fun of, but that�s allright, because we all know who they are going to come runnign to if their is a war or they want good tv shows. It was all in good fun though. Somehow it all ended up with us at a tranvestite bar. Long story.

Oaxaca is nice and has some good restaurants right near their zocalo, plus some good ruins on a mountains right outside of town. I was sitting in the zocalo last night and a zapotec indian named clemente gave me spanish lessons and I helped him with his english. I am speaking a lot better, but I still dont�understand very much, unless it is being spoken by fellow gringoes. Mexicans speak muy rapido. But so far I have only had to say Hablas ingles? once.

Well, I am on the clock here and with this camera incident, I don�t want to go spending too much on the internet, even if it is only UA$2.50 an hr. I will write more when I get to Mac�s because in Guatamala everything is cheaper and I will be housed for free. Hasta Luego, Jim