Mmmmmhmmmm... it's good to be home. But let me say, that was a damn fine tour. If the spark of humanity in me was starting to die out from stress and the hectic college pace, it has been amply rekindled. Mexico was, simply put, amazing. I travelled everywhere from Mexico City and Acapulco to tiny villages in the mountains that still spoke Nahuatl and all those lovely, guard rail-less winding mountain roads in between. I touched people in non-verbal ways that only music can. I swam in the ocean. I got tan and had my hair braided. I drank tequila. I bonded with my tour roommates and saw more boobs and vomit (from heat stroke and motion sickness, DUH!) than ever before in my life. I missed my boyfriend, my family and friends. I listened to track number four in the ROTK soundtrack while driving in high mountain passes and looking below the road to see a thousand feet of deep valley, tiny waterfalls, and mist everywhere. It was unbelieveable. I EVEN LEARNED SOME SPANISH! Sadly, I think I understand conversational Spanish as well as French just from hearing for so many weeks everywhere around me. My instrument got stuck at the border with the rest of the truck. I shared a local bass clarinet that tasted like old fish with Anna for the first concert. I went dancing! I stayed in Cortes' personal hacienda! I drank more tequila and margaritas. And some bacardi. Mmmm. I jumped on beds. I looked out over the Pacific, up to Minnesota and especially over to Italy. I played in some of the finest concert halls and the coldest large gym-like garages Mexico has to offer, BY GOD! And it was by God! All of it! Meeting people with less to their family's name than I have in my dorm room alone, yet they were as happy as I could hope Jimmy and I will be in our lifetime. Seeing couples hugging and kissing in the streets (sometimes more!) as well as mothers and children, older married husbands and wives, and wondering why we're so wary of affection in the US. I definitely going all out when I'm back on campus, so Jimmy boy, just you look out! :) I wore skirts and laughed and operated on Mexican time. I stayed with a Mexican family for a couple days. I ate all the pecante Mexico has to offer!!! Mwa hahaha... it was glorious! And then I flew home. And last night I got to see Jimmy! Just for a couple of hours, mind you, but it was wonderful. Beyond words. It was weird too, the things I noticed about him as we talked in the Borders books cafe, things like how his hair curls perfectly on his forehead, how dark his eyes are, and isn't his skin smooth and my hands feel perfect inside his, how his hand feels on my back. All these little nuances of being alive, things I hadn't let myself miss for fear that I would spend more time moping than drinking in Mexico, came rushing back to me and it was glorious!!! :) Our moms spent that time talking too, which was good... mwa hahaha. And so, I'm home relaxing and reading the end of "Caramelo" so I can write a paper on it and finish my Mexican adventure. :)