yay for snow!

it is snowing in dallas right now. that's all i am going to say!

la quemada + jerez (zacatecas, mexico)

so my plan to go to real de catorce fell through for lack of bus connections and lack of time on my behalf...so my plan B for the day was to go visit the ruins of La Quemada, which is an archeological site that used to be inhabited by the first inhabitants of mexico, who later on went to found teotihuacan (spelling?)...anyway, ít has such a name because it burnt down, and what was left is what i saw today: a couple of good-sized pyramids, the outer walls, what is believed to be the first roofed building in mexico, and scattered clusters of stones on a hill overlooking the whole desertic valley...then from there i hitched a ride from a mexican-french mormon couple all the way to jerez on the back of their pickup truck...that was fun! now i am here in jerez, which is a nice small countryside town, pretty quiet, yet lively and there's even an abundance of internet cafes! i slurped on several "paletas" (popsicles) and got some bread and pastries for my ride back to zacatecas tonight...hopefully i will also make it to this discotheque in zacatecas which is inside a mine...one of the few in the world apparently! then tomorrow it's time for going back already, slowly but surely...too bad i won't be able to make it to real de catorce this time!
highlights: the state band playing a concert in a square in central zacatecas; riding in the back of the mexican-french mormon couple's pickup truck!

zacatecas, mexico.

2450 meters above sea level right amidst a desert in the center-north of mexico lies zacatecas, the city i am in right now, after a 20-hour total bus ride from dallas. because of the altitude and since it in winter time it is freezing at night, but still nice during the day...my hosts S and P have been wonderful so far, including an awesome night tour that included 2 of the best hotels in town: one used to be an arena for bullfights (the infamous "corridas"), and has rooms in the "stadium" part of the arena, while the pit is still there and the whole structure is untouched. the other one is a giant complex of hoses, alleys and balconies that used to be painted all different colors and used to host multi-family housings for the poor people of zacatecas...now it's been re-modeled and painted all red and yellow and it looks very romantic and different! other highlights included the UNESCO world heritage list cathedral that looks so insane it makes you wonder if it's real, a lot of other churches, an old acqueduct, and narrow, colonial streets full of baroque buildings...today i am set to explore it all, starting by what used to be one of the most important silver mines in the country.
tomorrow i am trying to go to real de catorce, once the silver capital of the region, now a ghost town that seems full of italian restaurants and artsy expats and not much else...well, besides being famous for an annual pilgrimage of the huichol indigenous people, who are famous for using peyote...but more on that tomorrow or the following day!
i also learned that "vengo de dallas" (i am from dallas, i am coming from dallas) can have a double meaning with sexual connotations to the youngsters here, so i am better off just saying i am italian but i am living in tejas right now! :)

sportsmanship is not everything...i guess?!

Last night I went to see my first hockey, and NHL, game thanks to A.! I know it's not technically traveling so it shouldn't be on here, but whatever...the best thing, besides seating right next to the Dallas Stars' bench, was the fight! Yes, the fight...apparently, hockey is the only sport I know of where violence outside the game itself is allowed...no, I am not talking about the tackling and fighting while playing! If you want to fight with somebody they will let you do so; actually, the fans will encourage you, the refs will stop the game, stand aside and watch, their arms crossed, till you're done...so you can have at it, and when you're done you just get to sit in the penalty box for a little bit! It's very different from any sport I've seen before, where the coach or team managers would punish you for being violent outside the sport's boundaries...an interesting concept nonetheless!

please read this!

"Today we consider it obvious and natural that we have sidewalks on every street. Bikeways should be the same. If we are a democratic society, everybody has the right to the same mobility. So, in the future we have to think as bikeways not as something cute or nice but as a right. A quality city is not one that has great roads but one where a child can safely go anywhere on a bicycle."

Enrique Peñalosa was mayor of Bogotá from 1998 to 2001, when term limits forced him to leave office. He has advised other world cities on transportation and is a senior fellow at the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy. This article is adapted from comments he made at “Manhattan on the Move: A Transportation Agenda for a Growing City,” a conference presented by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer.

it's been a while!

I haven't written on here in forever, leaving you all (??) with the World Cup tornado...after that and 2 weeks spent in the peace of Guastalla I came back here, in Dallas, TX...school started again, I moved somewhere bigger and closer to school, I got a roadbike, and not much else...oh yeah, I spent my birthday weekend in Chicago and Urbana-Champaign, IL, which I both loved!
I know I was supposed to write from there as I was technically traveling, but I didn't get the chance to...so I am updating from "home", looking forward to my next projects and trips: buying an old steel 90's roadbike and transforming it (or rather, having it transformed) into a fixie, a fixed-gear bicycle (no shifting, no coasting, no derailleurs, no brake cables,...); also, I am trying to decide where to spend my Thanksgiving...it will probably be Mexico, but I don't know where, and it has to be somewhat close to the Texas border...so maybe Real de Catorce, Zacatecas, Aguascalientes, or somewhere around there...then I just booked my flights to Colombia for the winter break (mid Dec till mid Jan!): I will be in Colombia and Venezuela for 5 weeks! I will also get to meet my brother and spend Christmas and New Year's with him! Woohoo!

World Champions!

the best of italy's 2006 world cup with commentary by fabio caressa (in italian. duh.)

oh mamma mamma mamma, oh mamma mamma mamma, lo sai perche', innamorato so', ho visto ale del piero, ho visto ale del piero, ehi, mamma, innamorato so'

the past couple of days have been a whirlwind of emotions...i still have in my head the screams, noises, horns, flags, people, squares, fountains, jerseys...it was definitely memorable and unbelievable, but we made history: italy won its fourth football (soccer) world cup, we are the world champions!!!
i am in rome of all places, so i watched both the semifinal and the final at this huge place with hundreds of thousands of people, and it was amazing! the 2 goals in 3 minutes with germany after 118 minutes of suffering were like a huge thunder in a clear sky, and i really enjoyed that night because it was just as amazing as it was unexpected...
the final was much more full of tension because of france and our history with them, and the penalties are always a low blow to your heart anyway...when we won i could not believe it, it had never happened ever since i can remember (ok, the last time was in 1982) so i didn't really know how to react...the crowds got crazy in the streets all night long, i fulfiled my childhood dream: to throw myself in a fountain for a big football (soccer) celebration!!!
then last night was the last and possibly big emotion, since it came as a total surprise: an open deck bus with all the players and the world cup toured the streets of rome and ended the parade at circo massimo, the huge open-air space where i watched the last two games...i read that there was about 1 million people there last night, a lot more along the streets of rome to sing with and shout at the players...
i was waiting for the bus with the players to pass by although i didn't know how close it would be or anything...well, when it did come by it was an incredible feeling: i could see the players and coach and the world cup from 5-10-15 meters, depending on the craziness of the crowd and the speed of the bus...so i started following the bus the whole way to the circo massimo, and i got to see them over and over and over again, it was really unbelievable, something that is hard to describe with words...
i was there, they were there too...this whole thing is just such a big coincidence that it is incredible to even begin to realize what's been going on...
i even bought myself 2 new original jerseys that i've been wearing this whole time! hehe

the eternal city.

yes that's correct, i am in rome...i got here tonight on the fancy eurostar train, after barely one day at home...rome is really beautiful at night, i had forgotten about it...i am on a campus in montemario, a nice green area with big houses...i have my own room with fridge and it's nice and cosy i think, i am happy i can go to the supermarket and keep food in my room and eat good stuff...that's a nice life!

oh, i forgot...

CS's website crashed and it seems like everything was lost...it's incredibly sad...what's worse is that it looks like the creator/founder/whatever doesn't want to keep doing it after this problem,...hopefully some positive developments soon!