La Salida de Monterrey

MONTERREY, Mexico - Good morning you soulless machine. And to everyone reading this.

Roby and I are packing up and getting ready to head to the bus station, where we'll hopefully find a timely and air conditioned bus to Zacatecas, about a 6 and a half hour ride southwest of here. The locals we've friended here tell us Zacatecas is more representative of real Mexico than Monterrey. I don't really know what to expect if that much is true. Everyone we've met here is so friendly, the food is great, the landscape is amazing, etc. Our friend Roberto, a pilot originally from La Paz in Baja California who is now based out of Monterrey, who we met singing karaoke at a bar just a few blocks up from the hostel, said with Monterrey being the country's wealthiest city comes an elitist upper class culture that we were never exposed to hanging out in the Barrio Antiguo. He said in other parts of town there are numerous bars and nightclubs where if you don't walk in wearing Dolce & Gabbana you'll probably be kicked out, and you don't always know if you're entering one of these places until you've stepped in.

That's not to say Roberto didn't know a thing or two about how to party in style. We spent hours at the karaoke bar Monday night until it closed around 2 a.m., and stayed past then with the stragglers all beating on drums and bongos while they finished their drinks in the dark with one black light painting them all neon. Our refusal to leave didn't seem to bother our drunk bartender Panchito, who began embracing me like a brother every time we crossed paths. Once we left finally Roberto invited us back to his apartment in downtown Monterrey. It turned out he lives in an 18-story apartment complex with a large private lounge area upstairs that's open to the renters and their private karaoke parties into all hours of the night. Roberto had a microphone he attached to his computer and then hooked it up to the lounge's PA system, then found karaoke videos on YouTube for us to enjoy. Yes, you missed Mike Faulk sing such hits as "Fotografia," "Me Gustas Tu," and "1979" We were rolling on the floor laughing trying to figure out exactly how to make that "coo" sound in between the lyrics in "1979." The lounge was decorated in modern art and also had a balcony with a view of the whole city, which was surprisingly quiet to me as I stood out on it by myself pondering which Hulu video I would have fallen asleep to watching by myself that night in Anniston had I not left my job.

Yesterday was tranquilo, our heads hurt, so we spent a lot of time in air-conditioned museums and shopping malls downtown. We now have one hour to check out, and I need to wash this sweat off of me to make room for today's new batch. Ya venimos Zacatecas.