Semana Santa - Week 1: PHX and Vegas, Baby!

The saga begins in Torreon. After school on Friday the 3rd, I frantically finished packing desperately hoping there was nothing I forgot. Victor and I then get picked up by his aunt and taken to Gomez Palacio, the neighboring town in which said aunt lives. We get all of her things together and do our best to squeeze the three of us and our belongings into one of the ever so small taxis here to the bus station. The luxury first class bus then drives us through northern Mexico to the safest city I know, Juarez. [If you are not so familiar with Mexican politics and goings-on, this is actually probably the most dangerous city. Recently acquiring something like 5,000 troops to try to quell the drug war. It is said that last year there were three times more murders there than in the most murderous city in the US. Almost entirely our fault though as the US is the largest consumer of Mexican heroine, cocaine, and methamphetamines, while at the same time being the largest supplier of weapons for them. I digress...]
A fairly uneventful, yet roomy, 10 hr ride later, we arrive at the border town. Victor's parents had driven there, and a cousin and her children also met us there to join in on the fun. So now we are - Victors parents, Tía Lily, cousin Bere, her children little Victor and Angela, Victor, and I. Eight in a four door F-150 (I believe), only slightly crowded, 5 in the back, 3 in the front. First meal back in the US, McDonalds breakfast, of course?!
After dozing on and off for the better part of the day, I was feeling lazy and just wanted to relax. Actually, come to think of it, that's pretty much how I felt all week! It was good to be in a comfortable home, complete with such pleasures as carpet, dryer, HDTV :), and food and entertainment that I am used to. All of this comfort of the US but still so much Spanish around! Victors family doesn't really ever speak English, his brother and sister of course use it almost all the time, while his parents know it but only use it with gringos, and his aunt and cousin don't really know it at all. Plus, South Phoenix has every other billboard in Spanish and the radio stations in Spanglish. It was fun! Especially to play with the kids, we laughed a lot. Victor only calls me Blue, so his whole family does as well; sometimes I was Azul, and sometimes Blue amongst the rest of the Spanish words in their sentence. I showed off some of my face tricks (if you know me, you know the ones) which were a big hit with the kids. From then on I couldn't be seen without hearing "Hazlo" meaning, do it! They're so cute!
Things we did: GoKart racing. which I apparently suck at ... at least I didn't crash ;) Going out to eat: In N Out which is only in AZ and CA, some really good pizza joints because they are lacking in Torreon, and Jamba Juice which I was excited about! Watching movies - two in theater and a few rentals. I am pretty behind in my pop culture trivia! Visit to the Cardinals Stadium. or Heaven as Victor calls it. Shopping! found some excellent deals got a few things, fun had by all.
On Friday the whole family (minus sister, plus me and plus brothers guest) packed up into two vehicles and headed for Vegas! There was a large stretch of stop and go traffic around Hoover Dam, and Cesar got pulled over for speeding, but otherwise uneventful drive. We were of course playing the 50 state game, looking for all the license plates (again, if you know me, this is a given). In the end we had 41 throughout the week, including both AK and HI! Once in Las Vegas and all settled into our hotel room, we hit up Circus Circus for their cheaper tables for the guys. True to Vegas form, we stayed out til all hours of the night. Slept in pretty late and then got ourselves tickets for the Deuce! We visited a few different hotels, rode on the NY, NY rollercoaster and got some gelato at the Venetian, which I was surprised was a pretty re-creation, complete with street performers and people getting married and serenaded in gondolas. Then unfortunately, even though 24 hours in Vegas almost seemed like enough :), it was time for me to head to the airport to catch my flight to my next spring break adventure.
From LAS to LAX to OAO.... to be continued.