Albuquerque 3rd Week

7/17

Some SOB STOLE MY BIKE! I had just come home from the coffee shop, had intended to leave in a short while I don't remember where to, and had leaned the bike against the front of the RV. It was locked to itself (around the frame and inside the front wheel). My thinking: no one can ride away with it. BUT, and while I was inside the RV, someone picked it up and walked away with it. I was less than 10 feet away. It happened in a blink of an eye.

If Albuquerque has it's charm, I still have not found it. It is the biggest city in NM, which is one of the poorest states in the country. Mississippi is poorer. I understand the struggles of the poor (having once been poor myself!) I understand the extreme struggles of the homeless. I understand how difficult a life one lives with mental illness combined with substance abuse. ABQ has all these challenges in spades. Crime, especially petty crime, is very very common. Anyway, after the anger and frustration of having my bike stolen, I set off to buy another one. And I found a beaut, thru Craig's list. Better, and like new, I bought it for the crazy low price of $80. from a Aussie in part of ABQ where the rich live. He just wanted to get rid of it, purging stuff.

Graham the bike seller was a big movie buff, and before I left, we had blabbed about pictures for over an hour. Terrific guy. I think I"ll put him in my TRAVELING FILMMAKER MOVIE, "WANDER LOST " (read all about it!)

The Flamenco performance was more or less MEH, btw. I kept imagining myself at home eating a perfectly good tuna salad sandwich followed by a gin and tonic while reading the truly fab, "True Grit". Instead, my eyes and ears were steadily treated to Spanish/Arab wailing, overly dramatized dancing (always emphasized with the twisting of the wrists and flowing hands that, I suppose, comes from much practice). And of course, rapid fired Spanish booted tap dancing, posing and all the rest. Members of the audience would occasionally yell out "Olé" and other such nonsense, wanting to get in on the action or the "spirit", it just all seemed so pretentious, that was my take any way. Free snacks, which included stale and slightly soggy popcorn!, were actually the best part, I kid you not.

7/21

Swim almost every day. Spend lots of time trying to schedule/coordinate talent for Wander Lost (impossible, but I knew that so don't suffer from frustration). And importantly, I'm not in a hurry (rules to live by). Hot, but not so hot. As noted before, I like the climate here. Pretty sure that in about two weeks I'll be in Santa Fe and experience that scene.