información?

maybe the most frustrating thing about living in oaxaca is the lack of information. an information society this is not. 

I think of this because tonight was the America-Chivas soccer game -- big Mexican rivalry. Word was the game was at 6:30. It was actually at 4:30 (I still caught most of it -- America won 1-0). This is typical. You simply can't find shit out here. while generally I've relished not following US news/politics/etc, this morning a bit of homesickness/desire for routine set in, and I decided I wanted to buy a Sunday NYT and sit in a cafe and read the whole thing. this was after going to the local cafe I like for breakfast only to find it inexplicably closed with a sign saying "sorry."

Went to Amate Books, the english language bookstore to see if they had it. No, but the woman there said the newsstands in the Zocalo (main square) sell American papers. So I walk down to the Zocalo, and ask the newsstands if they sell American papers. No. The guy says to come back mañana, which is something people say here when they don't have what you're looking for. It doesn't really mean if you come back tomorrow we'll have it. 

that's the way it goes -- wild goose chases for things and information. 

one of my first nights in town, friends and I stopped in the Teatro Macedonia, a very cool old theater in town; they were having a free musical performance. thinking I'd like to come back, I asked for a schedule. the woman there said the guy with the schedules had left and I should come back during the day. no website, por su puesto. 

this is the rant of a spoiled american (why is there no oaxaca.citysearch.com?!). I'm used to checking the wmata or capmetro websites to find exactly when the bus comes and where it goes. here there is no published bus schedule -- not even at the bus stops. you just sort of wait for a bus to come by. time here is much less urgent. for instance, the lila downs concert scheduled for 9:00 pm started at 11:30 pm. 

El Jogorio, a monthly magazine with cultural events said that on a particular Thursday there would be an exhibit of 30 years of political ads in Mexico at the Graphic Arts Museum. Showed up, and it turns out it's not an exhibit, it's a conference; and it's not at the Museum, it's at a town 30 minutes away. Oh well. 

hours for stores and restuarants aren't posted. they're open when they're open and closed when they're closed. don't expect consistent hours. no one knows addresses or streets. directions are typically: go to the street by this store, take a left, walk a while.... look for this... 

I called SKY, the Mexican cable network, two weeks ago to see if the UT-OU game would be on. No one knew. If it's on, it's on. Just go to the bar and see (it wasn't). This place will either purge my OCD/planner tendencies or cause serious mental illness, espero the former. which could be the best thing gained (in addition, of course, to fluency in spanish). 

ok. I'm staring at three liters of beer that need drinking. hasta luego.