Chapter Fourteen:     On The Fucking Road

MIGUEL deSANTO, rockstar reporter, 26 October to 2 November --

Traveling by convoy is slow going: I usually drive down the Pan-American Highway at a 100 mph, but this time we are all doing 60 max in a long, long, long chain and we're not supposed to overtake whoever is in front of us. Permanecer en línea, amigos, stay in line. Count on two long days to Guadalaja, non-stop. But they are not boring days. We are essentially a rolling party in that bus. Still without alcohol or drugs, but we play music together a lot, try to write some songs (trash but fun), and talk about...well, everything. There is even flirting going on-- every which way --which I take to be platonic and innocent, my old-guy at 33 status firmly set in stone.

Masnia seems especially flirtatious, but I'm sure I am misreading her signals, different culture, etc. I get the familiar groupie vibe off her, but those squatch chick eyes look so innocent. Just like my favorite groupies, the ones I really fall for--I'm a sucker for sweet & innocent. She asks me to play guitar for her and she really listens when I do. Very flattering. And then she asks me to teach her some Spanish, kind of cuddling up to me, making me feel good. Although also feeling like a dirty old pervert out to sodomize an innocent female of another species...hey, which I definitely am, hermano.

I have this routine for scoring girls who aren't quite throwing themselves at me. Not all chicks are groupies and sometimes I'd meet a non-airhead girl I actually liked, who was not that kind of girl. So I'd play a special number just for her, like Clapton's "Tears In Heaven", sort of casual-like, an effortless throwaway. But it was a number I'd developed over years with frills and runs and augmented chords for sweetness and nuances that usually dazzled: in other words, "deliberately amazing". Chicks would just melt, then I could do with them whatever I wanted. So if there were only uninteresting girls nearby I made sure NOT to play one of those numbers.

Masnia asks me to play her a song so I do without really deciding what it should be-- then discover I am playing "Tears In Heaven" with all the fireworks. I freeze, knowing I should not be trying to seduce this pure creature--but she looks at me with those big shining Disney eyes and says, "Oh please, keep on playing that," so I have to finish it.

And then Masnia says to me, "You DO want to fuck me, don't you?" I've heard that from groupies who wanted to score a celebrity, more of a little insecure question than an invitation. You'd think I'd be able to handle that cool and suave, with a "Sure, baby, if you need it so bad," or something like that. But no, I'm all "Uh... oh... er.. ahhh..." Thing is, this is not in private, the whole gang is sitting together in the salon of the bus.

Melly and Maki laugh but nobody's shocked. Adam says, "Masnia likes to get close to talent, Mike." He doesn't seem upset. "And Masnia always get what she wants," Maki says, like it was some kind of slogan, because I've heard that said several times by then.

Lissandra, who is driving at that time, takes pity on me and tells Masnia, "I think Mike would be a lot more relaxed about it if you'd take him into a bunk for some privacy."

"Oh, that's right," Masnia remembers, "NokhSos are kind of peculiar about sex." She hops up, slips out of the white one-piece dress she's been wearing and takes my hand, "Okay, come on Mike." I'm just about stunned by the sight of her furry but beautiful body exposed-- the body hair is trimmed very close and those pert nipples are trimmed bare-- then she tugs me to a bunk and has me. I don't even try to resist-- couldn't, wouldn't, whatever. I want this. Figure I'd sort out the social graces later.

Man, she is so passionate and sweet, it's maravillosa! Doesn't seem weird at all to be with a squatch chick, sort of like the first time I'd ever been with a black girl: we're all just people here. The strangest thing isn't the body hair but her being slightly bigger than me. The bunk bed is a little too short for her. I say maybe we should go to the big bed, but she says Adam's probably using that. "We've all been kind of inhibited by having an outsider on the bus, but now we can all relax and yøramma again."

When we finally came out of the bunk I see that Adam and Magga are cuddling naked (well, them being as "naked" as hairy Bigfoots can get) on the big bed they'd obviously just had sex on. I can hear Pokey and Maki going at it in another bunk. For a second I feel embarrassed for having been an "inhibition" for them all, then turn and see Melly also naked in front of the refrigerator, pouring herself a fruit drink. She's sweaty, smiles, looks happy. I have to wonder who she's been with.

"We're going to let you in on some secret stuff," she tells me, "assuming that you will not go blabbing to newspapers and scandal-media. If you agree to that, well, you can have me next if you want."

"And me," Liss calls out from her driver's seat. "If you rilly want."

I rilly agree.

We are locked into our position in the convoy, only stopping for food and fuel when the whole convoy does, spread out in sections so that gas stations and restaurants can deal with the arrival of so many vehicles at once. We're outside Los Mochis. I've been driving the last shift, Adam taking over the next. We fill up the tanks with diesel, buy tamales and soft drinks, ready to get rolling again.

Melly has been going around in the bus naked all day, I certainly don't mind but it sure makes me horny to watch her trimly athletic, pert-boobed, taut-bellied body moving about in nothing but golden skin and golden hair, looking like a golden-golden Scandinavian princess. I should be horny for more of Masnia--and I am--but the sight of Melly is wearing down any resolve I might have to be concentrating on any other girl.

When we stopped at the station she'd gotten dressed so that she and Liss and Maki go out to buy food for us all. What a relief. I busy myself cleaning windshields while Pokey is filling the tanks. I barely notice when the girls come in again, or try not to, they are ALL making me too horny to function.

I'd been planning to invite Masnia to a bunk for a little action, but when I do she says to me, "Oh later for sure, but I think Melly wants to fuck you now. She's resting in her bunk." That's news to me, but interesting news, so I check out the bunks. The door to the left tree bunks is open; she's lying on the middle bunk, reading an Ipad. Naked again. Fine with me.

"Masnia told me that you want to fuck me?"

"Yeah, I do. Are you into that?" She looks more hopeful than confident, I appreciate that because I feel the same way.

I don't answer, just get out of my clothes, having finally learned to do that before I get into one of those cramped bunks. She grins and scoots over to give me some room, then closes the door so that we can have some privacy.

"But first," she says, "I have a little surprise for you," and shows me the liter bottle of Corona cerveza she'd sneaked into her bunk. It's even cold, dripping with condensation. "I knew you liked a beer every now and then."

"Cool. But I thought that was forbidden on this bus."

"Well, we don't want to confront Pokey or Maki with alcohol, but what they don't know..."

"...won't hurt us," I finish the sentence and accept the bottle, taking a sip and handing it back to her. The cold beer is a wonderful gift after a long day on the road in a bus full of teetotalers. But hardly as wonderful as the gift lying beside me.

And there we are: her golden face looking up at me in Technicolor close-up, like a movie star. I suddenly remember that her mother was Sally Rathers, one of the great beauties of her time. So it really hits me that her daughter Melly is one of the great beauties of MY time. Maybe the perfect woman. With bright happy eyes and pert boobs and steamy crotch, everything ready to be caressed and enjoyed. She seems way too good to be true.

Maybe she is. "Wait a minute-- earlier today you were all naked and sweaty, looking like you'd just been had?"

"Oh, I had. By Adam, of course. Happens a lot." She shrugs, but kisses me. "To be fair I should tell you that I will always love Addy most and will never leave him. But if this works out, I'll really try to love you too, as much as I can, I promise."

Somehow I've known all along that she is Adam's woman. Even though it had never been officially mentioned, it was hardly a secret. Even though I'd also seen him lying on the big bed with Magga. Even though Liss had told me that she was Adam's girl friend. It all goes click. This time I'm not shocked, having earlier myself had an experiencia tan maravillosa with Masnia, so I'm not about to moralize against having sex with a squatch.

But I have to ask anyway: "Is Adam screwing all four-five of you?"

"We are all screwing all of us. It's more a case of everybody in our band loving each other--and enjoying each other. It's also a squatch thing: nobody owns anyone else sexually. Alternative sex-life style. You've been around those, groupies and all, so we think you'd fit right in."

But I find myself resisting. Weirdly not ready for this. She catches on and relaxes, takes a sip of her own beer. Thinks about what to say next

"Don't worry, Mike, this is not a trap. I'm offering myself because I'd like to have some nice normal human sex with you. Liss said you'd discussed that with her."

"I thought she was just teasing me about what I couldn't have."

"Oh. Well, no, you misunderstood. You can have it. And her. But right now, it's my turn." The bunk is not large, she wiggles half-under me, legs spread, back arched, putting my hands on her small but perfect breasts. She's right there for me.

"All right,” I say, “let's see if I do fit in."

I do, and it's an especially good fit.

But she shouts, "Okay, Liss-- it's your turn!"

We can hear Liss thump-thumping down the bus corridor towards us like a rambunctious kid ready to play, shouting "Yippeeee!" She has to grab the door to stop, or she'd have flown on past. Enthusiastic, grinning, beautiful, in the middle of stripping off her few clothes.

"Oh, by the way Liss, you two have had a misunderstanding, " Melly tells her as she gets up.

"Rilly?" Finished getting naked.

Melly explains as she's gliding off the bunk bed and out the door, then tells Liss, "I don't know if you should give him a break and try later, I may have used him up. We went at it pretty good."

"How well does he perform?" Liss asks, like I'm not right there, looking and listening. Then she winks at me.

"Oh he's..." Mel also winks to me, they're a tag team. "...naw, ask him yourself." And she's gone, up to the front of the bus, still not bothering with any clothes. Naked, Liss slides into the bed where Melly had just been, not asking for permission or anything.

"How could you have misunderstood me?" she asks with a mock pout, "I told you I liked you."

"Yeah, but I thought you were being sarcastic," is my excuse. "You know: high school bitch, being Mean to Me."

She laughs. "Well, that's a pretty safe assumption most of the time," she lies back with arms above her head, presenting a bosom a bit more voluptuous than Mel's, "but not this time. I DID say maybe I dig you too." She is different from Mel in many ways, dark instead of light, sassy instead of sweet, and yet the extreme level of beauty seemed about equal. The contrast is stimulating: I’m absolutely horny again.

"Mel didn't use me up," I brag and prove to Liss that it is true.

But I have to wonder: why is it happening? what are the rules? why me?

I've been through free-for-all sex scenes before; sometimes life on the road with Chrome Pie got crazy decadent and we'd trade groupies around between us-- but those were stupid girls who only wanted to score a star--any star, nothing romantic about it--so we couldn't really feel possessive or jealous. They didn't matter.

But this is not like that. None of those rock & roll shenanigans could match the ZING of this thing. This time it matters almost too much. I used to fall in love too easy with any pretty girl who was nice to me. Kept getting my heart broken. So I learned to be an arrogant shit: maybe break their hearts instead. Didn't matter, I wasn't going to see them again and there were plenty more at the next gig. But this time I am constantly falling in love with ALL of them on this bus!

We discuss it openly, all together in the front of the bus as we roll endlessly on down the road, no secrets, no intrigues. Turns out that, in a way, they are just as confused as me.

"The whole bunch of us are going through a sort of extreme sexual awakening," Mel says, "we're still figuring it out."

"Especially me," Maki insists and everybody laughs. Pokey nuzzles her ear, his left hand on Lissandra's bare thigh.

"What about you, Adam? I'm not trespassing on your harem?"

"No, Mike," Adam says, "I'm glad you're here. We've all discussed this even before you showed up. So welcome to the harem!" He is cuddling with Mel on one side and Magga on the other. Masnia is driving, by the way. We're still in the convoy, so somebody has to deal with something other than sex.

They tell me about squatches, kha-rats, shyøma, Melly's life-long love affair with "Addy" that had turned to shit because he could not ever break a promise, how it got so bad that she had to drag Liss into it and then everything worked out for the best and now they and Masnia and Magga are four insanely happy wives to their True Love Adam. All of this is old news if you've read the AooE Document, so I won't bother with details.

"One thing," I have to ask, "if you're all living so happily-ever-after, then why aren't you all satisfied with just Adam?"

Mel answers: "We all love Addy, he's our favorite man. But we've also all-- including himself --felt that our group relationship is out of balance: four, sometimes five or six women are making heartfelt love with Addy pretty much every day, but we only get one measly Bigfoot to screw..."

"Not that Freakfoot can't take care of us all--" Liss interrupts, "--he's RILLY potent!"

Adam has to shrug and smile, "I do what I can." More shy than bragging.

"-- but we want to have some variety too," Melly insists. "I mean, it's FUN!"

All the girls laugh the nicest laughs. So does Pokey, obviously agreeing about the fun part.

"Besides," Liss adds, "Freakfoot delivers great superhuman sex, but we ain't superhumans. Magga is the only one who can take the RILLY BRUTAL POUNDING that he needs to do once in a while (at those times we prefer to just watch). So we frail quail could rilly use some just-plain-human sex once in a while."

"Hey, I've been doing my best," Pokey claims.

"He has, he has," Maki admits.

"Yeah, but he's so busy satisfying you, and we are so many," Masnia calls from the driver's seat.

"Right, so we decided that we needed another guy in the mix," Lissandra continues, "Freakfoot agreed with that, so it's unanimous."

"Of course," Adam says, "otherwise I'd be constantly feeling guilty for being unfaithful to all of them. I do not want to feel that way."

"So you're not splitting up a family, Mike," Melly says, "you're becoming part of it."

"But why me?"

"We like you, Mike. You're handsome, polite, helpful, and when you play guitar with our band all us girls feel it in our pussies. You also make love nicely. Besides, you like us too."

"Yeah, well actually, I-- may as well admit it-- I actually LOVE you all --but..." I suddenly get hit by emotional overload "...I don't really deserve any of you.., I'm such an egocentric shit about women; greedy, selfish..." I am surprised to find myself crying. It is suddenly too much for me.

"Maybe I said that wrong, Mike," Melly came to me, "I could have as easily said we love you too."

"But how could you? I'm so conceited about what a great musician I am."

Adam says "Hey, me too, Mike, all good musicians are."

"Okay, yeah. But I've also-- also used and discarded so many girls, one after another-- for years!-- there's nothing left to love about me..."

Melly comes to me, puts her hand behind my head and pulls my face to her shoulder, where I can cry like a baby as she says all the right words: "Doesn't your Mamma love you, even though you're an egocentric shit?"

I bawled a muffled, "Yeah, I guess."

"Well, come to Mamma Mel."

"And Mamma Liss."

Group hug. Then more sex.

Masnia likes to have sex with me at least once a day and Pokey too every so often (Maki tended to monopolize him), although she is generally more active with Adam, often doubling with Magga. Adam is impossible to compete with, so big and strong and potent, so neither Pokey or I even try. And why bother? there is enough human sex going around.

I'm beginning to get used to this stuff, but have to ask anyway, "Me? I thought she was your girl friend and not one of Adam's wives."

"Oh, she is and I totally love her-- you can't keep her, understand --but she'd like to get to know you and is too shy to ask you to go to bed with her." Before I can bring up the next obvious question he says, "Don't worry about me, I've got a date with Liss in another bunk and I'm really looking forward to it."

"Always willing to help," I say. Sí, it might be a thrill to "visit" such a cute and tiny girl. I don't really know Maki very well, she seems pretty shy. I go to the bunk stacks and knock on the closed door. I hear "come in" oh so softly, not to be broadcasting what we'd be doing. But we're in a rock & roll bus roaring and rattling down the highway, so being overheard is hardly an issue.

I sit on the bed beside her. She seems nervous, maybe I do too. As an ice-breaker she pushes her blanket aside, revealing that she is naked. Wonderful little Japanese body, agonizingly cute Asian-eyed face without her usual glasses on. I hurry out of my shorts and t-shirt. She spreads her legs, the classic submissive Oriental chick. We do it, she comes, I come, very nice. Quicker than I usually go for, I prefer giving a girl a good workout, but nice anyway.

All done with the formalities, we finally talk, still both shy, but getting a bit closer. She tells me how she loves this life with Pokey and squatches, how she loves the music I play and how honored she is to have me inside her--which I am again because she's been turning me on with her erotic magical tiny-Geisha-power. Then she rolls over, presents her pretty little butt for taking from behind, and we're off again until we both come simultaneously. Talk again, so long that it becomes night, and fall asleep.

I stay all night, holding her like a cozy spoon, taking her lazily from behind every now and then, not even trying to come--but it keeps on happening anyway. In the morning we go out to meet the others. Pokey and Liss are drinking coffee, they smile at us, we smile at them, everybody trades kisses, all friends now.

Then Pokey and Maki go into a bunk, desperate for each other after having survived a whole night apart. Liss gives me the eye, nods toward another bunk, and we go there for a few hours, until it's my turn to drive the bus.

They don't allow outsiders to read-- or even HEAR of --their document; too many secrets that could cause them big trouble. But I've evidently become an "insider" (now that I've been inside all the girls, I guess). Melly has a copy on her laptop, which is encrypted so that no one can read it in case of theft or hacking. She allows me to read it, opening the encryption for me each time, but keeps the access-code her own secret: they're serious about that, which I consider smart after having read the document.

I don't need to describe it: if you're reading this you must also be an "insider" and have already read it. So you've probably, like me, wondered how much of it was true. I mean, Sasquatches, sure; everybody now knows that they exist, but all that other stuff-- shyøma, kha-rats, secret City of Aket, telepathy, magic, syssks, pretty weird stuff. Of course for me, I find that having sex every day with a real-live Nokhon chick tends to be pretty convincing. Especially since Masnia has me read some of it aloud to her (since she can't read but likes to hear the parts about herself, the vain little bitch) and she confirms everything Adam has said about the Nokhon world. So yes, I believe.

I tell them I'd love to contribute some pages of my own perspective to this ongoing history. The idea is well received; Mel offers to loan me her laptop and creates a New Folder on her desktop where I can collect whatever I write. I warn them that due to my experiences on this bus there might be some mention about all the sex going on and they all say, "Oh well then, no problem-- it'll fit right in!"

So I've been writing this "eye-witless report" (as Liss calls it). For pages and pages. I thought it would be short but I'm having too much fun telling the story (or maybe I just like bragging about getting laid so much). I haven't done much writing since university, but used to do articles for the school newspaper. Having read The Document I've seen how the tone is conversational and informal and I feel pretty comfortable with that. Adam told me that Art is the final editor, so he'll look it over and decide if what I write should be included in the "official" document or not, probably making some corrections for readability. (So hey Art, I hope it's good enough to make the grade. Adam says you're not so strict for an English Teacher.)

We drive directly through the city center to the Auditorio Nacional beside Chapultepec Park, because it's a great place to park the bus for free: right inside the gates because Uncle Geraldo has arranged it for us. He's even there to greet us.

So we have a day to play in Mexico City, although I am duty-bound to visit family that evening. But first we want to go walking, after spending so long cooped up in that bus (although I'm not complaining). We figure on being there for a few days. We walk past the Museo Nacional de Anthropologia. Adam and Melly recognize it from when they'd been there as kids and now they're both anthropologists, so they remember it as being one of the best museums in the world.

I lead them up Paseo de la Reforma to the Alameda-- a long walk, but we're all willing. Although the squatches, Adam and the girls, complain about the gasses in the air-- they're right: there's a lot of pollution due to traffic in DF, to which they were extra-sensitive. But we make it to the Zocalo anyway and I show them the Diego Rivera murals in the Palacio Nacional. Tourists, you know. Then I show them the big Mercado. But finally the girls can't take the smog anymore and we have to take taxis back to Chapultepec, where the air is cleaner because of the park.

Up to now I haven't mentioned what a hassle it is to be a Bigfoot in a big city. They draw a lot of attention: people freaking out at first, but then recognizing the world-famous Adam Leroy Forest, and THEN recognizing the suddenly extra-famous even-in-Mexico two squatch chicks from the music video on MTV.

Nobody notices me, I’m just another Mexicano. I decide to enjoy that freedom.

While we'd been out of touch with modern pop-culture on our way south through Mexico, the video Bo Wassabi had made of Magga and Masnia singing and dancing to Hamm-kro yøramma had been released and gone viral. At least all the young people know exactly who they are; the rest of us...sin significando, pues. Masnia can now speak Spanish well enough to communicate with her fans, although it is Magga who keeps them at a respectable distance with her Bigfoot size and obvious intolerance to being over swarmed by hysterical admirers.

It is also a hassle to get us all back to where our bus is parked. Both Adam and Magga have to have a taxi each, so that they can curl up sideways in a back seat. The rest of us take a third taxi. But we make it home. By then it is evening, so all we have to deal with now is my family.

Tio Geraldo, his wife Esmerelda and their six kids live in Lomas de Tecamachalco, not far to the West of the Auditorio Nacional, an upper-class suburbia not much different from living in the States. Sí, Tio Geraldo has a great job, money, political contacts, friends in high places; I make sure not to ask too many questions about any of that. My own family in Fresno had been almost poor until I became a star musician.

But I like my uncle, he's fun and he's always believed in me as a musician, giving me lots of encouragement when I was a child flamenco prodigy. Not so much when I turned to rock & roll, but since Chrome Pie has become such a success I'm in his good graces once again.

We were to come to dinner. I had explained to Tia Esmeralda that my Nokhon friends do not eat meat and to Tio Geraldo that Pokey and Maki are reformed alcoholics, so it would be best not to offer us all carne asada or shots of tequila. Their kids are holding their breaths to meet some real live Sasquatches. The evening is a success, the kids go crazy getting wild rides on Bigfoot backs and my aunt and uncle are perfect hosts to a bunch of weird creatures, like myself. Adam and I play a little flamenco for them. Tio Geraldo makes us promise to do a flamenco number in the concert the next evening. He's a true aficionado and has always hoped I'd be the next Segovia.

The others go back to the bus to sleep but I am required to spend the night in the guest room like a good sobrino: family politics. Masnia offers to spend the night with me, but I know tio & tia would be double-scandalized. But she makes it good the next morning when I show up at the bus. And in the passing of the day so does Liss, so I can survive my nights with tio & tia.

Out on the street we see parades gathering, kids in black robes with skeletons painted on, skulls made of chocolate everywhere. I suddenly remember that it is Dia de Los Muertos, Day of the Dead, the Mexican version of Halloween, only much bigger: a three-day fiesta is starting. But we have a concert to get ready for.

We spend most of the day tuning up for the evening, not that we play so much, but go into Chapultepec park to sit on the grass in the sunshine and meditate. Magga and the girls do their witchcraft stuff, we eat some khos that Adam has blended from bushes in the park. Now that's more like the good old rock & roll lifestyle I've always known. But we don't get stoned; it's more like a sugar & caffeine buzz that makes us alert. Adam runs his monologue by me in Spanish, checking for mistakes, but there are none, even his accent is perfect. By evening we are ready.

Or we thought so. Musically, we're on top of it, but the audience surprises us. We're backstage, ready to start at 7:00 pm, can hear the auditorium filling up with people. There are 10,000 seats in that venue although we don't expect to fill it, not in Mexico. We do notice a lot of young girl's voices. When we go onstage the cheering starts--con mucho entusiasmo-- but not really cheering for Squatch & Friends so much-- or even the fabulous Miguel deSanto --no, those thousands of young girls are SCREAMING for "Masnia y Magga!"

We all look at each other with our mouths open, realize what this is all about, and just go with it. "I Like To Run" is the melody we play as Masnia and Magga take front stage to sing and dance their own version in Nokhontli, Hamm-kro yøramma. There's no way those innocent young girls in the audience can actually know the meaning of the Nokhon lyrics, but they're acting like they get it anyway, hopping and jiggling, way out of control: Nos Queremos Joder!

Our Bigfoot Babes learned to dance in LA, but I don't think any human dancers can do what they do. Not quite leaping or flying, more like...hell, there's no word in Spanish or English. Amazing Grace will have to do. They really get into it and all those young girls are trying to keep up with them, dreaming they could.

We let it roll on for a while before segueing into the English version. After 10 minutes those sweet young rabid things in the audience have used up so much energy that they collapse laughing and crying back into their seats and we don't have any more problems with them that evening. From there we glide into our intended program. I play like a god, Adam sings in English and does his hypnotic storytelling trick in Español, Pokey and the girls outdo themselves, and by the time we are done two hours later we're all just as pooped as those young Mexicanas. Hell of a concert.

To me in private he says "It'll be Full Moon in six days, Masnia and Magga just can't be in a city at that time." I'd read about shyøma and kha-rats, although I'd never experienced either, but from what I understand shyøma could cause a lot of mierda to happen in downtown Mexico City. So we have to get out of town and find an isolated place to hang out for 4-5 days. I suggest the Lacandon jungle, say we could drive there in 24 hours non-stop.

Adam nods, "Palenque, I loved that place. Yes, let's."

I know the town pretty well because I've lived here for a couple of years while going to the University of Mexico, just to immerse myself into the academic Mexican culture. Yes, I know: I write like a rock & roll Philistine, surprised ya, huh? Anyway, I show them la Zona Rosa, take them out to the University on the Metro-- it's a lot easier to move around town without three squatches in our parade. We even got to eat some tacos full of meat, and when Pokey and Maki go off back to the bus (to have sex, I bet) Mel and Liss and I grab our chance and be so shamelessly decadent as to sit at an outdoor café and drink some cervezas!

But we love our squatch friends and report back to them still sober, although a little less pure. We end up at tio & tia's home again that evening, which is a lot of fun because more family shows up for a Dia de Los Muertes festival. Lots of younger kids; cousins, nieces, old friends. Smiling death-head decorations, calaveritas, hanging on the walls and those chocolate skulls I remember from when I was a kid, it’s all a blast from the past for me.

Our Sasquatches are a hit once again; Magga and Masnia in black skeleton robes rushing around and roaring like monsters, kids screaming. Adam doesn't dare, afraid he'll give people heart attacks because of his size. Besides, his head bumps up against the ceiling anyway.

We walk back to our bus from Lomas de Tecamachalco, it's not too far and it’s a very nice night. Dia de los Muertos festivals are still happening in the streets; fireworks, music, dancing, parades and people everywhere. Our squatches toss their black robes and masks over themselves and look just like all the other monsters and demons haunting the fiestas, some towering high due to wooden frames under cloaks. So we can all freely wander into a fiesta and join in on the dancing, of which our girls take full advantage. It’s long after midnight before we make it back to the bus.

The next day we head south. Mexico City is surrounded by mountains, like a big bowl, and our squatch friends are relieved to get out of the polluted air and out on the open road.

We figure we have about 3 days before Magga and Masnia begin to smell of shyøma so we could stop in Oaxaca on our way south. Adam and Melly want to visit there again and go up to the ruins of Monte Alban. May as well be tourists, now that we're here.