Don't Go Away Mad, Just Go Away Pt. 2

Intelligence Quotient Decrease: Dec. 29 a.m.

My travels to the Land of Enchantment continued with a, um, enchanted discussion on the bus. I was carrying my suitcase and backpack, thereby giving the impression that I was traveling. A fellow bus patron asked where I was going. I said to Albuquerque, presuming that this person would know where it was, since it is a "booming metropolis" approaching the 1 million population mark.

Portland is supposedly one of the most educated cities in the country. Maybe I assumed too much out of this new friend. He said that $300 for a round-trip ticket wasn't too expensive to Albuquerque, which I disagreed with, since there are travel agencies who sell tickets to the U.K. for $350. He said he heard there was a lot of really great artists there, which I took as a compliment.

Most people say Taos have the great artists, after all, but Albuquerque has the car on Gibson. Great art indeed.

Then he started to say that he had only been to Tijuana, implying that he believed that Albuquerque was in Mexico. He said some other comments in this direction as well.

Will we as New Mexicans never win? I don't even have a passport...or a birth certificate. At least the Swedes said "New Mexico...that's in Texas, right?"

I got off the bus shaking my head. Next time, I'm going to bring out my map....and my middle finger.