still sick with the whooping cough plus a cold as my immune system fights back but my sleep deprived nights keep me in a grey area of permanent suffering. chest pain, coughing fits, blood. let's face it i'm a biological weapon at the moment, a walking hazard. the doctors don't know what to do, do they ever. it's all just infection management, that's what doctors do these days. 

i do have a strange interest in the narco culture of mexico and i was wondering where this strange thing came from so i looked in the mission library and found the source, 'power of the dog' by don winslow which i read about 10 years ago and picked up for a re read. jesus it's horrific, uber violent and gritty but so well written i'm devouring it. what a story, from the 1970's to 2004 it tracks art keller the protagonist against don miguel angel barrera. they actually start of as boxing / drinking buddies but as art progresses he sees his policeman friend is not quite what he seems. 
while the novel packs a punch and moves at a terrific pace it is accurate and based upon a true story although names are changed and this shines through as the characters are written so well. fuck man, it was /is a good book, i'm really enjoying it a second time around.

i guess also that my time in mexico was very impressive and impressionable experience, such a friendly warm and cultural place despite the poverty. i never saw the el narco side thankfully, it was mostly weed and peyote and by their nature these substances never brought much heavy karmic energy, however cocaine, changed everything. and from then on as the colombians moved in they pre date anything IS would do in barbarity. 
i was quite amused when i read recently IS had interfered with a smuggling operation by el chapo (guzman) who is perhaps the most infamous drug barons. he sent them a letter 'my men will destroy you. your god cannot save you from the true terror my men will levy at you if you continue to interfere with my operation.' 
i think they got it.