Blah blah, I whine that no one reads my blog but then I never keep it up. What do you WANT from me??!!!
K so here's what happened after my last blog post. In super-summed-up style. [EDIT: ok I knew this wouldn't happen. Disregard.]
I finished up working at ECLAC in Mexico City at the end of July and it was vacation time for me. I'd promised Marco's family I'd visit them again once I finished work, so I went there to Querétaro for a few days and stayed in the little green house again.
I loved spending time with Bere and Isaac; they really spoil me with their attention. The last time I saw them they were 3 and 4 years old, and now they're 9 and 10. Bere swears she remembers me.
Bere and Isaac; me, Marco and Isaac
I felt like an honorary aunt. I have tons of little cousins (or not so little anymore, like I would know) but I barely see them.
After Querétaro I went back to Mexico City so I could drive with the frisbee girls to the national tournament in Xalapa (or Jalapa) in Veracruz state. The tournament was Aug 6-7. It was awesome, altho we only won about half our games and got bitten terribly by some bug that left bites way bigger and more long-lasting than mosquitos. Either that or Jalapa has some mighty huge mosquitos.
The girls drove back to Mexico City, but I stayed in Xalapa with a Couchsurfing host. I visited a couple of tiny but cute villages nearby (Coatepec, Xico) and saw the horribly ugly centre of Xalapa. Then it was off on a bus to the Port of Veracruz. I thought it was humid in Xalapa, but I got hit with a wall of humidity getting off the bus there. Sweet! Tropics time.
This girl Liza from the frisbee team told me her parents lived in Veracruz and would be happy to host me. I felt guilty about taking her up on it, but also felt rude not to do so. So I stayed with her parents in a really nice house in a subdivision right near the coast and her mom took amazing care of me, driving me all around and hooking me up with her nephew Emilio to show me around. He enlisted his friend Isaías to do the grand Veracruz tour with me, and I had a great time hanging out with them both, eatin' tacos, swimming at the beach, etc. (Taquitos... playita... chelitas...)
Not the world's nicest beach, but no complaints outta me. (Isaías.)
Next up was an 8-hr bus ride to Oaxaca, on the Pacific rather than Atlantic coast of Mexico. There I stayed with a friend of a friend of Liza's parents, so it was kiiinda weird to be taken in by them. But I basically got my own tour guide assigned to me again. This time it was a couple of grandparents with a big, gorgeous house and their kids and grandchildren visiting. So to take care of me, I got the maid to take me all around. Nice!
She and her friend brought me to the market, had amazing chocolate, ate some locusts, yada yada. The next day we went to the ruins of Mitla, about an hour bus ride away. Not that impressive, but we did eat some AMAZING nieves, which are like snowcones but about 100 million times better.
I'd heard about Hierve el Agua, which are calcified waterfalls, a little further on. So we jumped in the back of a pickup and wound up a mountain for another hour. That ride was the best part.
Hierve el Agua. You can see the falls on the right.
And the NEXT day, I got driven on a moped by some other really nice kid up to the ruins at Monte Albán. Those were pretty sweet, and I am a huge sucker for motorcycle/moped rides. HAPPY ME!!! Love summer, love the wind in my hair. Helmet what?
Then it was another bus ride to San Cristóbal de las Casas. There I was in a hostel, and met some nice people, most notably a Kiwi named Jonno. (Only Kiwis and Aussies get away with calling themselves shit like that.)
San Cristóbal itself was for me largely meh. Except I DID have the best nachos and michelada of my LIFE in a bar there (Revolución. GET THE NACHOS AND MICHELADAS!). We went to watch a soccer game, maybe the under-17s, and I also kind of developed a crush on the girl wearing the Interpol shirt serving us. SHE'S PRETTY AND SMART! SHE LIKES INTERPOL! SHE LIKES DOGS! SHE LIKES DARK BEER! We are clearly meant to be together. A dog came in out of the rain and I took pity on him, but then the manager said he had to go. I tried to convince him to stay near the door, but that didn't work, so I had to kick him out. The waitress thanked me for doing it, because she didn't have the heart. If only I could have adopted that dog and the three of us could have been together until the end of one of our natural lives. Oh well, yet another love that could not be.
Anyhoo, the best part of San Cristóbal apart from that was outside the town. A few hostelers and myself got a bike tour together to a village near(ish)by called San Juan de Chamula. I guess all the tourists go there to check out the church, but I HIGHLY recommend it anyway. You can't take pictures inside, otherwise I'd put one up. The people there mix Catholicism with some type of paganism, and the result is tons of burning candles stuck onto the floor and Coke being used for a ritual. You gotta go.
The other cool thing was the (water-filled) canyon that also all the tourists do. But I still think it's awesome. Kind of fjord-like.
Then I set off to Palenque with Jonno. We hooked up with some Frenchie to do the ruin tour. Gorgeous.
Palenque.
Thennnn I took a 12- or 14-hour bus ride back to Mexico City, and met WEINER! Nice time.
Us on the bus tour.
Then I flew back to Monterey, California.
And began my third semester at MIIS! Finals are in a few weeks. So far everything's great, feeling comfortable, getting good marks. Just can't believe I'm supposed to get a job soon. I am NOT that good yet.
I went to my brother's wedding in September and had a great time. Might have given too many shots to the bride.
Also me and Perki are back together, he came to visit in October and showed up my cooking skills as usual.
Dan, Perks, Becky, Calli on our way to the beach in Carmel.
I'll do another post sometime with my final observations on Mexico. For now I hope I've tantalized you sufficiently with my very exciting life.
