They weren't young like Air NZ or JetStar or especially VIrgin Blue. These women were middle aged, most with permed or boofed hair, smacking gum. Their faces had bright eyeshadow which looked ri.dic.u.lous but unfortunately most were lacking that good ole southern hospitality.
Oohhh I wanted to have a unique US experience in the airport, so I was going to sign up for the Army to get the free food they have in the big-ass recruitment place (note that this is Texas so potentially the biggest recruiting state) but instead I went to Popeye's which looked marvelosa. Proactiv facial cleaning set is also conveniently available in a vending machine, beside the Newspaper machines that only take credit card payment. duuummmmmb.
And it was. All I got were the cajun fries but it was like that delicious wedges sprinkle on thin fries YUM. I got a huge box and I am glad i did, coz that ended up being the last meal I had for about 40 hours. It was 4.06 and I was all confused coz the girl said 4:39 but another tip - USA restaurants don't include tax. I just realised I accidentally participated in the 40 hour famine.. (anyone want to sponsor me?).
On the flight to Puerto Vallarta I had a window seat which was brill, the nice Af-Am I mentioned early was like "Saweety, I got to change dis seat. You don't wanna sit in the back o the plane now". A retired man was talking to me, he owns a villa or something in PV and was loving giving me the inside scoop. He was asking me about the school, he said "Is the one in the Romantic Zone?" (A region in PV) "Coz that one is the best". I was all "yyaaahhhhh", despite knowing that it wasn't. There are only like 3 Spanish schools in PV so I presume it is the one linked to the Univerisidad de Guadalajara (where I plan to go, to get me a Poncho with the city written across it, a la Ugly Betty), which only offers like a 2 week course.
Anywho, There wasn't actually much to look at out the window, just farmland as Texas became Mexico. The odd thing was the sun just literally fell out of the sky. I didn't see it set! I was so odd. Puerto Vallarta was dreary and raining as we flew in but still neat to see. Excitement didn't set in as I kind of expected it to... just scared and confused really.
The bags took a while to come out in Puerto Vallarta, and I slipped on the floor and faceplanted in a ladies bag ... but mine was actually one of the first out (unlike in LA where it was one of the last, especially annoying since I was about the Third through the customs.. But I learnt why when connecting to Dallas - Note for future US travellers: Do not lock your bag if you are in a hurry or impatient - They. scan. the. bags. twice. I was fareaking out coz my dad (Gaz) was all concerned about my 1 1/2 hours I had to pass through the airport (apparently it usually takes two. Even with the late bag it only took me about 40 mins total. Then I moved over to the building nextdoor with ease, handed in my bag and then hit the African Americans). Anywho, the customs didn't even scan my bag in Mexico (!) but an angry lady was unimpressed when I didn't hit a button which lit up when I handed in my Declaration form. The button served no purpose. Trust me.. I studied it. There was a hilariously tacky "waterfall" with "Welcome to Puerto Vallarta" on it (Fake of course, with fake Trees) and then I entered the first room lined with desks. I guess they were tour desks but the whole was decorated like a fake-ass jungle.
The next room had the same desks only was decorated (supposedly) as bright mexican Casas (houses). It was really weird and pointless.
Coming out of the gate I was met with 35 guys in Lemon shirts trying to get me into their taxi. I was waiting for my friend (amiga) Amanda, who was to arrive an hour later. A taxi driver who talked to me said there were only 6 people on her flight from Phoneix (there are like, 5 flights in a day?) which made me really confused as to why all the taxi drivers were still loitering around.
Amanda arrived with her friend John and it started to BUCKET down with rain. Amanda's sister in-law and John's partner arrived to come get us in huge trucks, which was lucky because those two both had over 100kg of stuff each! (I was sitting nice on 19.4, carry on 8kg and laptop). I try and tell my mum that I am not actually bad.
Getting the stuff into the car was a comedy of errors because Amanda's suitcases kept splitting open (side note: not only was it bucketing down, but there are no drains here so we were shin-deep in aqua aka water) and she also kept slamming the boot on everyone's head.
We drove through the flood to Centro de Puerto Vallarta, the region which John lives in and my school and the town's Starbucks all reside. His house is beaut - I am going to take photos and add them sometime because I want all to see. My dream house basically.. he used yellow tiles in the kitchen - two of my favourite things, after Musical theatre and African-Americans, are tiles and the colour Yellow.
Dragging myself to school (escuela) the next day was a challenge, but thankfully Amanda's bro drove me. Town hadn't opened so it looked dead. It changes very soon (this was at about 8:15 am...2:15am NZ time), as the town is lively and the highway actually goes right down the main street (but they only go 50k and the streets are cobblestoned, making them even slower). My escuela is on the main street - Juarez.
I was unhappy to learn that the class I am in have already done a weeks worth of classes, so are confidently talking with the teacher, I was there expecting some "Que tal?" (how are you?) games. I am worried as people are like "you'll pick it up" I can't easily 'pick up' hundreds of words and the verbs and everything that I am not going to learn. I'm giving it some time obviously, don't want to jump into a different class too soon because I really love my teacher, Claudia.
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