Sunrise, Quinta Roo

Sunrise, Quinta Roo

Monday, November 29, 2010

Guanajuato, Guanajuato --> Blog 70

Almost every town and city in Mexico is predictably set out. In the classic grid form of streets means that usually the Cathedral and Zocalo (park... always beside or in front of the church) is easily found.
One exception of this was Cancun town, a newer place, that just runs off a highway. The other exception was Guanajuato.
Guanajuato is classic and European and beautiful. I am not completely sure if it is European actually, but what I presume to be European (athough in reality, they could all be considered European coz they were all designed by the Spaniards).. with windy paths to homes, without room for cars or many people. It isn't with fences, but the walls of the various brightly coloured homes ...
The street has some beautiful yellow and pink churches, cafes, shops, a park and a theatre - Teatro Juarez. When I arrived it was Sunday so there were people everywhere, picnicking and watching artists, buskers and street-chalkers. There is a statue of a man up on the hill, with a gondala up to it... I walked. Boy, was that steep. And long, I didn't go straight up, but around. I got to the top - parched as. Luckily there was a little home-dairy at the top. It was stilted, looking like it was out of a film. Because it was on the hill, overlooking the whole beautiful, colourful city - it must have an amazing view. There was no one in the 'shop', which like so many others was just part of their home. I, with my cold water in hand, walked through to the family room where the lady was changing a babies nappy on the ground.
I was tiptoeing and really awkward, coz I was just standing in her house. In un-parched, NZ situations, I would've bolted. But here, I was thirsty and Mexican.

The view from that Statue is ridiculous.. so beautiful and postcardesque.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

To Ti ot wa ti can. (Teotihuacan) then SMdA

I have never pronounced the Aztec kingdom ruins correctly. I have asked many a Mexican for directions, to which the response is always ¡Donde? - Where?
Then I expand with words.. Aztec... Piramides... Zona Arquelogica. I got there, on a local bus, which I took from the same Mexico North bus station that by this time I was familiar with. The bus stations have luggage storage, which varies in price. I was thrilled to learn that in Mex City it was $1.50 NZ for my bag for 24 hours. Count those pennies girl!
Teotihuacan is great - there is not much art to it (anymore) but there are two large pyramids that, unlike in Chichen Itza, you can still climb. It was beautiful, it is more desert-country up there, just north of Mexico city. On the way I saw people camped out in a park in the middle of the highway... and lining up for food. I am curious because they did not seem homeless, in the sense that the tents and clothing were not of a homeless level. Is possible though of course.. people here manage to keep their clothes freakishly clean for a very dusty country.
The strangest thing I saw there was an obese man who was climbing the highest, Piramide of the Moon, in a suit. The climate was not intensely hot, but the sun definately was. 248 steps, 48 meters up.. you do not attempt this wearing a suit.. if your fitness level is not up to scratch, you take water and pace yourself. He had made it half way up and was lying, face-down in the dust. Why he was wearing a suit to start up with is beyond me, why he made such a dramatic gesture is too..1st step I thought would have been to remove the jacket. Anyways, I was coming down the hill, still a fair bit away (do not know how long he was there for), when someone asked if he was okay .. he was all ¨Agua...¨ pointing at strangers, who were forced into giving there water. I was going to offer the little I had originally..but when he didn{t use manners and didn´t remove his jacket all I could think was that this drama queen needs to learn to fend for herself.
Another interesting thing I saw in the park that was un-Mexican-history related was Africans in the form of Somalian Mayors. All the African people I have seen here have stood out like me, apart from the obvious, because they are tall. I was looking up at some of the name tags on their chests to even detirmine who they where. I am not sure why they had conference neck bands... what could possibly be the reason for mayors of African towns to end up in Teot. in Mexico? No se. In thinking about it though, there has been a lot of random conferences on while I have been here.... None of which I can remember the names or themes... all too random. Remember thinking, ´how on earth did these people sign up for this?´.
Teot. Right, loved it .. thought it was fab. Do not know jack about Aztec´s really, but my patience is thin at this point, week 17, in Mexico. So post-reading while I sing Feliz Navidad and eat Old El Paso, thinking how un-mexican it really is, but how that company suceeded in creating new foods with actual Comida Mexicana names....tricking the world...
From here I bused back to Mexi Norte, then on to San Miguel de Allende which was leaving conveniently soon. I think they played the movie Óld Dogs´where there was a double-homicide of the careers of John Travolta and Robin Williams (two of my childhood faves for obvious roles.. Danny Zucko and Mrs Doubtfire).. for the third time on one of the buses I had been on. Disappointing. I guess I must have slept or read?
In Puebla I could not read one night so read a book ´(from the book exchange= about a reality tv show of girls in Hollywood. I was all .. this sounds familiar - like the real reality show The Hills - well, turns out it was written by the star of that very show. I read it knowing it was pretty trash.. did not take concentration. Unfortunately, it also did not put me to sleep. This was not the reason, a mixture of my life events playing in my head and a sadness for my last Mexicanas dias was making me all ´What next in life´?
I arrived in San Miguel de Allende at about 12am.. turns out what I guess was about a 2 and a half hour ride was actually 5. 12am, you may be thinking, what an awkward time to show up at a hostel. Yes, it was. Turns out that it is less of a hostel, more of a guy´s house. Not only did my taxi driver wake him up by searching and succeeding with the bell, but there were many a time where I to walk through to my room, disturbed his salsa lessons...
´Maria, what are you doing there?´
´Oh heeey, just hiding.. waiting til you are finished...did not want to disturb you..´ ´´Well you already have´
´sorry!?!´. AWKWARD.

 Lets talk about manners in hostels. My roommate in SMdA needs to learn a thing or to. I go to bed, knackered from the hours spent in Puebla reading trash and thinking trash for many-an-hour, which was in a very cold room. Because of the temperature (and the church next door having a very loud and continuous party).. and went to sleep. Woke up freezing in the middle of the night... my roommate opened all the windows (and door).. Fine for her, I spat, she has lots of blankets (I had the one I was delegated). I then had another awkward Salsa class interruption..´But there are 5 extra blankets in the room´he said, ´She is using them all´ I explained, tired and bitter. So no matter that the other person will freeze, I want air and I am cozy in my snuggly blankies. American.
SMdA was beaut though. Before I came here Mum´s friend called with news of a Doco on expats in SM (aka Extranjeros) on Maori channel. I have confidence in places where expats end up... it must be good if they left their lives in a 1st world country (and for most, ´the best country in the world´their words, not mine) to a third (?) world country. It was beaut. I arrived on the 20th (Revolution 100th Anniversary by the way) which meant a parade. Fiesta! Which meant kids dancing and dressed like the fighters and heroes of this time. Which meant a ball full of cuteness and impressive fun, which each primaria escuela trying to outdo the last. And that they kept doing. Watched a brill 1 1/2 hour parade sitting on the street between tweens and woman, baby and grandma... one school had paintings made up of pieces that the students where holding. They had 8 seconds to out in together, 8 seconds to take it apart, 8 seconds to run to a new location and flip the cards for a new pic... and so on. They counted aloud.. I do not know how long they rehearsed for this, but I assure you it was more impressive than I make out.
5 year old Kids dressed as fancy 1910 outfits (boys with moustaches, girls with frilly umbrellas) will remain one of the cutest things I will ever see. I think I have harped on about how Mexican kids are the cutest in the world. I love the community spirit, where everyone in the town is either involved or watching.Teachers and parents were walking along the side of theparade with water and cups... oranges too. It was a long parade for those kids, in the boiling sun.
The iceblock man also comes along ringing his bell. He was stopped by me for about 20 minutes because everyone was running up to him. Every single person bought one, so at 30c this tightass did too. It was a Mango Yoghurt one and it was delicious. I think I have mentioned that Mexicans snack a lot. Mexican food is healthy, fresh with veges.. BUT then they snack on the sugaryish stuff.. Coca Cola, but also donuts and chips and these yogurt blocks. All the OXXO dairy's have these 'BIMBO' bread products (funny name, but they are one of the widest distributed food companies in the world... I think behind Kraft and Nestle and Unilever. And I thgink I have bust this out before... I like facts. Anyways, Bimbo products range from packaged Bread with a layer of sugar ontop to cream-filled cakes with jam and icing. There was a sign in Mexico city sayingthat 5 people die of diabetes in Mexico everyhour.. shocker. I think this info is regurgetated too.. I always repeat myself.
Back to San Miguel, the inner city is BEAUT and colourful and in close quarters... it is obvious that in central town all these beautiful homes and B&Bs are owned by expats. After the parade I had $20 pesos aka $2ish, so the mission of finding an ATM became main priority. I got sent to different places by different people, then got a map and booklet from the Info place and left it in the internet cafe whilst writing on this very blog.. so backtracked to the centre for a new set, after failing to find the right bus stop out to where my bank was, with a huge MEGA supermarket (that is the brand.. expat supers here..the logo is a pelican) and huge Roast chicken takeout and fastfood and playground extravaganza. That is a very popular meal choice here in Mexico.. I didn't realise in PV but travelling around it becomes obvious.. these restaurants with 'Pollo Rosado' are huge. One easy way to feed the fam, they have large ovens out the front of the shop with lots of chickens with huge skewers through them on rotate. You can also get tortillas and salad with.. they are good at fastfood here. DI A BE TES
The next day I awoke early for walking the streets before jumping over to Guanajuato, the town with the namesake of the state. No one was about yet, as shops and people don't start moving till 10, but there was an excentric older American man.. a painter. Musical reference: Chicago. Anyways, I once again had a 'conversation' with an American where they toldme their life story and I was just standing there with what was originally genuine interest, morphing into pure frustration at the fact they don't even give me the time to open my mouth.. anyways, at 68 it was a long history, then he took me to this bridge with a lookout point where he pointed out everything that has been new in the 10 years he has been there for. He doesn't like living there. Once again it was a 'why?' from me, although I don't know if I managed to actually get that word in or whether he just wasn't listening, but I didn;t get an answer right away. He is returning to St Louis in 2 years to study art in Uni again (which he has done in SL, Texas, NYC and Chicago, to show you how longwinded this all was).. I have found the hard thing with asking an older american where they are from, is that none of the ones in Mexico have lived in one place. The are the restless ones who jumped around 10 different cities until they gave up on the US and jumped ship. I wonder how the Mexicans feel at how easily these yanks get in, wander across the boarder, when getting the other way is deadly.
When he told me he was going to St Louis, I sang the line of the song, Meet me in StLouis - Dorothy style - then he sang it in it's full, twice (turns out it is a full length song), as I stood there awkwardly forced grinning and nodding in time.
Anyways, he asked me if he could do a picture of me, I was all 'Why me?' and he said he only asks foreigners (?) and hasn't seen any in a while. I figured this would be a facial portrait with me pulling a dramatic expression - so was in. It was then revealed, as we walked to his studio he revealed he did nude bodies. Anyone who knows me knows that this, after childbirth, is my 2nd worst nightmare. A wave of boiling hot rushed over me and panic rose, I literally lied and said my bus was actually in an hour and RAN in the other direction. Dios Mio!
'I didn't do it, but if I'd done it - how can you tell me that I was wrong? ' (Ref# 2) ... you could defs tell me I was wrong, but I was all 'I didn't do it' which linked nicely as the Chicago song reappeared in my head...
Once again I jumped on a local bus with my stuff, completely unsure where my stop was (I knew where the station was, but the man at my 'hostel' aka the guy who's life I was disrupting said I have to get off after 3 stops and walk. This, of course, was false information. A nice man was helping me though. Mexicans always are on the bus looking depressed, but leap to life when it looks someone needs help...(it is just important that your helpful mexican has the facts and is not just a guesser)... the other day in PV an American yelled on the bus asking where the supermarket (by American brand name ..Soriana) was and he replied 'just across the road.. you can walk'... whereas it is actually up the highway, about a 10 minute drive. I have walked this, never seen anyone else walk it though.
The cool thing while I was in SM was that the church next door was partying through the night and day of the 20-21st. Not cool in the night, with the Mariachi band going nuts with lots of drummers, but in the morning and day was quite exciting. Me and the American lady in my room awoke at about 5.30 am to what sounded like gunfire. It was so loud and aggressive, that I (half asleep) just dove onto the floor thinking 'this is it.. I have finally experienced Mexican danger and now no one I know will ever visit...'. I have dramatic reactions to things.. in one of the many mid-night fire alarms in my hostel at Uni; I jumped out of bed, ran down the hall shouting 'fire alarm'to make sure everyone was awake, knocked on a few neighbours doors, then ran out in a not-good-practise way. I was the fool as my feet and body froze in the winter weather in my Mickey Mouse PJS, when everyone else got out calmly, taking robes, jackets, blankets and slippers with them.
I would still like to think in a real fire, one must high-tail it out.
Anyways, they were fireworks. Lots and lots of fireworks. Tried to go back to sleep, but they let them off like gun work every 15 minutes. Later in the afternoon, after my escape from nudist painter, they had indigenous drums and whistles out and about 20 people in elabourate colourful and feathered costumes where dancing their socks off. It was great - the Mariachi band (the same guys too,..in orange jackets) were still playing so it was hard on the ears, but beaut to watch. I wonder where the Indigenous and religious worlds colided and what it was that they were celebrating.
Regardless, it was colourful, cultural and beautiful.


Sunday, November 21, 2010

Puebla, the ¨¨Pueblo¨¨

At least this is what I was told, therefore had imagined in my head (something I think I have mentioned I am trying to stop as it gives me false hope... I have a fun imagination.)

Pueblo in spanish is Town... not city. I have heard a lot of Puebla, my teacher Claudia was a fan, including my Aus pals. But they all called it a Pueblo. It is the Religious capital of Mexico, with 365 churches (apparently).. because the churches celebrate anniversarys, this also makes it a party capital. No, in actual fact - there are a lot of nuns and not a lot of noise.

The thing is, town in my head - Nelson doesn{t even qualify. We are talking Motueka, Collingwood even (or is that acommunity?)... Puebla has over 1.5 million people! We are talking Auckland!

Anyways, it was different to my head (aka all the buildings were double storied, with the churches hidden amongst them), but stunning all the same. Since Mexico city I have struggled to take 2 steps without taking a phot, I even found myself deleting lots of grey D.F ones to make room for the beautiful colours of the buildings (D.F is Mexico City region, as my teacher said ¨Like Washington - D.C.... D.F, Like Washington).
The hostel there was soooo beautiful . It was double storied with a courtyard in the middle. After my Mexi-Hostel tour I have been thinking that that is what I want to do in the future.. one of the many things. In saying that, I have also decided where I want to retire... without having graduated. So I am getting slightly ahead of myself. I do not think far in the future though usually... hell, I booked my flight for Mexico 5 days before.
I told my parents I was going back to School in Aus for 2nd year ..2 years before? Same with my 1st year of Uni... I have just realised this, I may have a problem.

So, apologies for hardly ever talking about Mexico on my Bloga Mexicana.

Back to it, I got on the bus after arriving in Puebla (the station is huge, hint that maybe this place is bigger than I thought?) at about 8pm. Jumped on the bus outside labelled Centro, as always.
I didn{t know where to get off, but saw this backpacker jump off and just followed him.
The Hostel is advertised as Puebla{s first and only, so figured he was heading there too.
He was... and although I forget his name, he was a nice French boy with a Travel Guide. He wasn{t using it, saying he was bad at using maps. So he insisted we ask around for the location.
Once again, the Mexicans were lovely and willing to help... but not too helpful. Many a circles were walked in as each person had different theories.

I took charge with the map, as Maps are kinda my talent, leading us straight for it. He still insisted on asking some Policemen, so we took the way they thought as opposed to what I thought. It was wrong of course, I wanted to do a ´told you so¨ dance, but remembered that this guy was not one of my brothers, but a French stranger I had only just met. I don¨t mind my brothers thinking I´m annoying.

Anyways, the kids from the schools danced and the Phil. orch. performed (I saw them practicing in a museum terrace earlier in the day. I went to another Museum, I don{t know what it was really..it was called house of someone and it was basically an old mansion with treasures in it. I went coz I asked the girl at the desk for the best Museums. I also went to one involved in the Revolution, appropriate because it was the day before - where an important family involved.. I think it was the Hildagos? Lived in during, it still has all the bullet holes on the outside wall.. that was thrilling enough!
A Mariachi band also performed.,... for hours. The Mexicans really love it.. the overweight-moustached man (opera singer ish) with the high Mariachi pants cracks jokes and they eat it up. They do the classics and everyone sings along. I really love the Mariachi bands. They are everywhere at night. I actually came across this random park in Mexico city, slightly north of the tourist route, where it was like a meeting place for them. They were all hanging around, some wihth intruments, some without.. with their uniforms, one colour (high pants with a cool jacket) embellished up the sides and shoulders with another colour - usually gold or silver.

I have been eating a lot of street food as of late, as I am spending $35 pesos, a bit over $3.50 on food. The way to do this with ease, is to eat food from stalls. I have become a whorey traveller - I think I explained earlier that whorey is stank, as in crappy... not prostitutesque.
This is because I packed next to none clothes (still where my trusty stockings eveyday.. usually to be soon... whorey), came with only a bar of soap and deod. No shampoo (my hair has DIED..I unravelled it in Puebla (without a brush.. why remake it everyday? it stayed in a ball onthe top of my head), it was like straw. I have never had good hair care, but next to the huge knot I got when I was ten and had to get cut out, this is a Maria Williams´ hair lowpoint.
I also don{t have face wash, so there goes my clear skin, or moisturiser... had a small tub on sunscreen which lasted me about a day.. anywho, part of this is because my carryon bag is small, part is because I am lazy anyways, part is because I thought the airplane wouldn{t like liquids (some do not, becuase they are intl and domestic.. everyone has to follow intl rules).
I have my toothbriush, although my teeth do not feel clean. They have not the whole time I have been here... worrying?

It was a nice change from Mexico City, this wasmore my kinda place. I did not accomplish much there, butI am at the point where I like doing nothing. Just sitting with the locals.
Long and shortof it, Puebla was beautiful, different to how I had pictured it, thanks to my Mexicanos. In all seriousness though, I love Mexicans.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Dias de los Museos and Metro



Okay,

So I am trying to hustle this bustle as I am miles (days) behind.
I actually came online here in San Miguel de Allende, to look at where the Scotia Atm is as I once again find myself up a stream without a paddle, or more literally, in a city without money (of course, I have asked 3 different people for directions or location and gotten 3 COMPLETELY different answers... ) .

HAPPY DIA DE LA REVOLUTION!! 100 years today.
I Have been celebrating by singing ONE DAY MORE from Les Mis, in SPanish (well, trying).
More about that when I get to it... still got Puebla...

Note to self: Still must write about Puerto Vallarta return aka the ride with the drug dealer and what could be considered a semi-whorish teen beauty pageant.

Anyways, I spent the other day, Wenesday, in 4 different museums. Firstly, the Anthropology Museum... people say you need 3 hours here, which you do - unless you walk fast and don´t read stuff. I appreciate Mexican culture, bit I have read so much that I feel I have learnt nothing. My brain cannot contain all the dozens of cultures and indigenous and histories. One day I might read a book on it or something.

It was great - lots on the different cultures, all divided by location, as well as all the best artifacts from the ruins... Aztec and Mayan and Oaxacan too. Up until now I had no contact with the Aztecs, they have very different items, used less scultures in the buildings but more paint and paintings. This is just what I have gathered, don´t quote me. Well, you could quote me, it is not like any historian or anthropologist would take what I have to say seriously.

I have an embarassing admission. I am a unstoppable cryer-crier (you think I would know how to spell this) and my love of Mexican culture mixed with a sadness to be leaving this great country in what was 8 days, let a few tears loose... in the museum. I am happy with the fact that I may be the first person who can say they have cried in the Mexican Museum of Anthropology (kids or injured not included).

Next outside I saw the guys do this entertaining thing where 4 of them hang from a pole as the may-day around it, upside down, playing instruments. Now, THAT is entertainment. I sneakily left my bag in the bag holding place (Pantenaria? I think, I use them everyday (all stores, supermarkets etc have them) but haven´t paid too close attention to the formal name. I love that it has one though. It is close to the name for a Bread shop... Panderia?. Anyways, I went over to the Museum of Modern art to see Frida. Alas, she had left and hadn´t even sent me a note! And I thought we were close. I had been at her house only the day before.

Modern art aint really my thing. I like paintings that take skill in painting. Which is why I appreciated the next museum that I metroed to - The Museum of Popular art. They have a museum for everything in Mexico CIty. ¨Everything´s up to date in Mexi City.. they´ve gone about as far as they can go¨... I missioned through this one (note, due to my ID i don´t have to pay.,.. if I was payin, I´d be stayin), loving the special display of Pinatas made by artists, and a Revolution display involving art and items of Emiliano Zapato and Frankie Villa - the fathers of it.

Next I headed to the Institute of Bella Artes, which is one of the main attractions, coz of it´s outer beauty. Inside, there are murals by the famous old artists of Mexico, namely Diego Riveria again... which I had to pay $30 pesos to photograPH! I sucked it in though, since once again, my Student ID got me through the door. I say in Spanish ¨I am a Student of Oaxaca¨, but sometimes leave off the Oaxaca, so they racistly say ¨But not of Mexico¨and then I whip it out. BooYah. Just joking about the racism.. generally, apart from Indig issues down South, Mexicans are very open and there are various references to my pals Ghandi and MLK jr through out the place. There were African slaves that came here, wonder why there aren´t African-Mexicans? Cos there wasn´t this segregation BS.. they didn´t live in Negro.Ville, or whatever the community of migrants was in my mum´s city.

Anyways, there is usually other displays there - including one of Riverias, but they were closed at the moment. My typical luck. There was one of a Man - Saturnino Herran (accent above A), which was brilliant. He is what I mean by talented - especially with Crayons and Pastel... he made them look SO real... he did a lot of people´s faces, which is my fave. He did some beutiful ones of Mayan people too.. he really gets the skin and features in perfect colour and shape. He had also done a lot of the same pictures, but done them closer up and with other mediums. No photos allowed here unfortunately, but I just added two up the top - first with Crayon CRAZZYY.

So it was getting on in the day, time for me to get to Puebla. I was originally going to go the day before, but the closed-city monday threw those plans. So I went down to the metro, for the billionth time, taking 3 different lines North, which I hadn´t taken before. This was to get to the bus station, the same one I had taken to Oaxaca in September - my first Mex travel extravaganza. By this time I was confident with the Metro, although I noticed at my first, busy stop that there was a strong police presence and that there was a ladies and girls only section. I was lining up for the train when 3 men, one Smart-Casual and two in suits came and pulled me aside. They said they were security, I looked at the policeman (with a shield and baton) for confirmation, he didn´t comment - but he let me go too, so I trusted all was well.
They took me a wee way to the security office, at this time I was just panicked trying to get to the bus station and get to Puebla - angry at myself that I was getting there a day late already.
They wanted me to pack away my Camera, as they said someone will cut the cord from around my neck.
I hear my Dad doing his token scoff now.
I know, I was naive. I felt so stupid, as these 5 or so men looked down at me. I was apologising in my broken spanish, trying to not sound like too much of a stupid tourist.
I had gotten cocky.
I must have come across as very upset, because one of the men got mad at the others - saying they had been to scary with me.They actually hadn{t, but kept apologising and saying things like ¨We wouldn{t want your experience in Mexico to be ruined´ and ¨We want you to enjoy yourself here¨, they were very nice.
I was more relieved than scared, grateful for the good people in this country who continue to look out for and help me. For every bad person wanting to cut my camera, there are at least 100,000 people who go out of their way for you.
It did not occur to me that someone would have scissors in the metro, I thought around my neck was actually safer than in my bag with someone could grab.
A TLC song comes to mind ¨Dumb, Dumb, Dumb¨.

I thanked them, shook all there hands, but they weren{t letting me go alone. So, I had two security escorts with me, in the crowded ¨Women and Children only¨ cart. One in a Tan suit, with an official badge, the other ´Undercover´in a blue polo. And so, they travelled on three different lines with me, asking me questions about my life as we walked from one to the other (one walk was about 2 km long, with a blacked out area with lots of police in it.. I don{t know why). My undercover man took me right out of the metro and into the bus station. I was very grateful, but moreso touched by their kindness.

Note to Future Mexico tourists: Do not be afraid to ride the metro. But, be weary off the normal toursit track, e.g. anything north of Bella Artes, this is where it turned a bit scary...


Part Dos - MEETING SWISS BALLS

PART DOS:

Wish I could have taken photos, there was a range of art tributes to the heroes of Mexico, but all my faves included battle scenes or meeting scenes
with very delicately made and painted figurines. What an art - literally here kids!
I homed it via Metro, the 3rd time at night (I trust people too much), but all was well. Took my usual route back to the hostel through the gay bondage market.
I was on the computer checking my emails, resting my feet, reading about NZ news, Wills and Kate´s engagement (why are we all so fascinated?) and
talking with a porn star.
WHAT??
Oh yes, let me elabourate, but in an abridged form (that still counts right?)
I was talking to the guy at the desk, Christian, who has been the source of some of my misinformation. I don´t know where it came from but here it goes:
¨I hate people in LA... ¨¨¨
Do you live there?
Yeah, but I hate it - girls roll up your sleeve to see if you are wearing an expensive watch before they talk to you¨
So why do you live there?
That´s where you have to be if you´re an actor
Ohh.. you´re an actor?
Well, kinda. I am actually the best porn star in the world at the moment¨
WHHATTT
(laughs)
It´s true, Google me.
(laughs, while googling)
How did you get into that?
Oh ya know, just like how you get into any another job¨ (ahh, not really!) I studied Psych and Sociology at college, knew some people---¨
It´s true, Google me.
What makes you the best in the world?
I won 2010 AVN best actor... that is an Porn Oscar.
Ohhh, so just like an Oscar?!
After that I got into mainstream too.. It opened up acting opportunities... I have been in Iron Man 2, CSI Miami, CSI New York ( you can imagine the way he is listing these right?)
I have been in an acting class with Will Smith, J-Lo (and a few other actors I don´t remember now, but recognised at the time). He listed this all very quickly and matter of factly. Just from watching them, I knew how to act. I knew what it takes...
(various questions and skepticism came from this, as a lifelong Fresh Prince fan, I am aware that he is one of the highest paying actors, so I had all these questions as he said it was really cheap as there are so many acting classes and for starts - how is he at the same level ??
Turns out his teacher let him sit in in the class with them, he watched.

At this stage my focus was more on getting info on the royal wedding, so he bust out his comp and pulled up a screen with a few people in the forground and a few thousand solediers in the background (at least, that is what I thought they were.. it was hard to tell)
There I am in Iron Man 2! (pointing at one of the soldiers).. to give him credit.. i suspect most of the others where computer generated.
(laughs again)
Oh well, good on you!
I will try and find the other scene I am in.....I have had some speaking roles too..

(he also told me about winning his award, his reaction, his trip around the world, how his facebook fan page got cancelled. what makes him good at his job and various other topics....I told him I was from NZ.)

Real name: Paul ___
Porn Star Name: Eric Swiss. (I thought it was meant to be your pet and your 1st street....?)
Starred in; Not Married with Children xxx 1 and 2, Not Charlies Angels xxx, Not the Cosbys xxx
Known for: Being the best porn star in the world, 2010

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

An interesting day... starring Casa de Frida


Hola.

I saw this painting, vida la vida, in the flesh.

I liked it. I liked the whole house actually, where Mexico¨s Art Power couple - Frida and Diego Riveria - lived.

I thought it was weird how they didn{t imitate it in the film.. I thought I knew exactly what it was going to look like.

I finally thought I was going to see some Famous Frida Kahlos... all over Mexico I had heard they are all in Mexico city.

Update: Don{t know where they all are, but of the 30-odd I would recognise, only saw 2 in the house I had seen before. No paintings of her with monkeys.

I had liked her art, but it was after the film that I kinda became obsessed with her. The pain she had physically, after a bus crash, for all her life - and then her miscarriage really is what drove her. I saw the casts she had to wear and the bed with the mirror that she used to paint herself (note - she did a lot of self-potraits, because she spent a lot of time bed-ridden).

I feel like I am in some kind of Frida-fan cult now.

I read online - and got told by a staff member at Museo FK - that Dos Fridas, one of her most famous paintings was in the Museo of Modern art. Well, I was so pumped for this one I brought a badge with it on to wear there.

Got there, expo over.

The annoying thing about this city is that time goes really fast. The big museums take like 3 hours and to get from one place to the other on the metro envolves a lot of time travelling, walking to change lines and waiting. I feel like I accomplish little here each day, e.g Frida Museo was the first thing I did in the day, didn{t leave til 2pm. So there is this place with pretty boats that float around, Xochilmico. I don}t know if this is actually the name, I am writng it off the top of my head and can not be arsed searching it.

Anyways, you go down the river on a pretily decorated red and yellow boat. I was told on Sunday night that to do it cheaply you must go on the weekend.. if only I had that info earlier. Finally got there, it was a huge mission on a few different trains, then followed the signs as many enthused men on bikes pointed the way (they sit on their bikes at the station, then one of them jumps into gear at the sight of a tourist)... I was told it would be $200 pesos, bit over $20 per boat. Unfortunately, coz It is low season, they must be desperate.

I jumped in with 2 Argentinian girls, we started away. They asked the price, when I asked what they said... they told me $370 pesos each! OH. HELL. NAH. That is over $40 Nz.... over $100 for the boat - to quote la favorita oracion de mi madre ¨Give me a break¨.
My heart was pounding, we were pulling away, I was trapped.
So, being the cheap and dramatic person that I am, I jumped up, dove onto the neighbouring boat to escape. So, due to the very slow speed of the boat (since the trip is 45 mins, I doubt it will get much beyond leaving the parking area and then reversing back in), it was really just a little step-jump, but I was shaking my head vigourously going ¨Yo escuchi $200 por todo (I heard 200 for all) No quiero, No quiero! (I don´t want)¨ STOP THE BOAT is what I was saying in my head.
They were all ¨Impossible¨ for both the stopping and the price, I didn´t feel bad about drag-queenly high tailing it out of there when scam artists were involved. So, with my money in my hand and photos on my card, I flounced out of there.

I headed for the centre (the sun set on the train mission home) where I stumbled across a night exhibition of art especially for the Revo and Bicen (Just some Mex 2010 slang..)

(NOTE: THIS IS ONLY HALF THIS ENTRY... I REWROTE IT TWICE AND IT KEPT NOT SAVING. I THEN WROTE IT IN AN EMAIL TO MYSELF (I am my number one sender of emails to my inbox... followed by Mum, then the Lady from school wanting me blimmin timesheets, then Oxfam) BUT NOW IT WILL NOT LET ME USE COPY AND PASTE.

Ah, if only Mexican Electricity had not killed my computer then I would be able to use that (there is free wireless EVERYWHERE in mexico), instead of paying once a day. Could have sponsered a Child with this money!


10 days left! 10 dias mas....

Hola,

So my day in Ciudad de Mexico did not go as planned. I know what you are thinking ''You're in Mexico... lighten up!'', but I have been light for many a days now and I am done. With 16 weeks with everyone else on Mexican time, I am wanting structure.

It is all because it is the 100th Anniversary of the Revolution on Saturday... here, like Aus, when a Public holiday lands on the weekend they give you another day *the flaw in this system is that I kept working on public holidays e.g. Christmas and Boxing Day, and then people who didn't were getting the larger paychecks for the next monday} anyways, here they celebrate it beforehand.
Which meant in the park I was among thousands of people, which wasn't that bad coz I went at 10am... Mexicans generally do not get moving till about midday, but then my 2 museums I planned to see were both closed. I did not see this one coming! Mainly because Public holidays are when all the tourists are in town, and places just advertise as being closed on Xmas. You may be thinking "It's a public holiday, the museums need to give their staff time off too!'', to that I tell you that all the staff still work. Everyone is in there cleaning and so the guards are all outside guarding the cleaners. This is why I was confused that it was closed ..it looked so open.

Other people from my hostel were there *one texan from US withfluent Spanish and 2 Belgin girls who had just come the night before... don't know how they didn't have jetlag... they are 7 hours diff, like NZ (bar daylight savs) but the other way or something. We went to the zoo in the park, with free entry, that had an incredible selection of animals, although mainly I wanted to see could hardly be seen &(gorilla, panda, cheetah).. most of the animals were sleeping at midday. Many of them had sad conditions, the panda that wasn't on display was in a medium sized plain room with no light...he was sitting at the door trying to open it.
There was also a strong chlorine smell in the park, so I suspect that the water wells of the animals are very strong with it.. their poor skin!

Anyways, after that I headed into town... i didn{t really accomplish much... I think I have many a hour unaccounted for actually, I don{t know where the time went! I know I checked out a few other museos... all closed. I walked around, wasting time until the Light show.. WHICH I WAS TOLD STARTED AT 7pm.... so I was there at 6.15. My back is still store from standing in the same position. My feet a bruised with a cracked heal... you would have thought I had been doing serious farm work. No, just standing. I talked to a Belgiun for a while, he was bored by Mexico City and bolting after 2 days.. I didn´t understand - I think this city is Fantastic! Everyone has different experiences though... we went to the zoo because this guy who had never left his small town in Oregan before this made it sound like the best experience of his life. For a Belguin (spelling?) living in London, having travelled all of South American and Europe, can not find anything exciting. Poff I say! He did make some funny comments like ´´there are a lot of gay people here.. I have nothing against them... I have just never seen one before´´...(he is staying in the same area I am , the Gay district...Zona Rosa..I realised this as I got off the metro with all the boyfriends... it has been confirmed with the clubs and flags etc..LOVE IT) then he told me that he has decided to go to Puerto Vallarta.. staying in Romantic Zone, aka Gay zone, but he doesn{t know that.

These damn staff here! Anyways, So moral of the story is it started at 9pm... so for almost three hours I stood there FREEZING.. didn{t even claim a particularly good spot...
ALTHOUGH, the show was SOOO AMAZING. They really went all out coz of 1810 and 1910 being the most important days in Mex History.
There were dancers, there was video, there was music, there was LIGHT ... lots and lots of light. It was in the town square with lights on the huge old buildings and cathedral. SO COOL.
I took lots of phots of course, so although most of them didn{t come out... you still get the point. I will add them once I am back home.....in 10 days (give or take 2 days-7 for jet lag)...

It was very theatrical.. reminded me of WOW actually, there were THOUSANDS there. On the way home (it was 1 hour and a half) they closed off all the centro metro stations so TRILLIONS of us walked about 10 mins to the one that was opening at 11pm. I felt like I was part of some big event.. a sea of people. After they opened the Metro doors (luckily I had a spare metro ticket, or else I literally would have been walking home, with less than 2 bucks on me), it was a CRAZY display of urgency to get through.. the nice get left behind though. I learnt that early on. People push through, forcing room. They don´t mind about how uncomfortable other people may be. It is like selfishness takes hold, this is why people have been trampled to death. When the lines going through the machines paused for even a second everyone started whistling. Like everyone.. it was ringing in my ears. I felt a definate sense of accomplishment when I passed through those gates.

So another time, I made it home through the metro at night... alive. I was expecting to be scared of this place but I am probably too casual. A man told me on the metro to remove any wallet from my pocket.. not that I had one. I didn{t think I would be able to exit the hostel at all, but all is well. At my school they originally turned me off coming to Mexico, as one girl who goes there tells them horror stories and so eveyone is scared. Remember, there are twice as many people here as there are in NZ.

Yes, I thought that number was incorrect. One staff member told me the show was 7, another said there were 17 MILLION more people in this CITY! I am no longer listening to them.

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Ciudad de Mexico - what a huge MoFo!

I have made it to the big smoke!


I flew here, so it took very little time - you may recall I overnight bussed last time... well,
this time it was cheaper to fly... $29 plus some taxes.

Anywho, I am at a hostel where they pick you up for free from the airport. This is the reason
I booked it... so dammit, I wasn{t leaving that airport until they got me.
After I sent my flight details as instucted, they sent a reply saying I have got to ring after I am through customs and outside the airport, then it would take 30 mins for the car to come.
I replied with an email asking if they could just come an hour later... as I do not have a phone (well, that works) and as I did not have to clear customs (have¨not brought a bag... it is with a stranger in Puerto Vallarta - fingers crossed it remains there and he lets me have it back... long story really, will have to bust it out another time).... anyways they were all ¨NO¨ and I was all ¨I have a feeling this will be another Maria MisAdventure...¨

It was. No one answered the phone for hours, so I just sat in the airport hungry and tired but without energy to move. After finally getting through to them and them being all ¨We were expecting you hours ago, there is no car now¨ but telling me to call back, I sat back on the ground and shed a few tears in the typical tired-hungry-alone-iwannagohome fashion.

A man came and talked to me, his name was Angel.


I have this thing where I still wanted to go to the hostel and give thema chance and better my relationship with them. I don´t want to have angry feelings that remain unresolved. I am here now, the relations are fine - I hold some power too coz I booked through Hostel world which means that I write a review.


Anyways, I walked the streets all arvo-night (I am not in the centro, it is safe out here at night)

along this main drag which has the ¨Angel of Independence¨ statue and various other statues and art along it. What a beautiful stretch of road it is! There are all these seat-sculptures along it, I really enjoyed walking along, sitting on all the chairs and admiring the outdoor art displays they have especially for the Bicentennario... they also have big faces of important players in thisand in Independence (which is on the 20th, but as that is a Saturday the day off work and celebrations are happening tommorrow... they heard I was in town) in lights.


There is one of those bike systems where they are mechanically attached and you can use them if you have a card...go Green! There is also a rule that my teacher Laura told me of where the cars with Licence plates A-L drive one day and M-Z on others... the flaw in this is that lots of peeps now bought two because of this. Although the Metro system is big and quick and 30c... it is CROWDED as are the buses... word on the street (actually from the 20-odd year old who works here) is that there are 26 million people here .. ???? Will have to look that up... coz yes, that math would mean that it is 6x NZ.... wow. I also learnt on plane here that it is the 3rd BIGGEST city in the world.... NUTS!


I discovered from Markets and shops and clubs and love that this is the gay district. Who wants to sing Cher? or Rent? or any other Musical?


I went to bed at nine.. woke up at nine. I was the first person in my room last night and the last to leave this morning so I haven{t seen any of my roomies. I went into town via that same big stretch I harped on about - to see it in its daylight glory.
And boy, was it glorious! There is a road passing through the middle - and get this - on Sundays they CLOSE IT OFF so people can ride their bikes, push scooters, wheelchairs, rollerblades, skateboard, roller blade-scooters (these amazing things I had never seen before.. I want one quite badly), prams, dogs and anything else with wheels. There were 100s of peoples and families out having a gay old time! TANDEM BIKES ARE COOL HERE!
At the intersections there are workers who hold up rope stopping the bikers when they have to let the cars through.. there is free water.. there are aerobics classes in the street - everyhting about it was fabul0us! I have decided that i have to live somewhere where I can go rollerblading on Sundays. It is a anti-diabeties promo (5people in mexico die of this every hour, so obviously it is a big problem), with even Red Cross demos with dummies and all for first aid.

I hit up two museums - I didn{t go to the main one in the centre because Sunday is free-day for locals so it was packed. Instead I went to the Museum of Memory and Tolerance... I can{t help myself... I didn{t know it was there but I walked past it and had to go inside... it was mainly Holocaust based, also with my main interests Rwanda and Cambodia... I have never actually seen a museum display on the Nazi-BS but obviously it was all very heart breaking... there were real items there - star of Davids, a train cart that took people to the Camps (it smelt of death, I swear), shoes of children that were confiscated in the Camps... that was the stuff that broke me.
There was a machete from Rwanda which made me sick to my stomach... I just do not get it.

So, that was intense! Later on I wandered before finding myself in the National Arte museum. There were beautiful works there from centuries back, mostly religious.. some HUGE.
I saw my first Diego Riverias which was exciting... although I don+t really like his stuff he is Mexico{s most famous and treasured Artist. He was known for murals mainly... hopefully I will see them in the Palace museum when I get there.

Mexico City town is very beautiful.. there are still LOTS of old buildings, more than I expected as I know they have had there share of large quakes. It isn{t as foggy and bleak as I thought it would be.. I think it is beautiful. There were tonnes ofpeople around on Sun... I have never seen so man y people... I was all thinking it would die down on Monday... boy, was I wrong!

Food diary: Esquites - Amazing corn soup, Churro Relleno con Cajeta - Hot stick donut with Caramel sauce inside, Litre Juice of the stall holders {specialty{ aka Melon, Pineapple, Guaba and Papaya... boy was it good! At the hostel there are eggs and toast for breakfast.. I love mine Mexicana (which takes on a diff meaning everywhere I have learnt) here being with tomates and peppers... bueno!

Friday, November 12, 2010

Hola, Hola, es bueno para regresar

It is good to be back in Puerto Vallarta!

For one, I am tired. For two, I like this school better - miss the teachers. 

For three, I have a new appreciation for this place. It is currently not stinking hot, it is not raining in the arvos and nights. The ocean is a nice, chilly temperature. It is more beautiful than I remember... I guess I notice things I did not notice before when I was living here.... plus I do not have an apartment that is killing all my technology and flooding everyday. 

The ocean and the buildings around here are really pretty. Most of them are white, with the same brown tiled roof and window sills. I think when I originally got here I felt ripped off - where the hell is the colour? I thought to myself. Well, i found the colour - in Oaxaca and then San Cristobal de las casas - I am rainbowed out. 

Where are you living? I hear you ask. In the nice apartment that was a replacement for the crap apartment? No. In the crap apartment, with my legs off the floor to avoid swimming? No. 
I am staying in a Hostel. As I was only coming back for 2 weeks, I did the maths and from the average hostel prices I have been at here - it is cheaper than the apartments. 

I also am very cheap, I have trouble spending money... for this reason, I looked on my new fave site Hostel World .com for hostels here. And magic happened. A new hostel, with a opening rate of $8 per night right on the main street  (same as my school) popped out of no where in the short time I was gone. 

Actually, a lot has popped up or moved out in the time I have been gone. Including the other tenants at my old apartment building who left (2 lots) when the landlord was in the states. One bolted without paying... but it is a big, complicated story involving his hair salon he was supposed to open early oct falling through to his online love for 8 years being a scammer who just used him for the access to Mexico (he was Columbian.. I can{t believe this guy was so naive. Columbians are desperately trying to get into the states.. or here apparently). 

Shops have closed, new ones opened and bars are moving all around. There was a completely destroyed shop near my school that they were working on... I thought it would take months.. come back 7 weeks later and there is a fully-functioning OXXO... could not have suprised me with a worse store. 

This is a dairy-small mart that basically sells coffee, coke, chips, cigarettes and other snack stuff - it was responsible for giving me my tubby bug with the STANK nachos and is on EVERY corner.. the central area is quite small here and there must be at least 20 of them. The other day we were going in the car of my teacher, a guy asked - ¨Where is your car? she replied - Outside Oxxo - he said ¨Which one?¨which was funny-coz-true joke... but then we actually went to the wrong Oxxo. Luckily the other one was one was meters away. 

I am quite a hostel fan now, I see myself trying to run one in the future.. I do not know really, but I have come all observant and judging of hostels now. Here it is literally only the 3 staff (2 Brits, one US) and I staying here. 

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Long-winded rant about Cancun y Isla Mujeres





Cancun is an interesting place. You hear a lot about it over here... this is some of the things you may hear, that I heard.  

¨We changed our plans so we can go back and party more in CANNNCUNNN¨ - Turkish Boys

¨Cancun did not exist before the Americans showed up¨ - Mexi-American

¨We aren{t going to bother with Cancun¨ - My Irish Parents. ¨Don{t.¨ - every traveller they talked to. 

I also picture everything in my head before I go. This was one place where it was actually quite different. As I mentioned, I thought of a cross between Gold coast and Las Vegas, I knew that is was basically made up of flash, expensive resorts. I thought there would be all the Gold coast stuff too of the bars and everything right on the beach. There being highways and too many people and lots of tourist things. I found some photos of what I expected to find..

For starters, the town seems like it is not on the beach. That is basically because it really is not. It is quite a drive to the beach, more and more of it is getting covered up by new apartment complexes, although on the {Hotel Zone} there is barely any room. This photo was stolen from Facebook, from a friend of mine from Oaxaca who I ran into in San Cristobal and Chichen Itza. It is good because it shows the penisula. The town is quite far away. It comes out like a backwards C from the mainland, you can see the swamp water in the middle. To bus to the centre takes 30-45 minutes.. but you spend most the time passing hotels on a very well manicured road. 

I naively thought that it may be possible to walk to the beach. Not the hotel zone, as I could see the huge hotels poking out behind fog - they looked miles away (and were), but there were also a lot closer apartments that looked like they were on the beach, but are miles away... wonder if people are getting tricked when buying these...

I found myself walking for quite a while through neighbourhoods, all single leveled. I made it to NEAR the beach, but they are all blocked by gated communities. I may have said this before, all beaches in Mexico are public BUT sometimes actually getting to the beach is impossible (unless you pass through private property, which I have been known to do round these parts). 

I ended up walking all the way to Puerto Juarez where I was going to aqua-taxi from the next day. Now I think of it, I think I walked for a very long way. I only had a $200 peso note, as usual because I get money from the bank... it is about $22 NZD, so I waited till I found an OXXO dairy which is where they always have change, to get my water and ice cream. They said they didn{t have change. I felt like the guy was just being a prick. 

I was suprised to find the port had a McDonalds. Basically it is in the middle of nowhere, with a ticket shop/tourist shop and then a McDonalds. Side story: Yesterday I signed up to Mystery Shopper program (looking for a job online and this is something I always wanted to do), did the orientation (online) and all  - but turns out that the company only works for McDs and Shell. 
I was liking the idea of this news, until I saw the criteria. You cannot do it if you have worked at McDs, known someone to have worked there in the past 5 years or are Vegetarian. All of these are issues for me.. I was going to lie  but then it said the names go to McDonalds head office so my mind changed on that very quickly...

Back to life - I spent HOURS that night walking along the Cancun beach in the hotel zone. The ocean is BEAUTIFUL... dark blue out further, but crystal clear closer up... big waves too. The photo shows the colours - no advancement! The beach was very different to what I expected. Thought there would be 100s of restaurants and bars and tourist shops on the beach, with tonnes of tourists drinking from those big plastic cup-bottle things (are they called Yard glasses?) they use in Vegas and other places just as classy. 

There were not those people. The only people I saw on the beach at all were a bunch of Mexicans (in the public area), a group of Americans yelling whilst playing pentanque, a female soccer team and a American couple (he was morbidly obese and she was a petite Asian - suspicious or love?) who I volunteered to take photos of (I do this here quite a bit... they do the he takes a photo of her, then her of him, then one self-taken so it is awkwardly close...)... it went from noon to night when I was walking down the beach - it was so nice to be alone on this vast stretch of beautiful white sand (well, me and the various security guards guarding the hotel pools).

Security guards of the hotels lead on to my next hobby that most know little about, that is showing up at hotels, walking around like I am a guest while checking the place out and usually taking the opportunity to use the bathroom. This has been tried and tested in various hotels and resorts in different countries and I have never had any trouble.. it works basically because I am not Mexican. I have more confidence with it now, because I feel like I can use studying at a hotel school as an excuse... although I did say I was a guest at the Hilton in Cancun (you can get away with this when they don{t have wrist bands). 

I would like to point out now that I don´t steal anything and I leave the bathrooms as I found them (having worked as a Sheraton Housekeeper helps with this skill). I checked out many a hotel including various Mexicanos, a Le Meridien, Hilton, Westin and so on. The Westin was my fave.. .I might be biased as I would like to work for them.... Unfortunately, the one I was standing outside when I had to use the bathroom was actually the flashest one there. There was an urgency in my bladder so I bust in there, not even realising that I had walked into a classy bar in my beachwear, sand-filled crocs and towel around my neck. I walked through quickly, but not suspiciously quickly, arriving at the bathrooms with various hand lotions and individual hand towels (none of which I used... and yes, I re-cornered the toilet paper).

Isla Mujeres was SO beautiful. These nice country-bumpkin Americans helped me with my stuff and were all ´Where ya´ll from´´-- I wanted to blurt out that I love Country music, or start humming a country tune, but figured it was like saying ´I love Obama´to an African American. I expected it to be really small, but it is about the size of the Port Douglas peninsula that I lived on last year. That seems random but I found the island very similar to Port, with two long highways with one end housing the locals and the other for the tourists. On side of the island the ocean is very rough and crashes on the rocks (you are not meant to swim along most of it). But the other side is clear and gentle... the beaches weren{t crowed either.

It has a real island feel, with colourful wooded businesses and people using motor scooters and golf carts (tourists and locals).. i obviously was desperate to ride a golf cart beyond a course but the $50 for a day isn{t good for only one person (note to self: return in future with 4 friends).

The hostel I was at was a resort. I swear, it was so beautiful and friendly and well-run. I will post some photos soon, I didn{t take any myself (v. limited spaces on my card) but will use some quality internet copying and pasting. It has a beach area with multiple palms and hammocks (although it is on the side of the un-swimable ocean). I really loved being there - although my serious money anxiety sunk in here and so I only ate chips and bananas over my 3 days there. I brought over food from a supermarket (didn{t think there would be one on the island.. as i said, thought it was really small.. apparently there are 11,000 odd residents), but there was no kitchen to use (they gave us a very good breakfast though, with 4 pieces of toast, fruit, two cups of tea - I have mine green. This was the first time I saw green tea in a hostel... and other toast spread options other than very artificial jam... PEANUT BUTTER AND HONEY betches!!).

I stumbled across my first Kiwi (male, 40-0dd) who I shared a 4 bed dorm with. He was really nice with some good sarcasm and Kiwi humor... he called me Laura as he was saying goodbye though, which was awkward as I wondered why the other girls in the comp lab were ignoring him..



Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Another Maria Misadventure - Welcome back to MEX!

I have to mention my journey back to Mexico. Because, it was ridiculous. It didn{t have to be, but was.
I got a midnight bus from the city Chetmal, close to the Mex boarder. I was really hungry but the same dairy options food was all that was available. I am addicted to these salted chips they have, so I got a huge pack (way overpriced). Anyways, i got on my cheap bus as I watched all the other tourists load onto ADO with a TV, toilet and A-C.. I had spent all my spare pesos (remember I was just coming from Belize) on that damn taxi from the boarder.

The good news was that my cheap MAYAB bus had a backseat. So I actually slept better laid out than I had on any other of the 20-odd buses I had taken so far. The driver woke me up because originally my plan was to head back to Tulum. Knowing that the hostel was crap here, I changed my mind as I was leaving the bus. The bus had ran away quick-smart though. it was about 3am though, so I waited for a twice as expensive ADO to take me the extra hour and a half. The lady was all ¨The bus you were on was going to Playa del Carmen^^as I have found Mexicans do often. It is like, thanks for that information now, but as the bus has pulled away it is not too useful. I am still not on the bus and also now, I am a LITTLE pissed off.

Anyways, I got to Playa del Carmen at about 4.30am. I did not know the address of my hostel, which I didn{t think would matter because we had showed up to EVERY OTHER CITY OR TOWN in this country (and Belize) with addresses, and NEVER had to pull them out. This mistake would proove fatal.

JUST JOSHING - no one died. But part of my spirit did.
To cut a long story short (I feel I have told this already, but It may have just been to friends), I found a guy who claimed he knew my hostel.. the taxi drivers did not, but this guy had a bike with a little carriage on the front for either people or baggage. He said he would take me there. Great.
First however, he had to take other people somewhere else. That was okay, I was willing to sit on the bench. There was not much to see at this hour, but I was sitting on a bench in a street by a church leading to the ocean. Turns out this street during the day is full of food stalls, and the church is the only in this part of town so people CRAM into it everyday as they are surrounded by tourists (the bus station is on the main tourist drag, opposite McDonalds).
The man returned after about 20 minutes. This time my patience (that rarely exists) was a lot thinner as he passed with other people{s things... ¡Que pasa? I asked (what happened?), but he assured me he would be back soon.

Before this he was trying to convince me that my hostel, on 20th Street, was expensive and had a bad location. He was trying to sell another hotel, where comission lies I guess, but I wasn{t budging. It made me not really like him though. At 4am, I don{t want problems.

I waited 30 minutes more, but he didn{t return. I would not have waited 5 minutes normally, particularly after he passed me the 2nd time, but my bags were heavy and I was sick of lugging them around. Enough joints and muscles had felt enough pain.

SIDE NOTE: Have I mentioned my bags? I lugged a suitcase (on wheels, although in Mexico with the roads, this sometimes is not an advantage) of 25kg, and a carry-on of 15kg... this was purely books. For school, Mother. I also have my school satchel which carries my camera. For a bag from Thailand, it is doing well.

Well, I set off, with my information that my hostel was on 20th street. Unfortunately, parallel to the big main tourist street I started at, 5 (which was parallel to the sea, after that was Calle 10, then 15, then 20), was a beast of a street. So there I was, with my heavyass bags, in the dark walking this street for a long time - sweating, I may add. I was in shorts but with a jersey for the buses AC. I only encountered party-ers on their way home and taxi drivers. Many stopped, many were questioned about my hostel. None knew it.
I was confused about this because I found it on HostelWorld, a website that is a very valuable resource, as the highest rated. But people must use the address to get there, not the name. Unfortunately, I had the wrong information necessary.
About an hour after starting off I was at the other bus station in the other side of the centre, asked people in the station, taxi drivers and street vendors setting up their stalls... but alas, no one knew. It is annoying to be in a place with 100 billion different accomodations because there are always some with the same name... my hostel was Hostel Rio Playa (aka Hostel River, Beach) and people were telling me of Hotel Rio, Hotel Playa.. most people also did not know what a hostel was... I was basically calling it a cheap hotel.
I had realised that I had reached the end of the tourist district. I took the road towards the sea thinking, I will just go to the first hostel I see. I walked right into the main party district where town was still pumping. If you have ever had little sleep, you will know that lights and sounds are not what you want to hear. So, I asked another taxi driver about the hostel, apparently on calle 20... explaining I had walked all of calle 20. He informed me that there is also Avenue 20.. fabulous! So It could be there...
I was on Avenue 14 so it did not seem like much of a stretch. I hightailed over to avenue 20, by this time I had seen most of the city. I could tell the sun was going to rise. This SUV pulled over offering me a ride to my hostel, but that turned into - ´you should come to this afterparty with us^ which turned into Hasta la Vista from me.

I was so tired, not from sleep at this point, but my legs and arms.. so I decided to watch the sunrise. It was a mission to the beach, as it has proved many times in Mexico, although it is close - there are hotels and residences blocking the way. But I got there, among the tourists (like me who like sunsets and rises), runners (unlike me) and people still in party gears.
I can say that I was the first person in the ocean that day. It was so nice.

That was when the photo up the top of the page was taken. I didn{t set it up, the boy was jumping from the wharf where my bags were left, onto the sand. He jumped into my shot, I was going to pull away but realised it was cool.

Anyways, with this refreshment I was back on track to find this place. Now with light on my side, more people about to help and a new determination to find this bloody hostel - I was off and racing. I was not stopping with my bags to ensure people could pass me on the sidewalk without having to step onto the road, smiling as they passed. I was charging through with a don{t mess with me, thanking them after they jumped onto the road out of the way of the mad woman lugging 50kg (more or less). Also, my toenail was still at the height of pain... so I limped this whole way in my crocs too. I was such a pathetic sight I am actually suprised more people did not stop to help me.

I walked the whole of Avenue 20 which went from Laundromats and apartments just outside of the centre, to barrios-neighbourhoods of local people. Half way up the Avenue I found something that would be hard to part with many hours later - a shopping trolley. Turns out I was one road over from the main highway with the WALMART and Supermarket. It was frustration that lifted up and threw my bags into that trolley. Past all the homes and meat shops and stares from people, I met the end of the street. Not cool. But onto that highway I went, having a break to by some bandages and cream from my toe.
At this stage it was about 8am. So this has actually been a longer time than I make it out to be.. there were also stops along the way on vaious benches/sidewalks.

I headed back towards town in the hopes of finding an internet cafe that was open. I was on calle 10 (parallel with 20 and 5, for those trying to visualise.. I know the roadmap of Playa del Carmen VERY well now) when I asked a traffic cop (eating a sandwhich) for the nearest internet cafe I did not realise that this cop may have just been the ONLY person who could have told me the location of the hostel, alas - he was standing RIGHT outside it.

So I wandered for a little bit looking for an internet cafe that was open, to find the address of the hostel that I had just been talking to a cop outside. I also recieved an email from my parents saying there was a letter from the school as I had failed to fax in signed pages that proove I have been at school (some rule to do with being a student in Aus), which I was not in the mood for (as they threaten to fail you etc) as it panicked me. But also I logged into Facebook where waiting for me where lots of Birthday messages, which I appreciated.

I found the address and walked over two streets to find me back with my friend the traffic cop (he had finished his sandwhich). Here, I ended up at the hostel, told the guy at the desk I had been looking for it for hours... got offered the free breakfast which I gratefully accepted, probably taking more than my fair share of cereal (bad decision due to the milk here, it hadn{t even been refridgerated) toast with jam (which is what they feed you at every hostel in Mexico) and the fresh fruit. Then I slept.

When I woke up again at 4pm I went in search of a meal, I found Vegetarian Fajitas (which after 3 months here, had never found), so excited and hungry I was willing to pay $120, about $13.50 NZ, which is now 1st equal for the most expensive meal I have had here (the other being the $120 peso buffet we were forced into buying on the tour in Oaxaca).
Fajitas, actual mexican ones, are similar to veges and chicken done in a wok with a tomato sauce, then served with tortillas, salsas and sometimes refried beans. They were delicious. Huge too, so it was my lunch the next day. I will never forget that meal and from here on out my life mission is to try and recreate it.

I really liked PLaya del Carmen, it has a beautiful big beach then a no-car tourist drag where there are the largest ammount of tourist shops and restaurants I have seen all together. Baskin Robbins, Starbucks and Hagen Daaz all appear on every block of it too. Cuban cigar shops litter the streets all these things together create an American Tourists dream. Everything is in US prices.
One thing that annoyed me was that the tourists there were very irritated by the Mexican people{s attempts to make a sale. Instead of saying No, gracias or No, thank you like what happens here in Puerto Vallarta and at Markets, people just blatently ignore them. I think I was sensitive to this because of how much changes this part of the country has gone through to cater for these, majority American, tourists. They plead with them to look there way, but the response is ignored or a rude response. When I say No gracias, I say it firm but friendly, no one feels ill feelings towards me! Success.

I stayed here 2 days and 2 nights, sleeping for most of the time! I had a very high bunk which was good because I was close to the fan, once I got up there I didn´t have the energy to come back down. I made it down to go to the bus station, which due to my long arrival experience I thought was going to be far... turns out it is 4 streets over... small blocks.

The drive to Cancun was very supped-up highways... I felt like I was driving into Las Vegas (apart from the fact it was green), seeing the huge hotels in the distance. I suspected Cancun to be a cross between Las Vegas and Gold Coast... in some ways it was, but it was actually different to how I expected.....

Monday, November 1, 2010

A few phots

Caye Caulker, Belize














Quintana Roo, Mexico








First thing I did on return to PV?
Buffet.