Well, I'm not gonna lie, this was extremely hard for me to do. I had actually thought of not getting on my flight. I had been home for three years and for the first time in my life, began to settle.
I got comfortable, have a great group of friends, I love my career and have a great life. However, I was itching... I needed something, and after last year I needed to get away and focus on myself. Find who I was again and remember why I love the beautiful planet.
The plane ride wasn't that bad though I did spend $15 at the airport on a pastrami sandwich lol.
My first flight was a red eye so I slept most of the time, or I at least tried to sleep. Those of you who have been reading my blogs over the years know that I hate flying ( I know, worst backpacker ever) so due to the fact I hadn't been on a plane since Italy two years ago I cried just a little during take off - I hate take off. The nice Mexican woman beside me told me it would be okay.
Once we were in the air I was fine and put in my earbuds and (tried) to sleep. There was a lot of turbulence so I would wake up with white knuckles in a panic but of course everyone else was calm and sleeping. I got a little used to it but then while I was sleeping - you know how planes have a hum? - well the hum stopped and I thought we were falling from the sky so I shot up in my seat of course safe and again everyone else calm and sleeping.
My second flight from Mexico city was a quick 55 minute flight so not too bad. I'll tell ya, these Mexicans are nuts...they were all wearing jeans, shirts - some long sleeved - jackets, scarves.... it was like it was winter time. They were all cold on the plane... I was the only one taking off layers because I was hot lol... it was cool weather for them hahaha.
It is hot as F@#K here!!! OMG!!! I can feel my hair making sweat. Every time I get up from sitting my butt is wet and I feel like I peed myself. I can feel heat coming out of my body when my back is against the chair it's like having a portable heated seat with me ughhh. I swear I could take my skin off and still be hot.
To give you a quick background; I have been teaching online for 2 years and over those two years I have created quite a network for myself of other online teachers. One teacher in particular - Cesar - I have been in contact with for a year and a half. We both work for the same online school and that's how we met (there are online groups-staff rooms for the schools.) He mentored me in many ways and I have also helped him and we have become friends.
Last year he told me he was opening his own online school and I told him when he does I will come to Mexico to celebrate. Well, him and his partner are launching the school so I came out to help. I have already done some work for them while in Canada - promotional videos and written documents - now I am just out here to help with some more videos and give an extra hand where needed.
Cesar and I had never met in person until I had gotten here - we talked for a year and a half online - which is pretty normal these days. I must say that him and his family have been nothing short of amazing. They have taken me out for the past four days, cooked me dinner, had me over for drinks, taken me sight seeing and grocery shopping. His wife is an incredible woman I truly don't know how she does what she does, she never stops but does it all with a constant agile speed and a smile on her face. She doesn't speak English so everything she tells me is in Spanish which is awful right now. My Spanish is rusty at the moment and they speak much faster here. When I do speak (not with them but with others) they look at me like I'm an alien and I know what I am saying may not be perfect but they understand me they just choose not to.
My first night he invited me over for a dinner his wife made. Homemade tacos and an awesome tomato pasta soup - she is giving me the recipe mom. It was so good and not what I was expecting of Mexican food. The stuff you eat in Canada and The States is not real Mexican food. It's so greasy and fattening and in my experience upsets my stomach. Here, there is no grease and the tortillas are nice and small, not like the massive ones back home. Yum they are so good.
I've spent every day with him and his family and at times just with his wife and kids. As I said she doesn't speak English but she slows down her talking and I can understand most of what she says and if she doesn't I pull out my Spanish to English dictionary. My Spanish is awful at the moment ughh.
I like it though, I enjoy Spanish and like having to listen to it and speak it. She knows so much about Guadalajar and has told me the bus and train routes, that I live in a great area, what time traffic is, she's taken me grocery shopping. The youngest daughter helps me out and will run across the store to get what I need. They are honestly so amazing! I'm not used to having locals as friends when I go places so I am being really spoiled at the moment.
I travel around by Uber which is a whole new experience for me - we don't have them back home in Collingwood as they are banned - and it's fast and super cheap. A 40 minute ride cost me like $9 at the most. It is so cheap here, I can't get over how cheap it is, it blows my mind every day. I bought a bag of chips and 6 Corona for $7 the other night!!! I bought a sandwich and a 1L bottle of water yesterday for $1.50!!! I know right!!!
We were supposed to go to Guadalajara this weekend but plans changed so we did two day trips. Yesterdays day trip we went to Cascada De Huaxtla (Cascada means waterfall) in a small town called San Lorenzo. It's how I picture Mexico, small, quaint, dirt roads ... it's actually a ranch town and fit perfectly into my visual of Mexico.
(This little grandmother run place
had a bag of cocaine sitting on the
fridge hahaha. You know you're
in Mexico when...)
We grabbed all of the stuff out of the cars and headed into what felt like the Mexican Jungle for a 20 minute walk...or so we were told. One of the local boys was our guide so there was no chance of us getting lost but man was it hot. I had a 6 litres of water in my backpack it wasn't too bad but it hurt my shoulders and it made it difficult pulling myself up on the rocks because of the weight. I am proud to say I wasn't exhausted or out of breath... I was never so happy I had quit smoking...there is no way I would have done it as easily as I did ... it felt great!!! I was sweating though, everyone was...especially Cesar and his cousin as they decided to bring a grill with them...yes I read right a grill. Five minutes in Cesar was like "I regret this already."
We walked through cactuses and followed the canal the whole way. The area is covered by mango trees, that's how they make money there. They are everywhere, you can even here them falling out of the trees.
As I'm walking through the cactuses Jimmy (Cesars cousin) says watch out for the rattlesnake, and he points in front of me. I stop. "What?!? Are you kidding?" "Haha ya, I"m just playing." Ughhh
At one point I was struggling as I had to get myself over a rock and we were high up and we all know Emmie and heights are not really great friends. "Emmie! You alright?" The guys asked from behind me. "Ya, it's just the height, I need a minute." "We need to hurry, if the cops come we are in shit!"
?COPS?!?! "What do you mean cops? Because we are drinking beer?" "No man we got a kilo of coke in our backpack." "You guys are assholes." These Mexicans are crazy lol. "You're racist" Cesar says "All white people are racist." We all just laughed. It's become a joke with us, he always says I'm racist especially when I say I want Mexican culture. I believe I have become the token white girl.
We climbed and walked... even when the canal become a small bridge I made it over with barely a problem (high five myself). My shoes and socks were wet at this point. Cesars wife carried Sam (he's two) plus a bag of food and helped me over rocks...I tell you she is a champ this one and she is the smallest, prettiest little thing you have ever seen but she's tough and I like her :).
Our guide started off empty handed and finished with half of our bags hahaha but he got a few beers and few cigarettes - not from me from Jimmy's wife - out of it.
It was beautiful! A hidden gem. It's a local spot and not a spot travelers go to, and off the beaten track and we did feel beaten even the drive there was a bit nuts down a windy road through the hills - though not as bad as
Machu Picchu.
What a spot a perfect pool of a beautiful green with a constant flow of white water cascading to it all encircled by a half moon of cliffs and beach of boulders and rocks where we set up camp.
People jumped off the rocks, swam under the waterfall, chilled out in the water or lazed around on the rocks in the sun...it was awesome and it felt like we were in our own little world. Cesar and the wives prepared an awesome meal.
The guys set up the grill on some rocks and the wives cut and prepared the meat on cutting boards on the rocks and every thing was so good, 2 or 3 different kinds of meat, these awesome onions, tortillas, and beans that were almost like a paste but so yummy, and of course beer. It was a great day. We left the grill there for our guide - the guys didn't want to take it back - and the walk back was much easier considering we took the road this time instead of the canal. Our guide told us we had to be quiet as it was his uncles property and he didn't like anyone going through that way.
I wanted to get some mango's which I thought was okay because we were told on the way there we could and of course as I pick one I was told no - because we were on his uncles property. However, once we got back to the cars our young guide took me up a hill to some mango trees where I picked a couple mangos and he went around and collected some for me...what a score. Though I did fall walking down the hill and hurt my hand...of course, I can't not hurt myself. Of course I needed mangos, why couldn't I just leave and get in the car, nope, I needed fresh mangos.
Today they took me to see what is considered real Mexico. In fact, Guadalajara is considered the heart of Mexico which I didn't know. The town we went to today is called Tlaquepaque and I fell in love - as I always do with a place when I travel. I absolutely went head over heels for this place, my heart pitter pattered. We went to lunch at this huge restaurant with a wrap - around patio but each sid, each side patio/bar was a different name. Then the inside was covered but the center was open and inside was a small gazebo where they had traditional Mexican dancers and then a Mariachi band. It was great! Well it was for me, Cesar and his family are Mexican so they say it's nothing to them. They ordered for me, again an amazing meal - with tortillas lol, It was beef, sauteed onions and peppers on top of homemade tortillas - I did have others on a plate, about 20 of them - homemade guacamole and the bean paste...OMG!!! It was so delicious, I love the food here but I'm gonna get fat lol especially with the salt they use. In a Corona you put the lime juice then the lime, followed by sea salt...it's so yummy!!! I keep telling Cesar that the way they drink their alcohol is all cultural for me so I don't mind trying the alcohol hahaha. I also had a cosuela (I think thats how you spell it) It's this huge drink with tequila, soda, lime and orange juice with the fruit in it as well and then when they serve it you add another shot of tequila. It's in a huge bowl. It was massive, but I was able to take it to go when we left -in a take-out cup of course.
We walked around a little bit in the heat. It's little streets all lined with shops of everything you could think of and kiosks down the centre of the streets. They are busy, the people are shoulder to shoulder. There is so much food being sold and it all looked so good but we had just eaten and I try to conduct myself like a lady when I don't know people to well... lol but seriously I was full.
As we walked around I looked up and saw one of the streets covered with umbrella's. OMG! I had just seen this on the internet somewhere and thought it would be great to go to but had never heard of the place so decided I may not get to go. Well I was wrong! I was so excited!!! I walked along and took some pictures. They were tired so they wanted to leave. I was in love and wanted to stay so decided that I am going to go back on the weekend for a couple of nights and take my time and go to the Cathedral and do some shopping - I bought a little key chain for my house keys.
Now I sit on my own private little indoor balcony. I would love to tell you more about Guadalajara and my house but I have to do some reports and get ready for bod. It's my first day back to work tomorrow after four days off and I am an hour behind so it's earlier for me now. Honestly though, I am looking forward to getting back to classes, I miss it...however I am not looking forward to wearing my long sleeve sweater uniform for classes....I'm going to melt lol.
Coming here was a huge thing for me. I know I have traveled before, it's nothing new but after getting settled and now a few years older it's so much harder to leave. The past four days have made me realize why I travel and how much I love being out in the world on my own, surrounded by a different language and culture. It feels normal and I have no anxiety, I am so beyond happy and content. It feels so amazing and I am so happy I chose to come here, I needed this.
- My Beautiful Life -
We got picked up at 945am on Saturday and got to our first tequilera at 11am... Don Valente and my favourite one of the day. It was really interesting it was very pretty, small but pretty...it had a rustic look to it, more earthy and not as modern as the place we went to where everything was metal and here the place they cooked the agave was in a brick whole in the ground. Even the barrels were more rustic, they were like old whiskey barrels so you could tell there was ages of flavour.
