Our roommates Andrea and Victor, in Sayulita
Playing around at the fountain in Guadalajaha
Riding horses on the beach near Mazatlan
Watching the hometeam play soccer from boxseats in Guadalajaha
A guy we met wearing an Australia T-Shirt - it is such a small world :-)
Hello everyone.
We
have just got home from our whirlwind 1 week trip to Mexico. We had an
awesome time. It was a unique holiday in that we were with our Mexican
flatmate and spent the entire time with his family. They were so nice
and showed us all the sights. It is so nice to see the real side of any
place you visit, rather then doing the usual tourist trail.
Our
first day we arrived in Mazatlan, on the west coast of Mexico. It is
right on the beach. Andrew and Victor immediately headed out for some
celebratory drinks, arriving back at the hotel with a 24 bottle case of
local beer; justifying such a large purchase by saying "it was only $20
but you get $10 back if you return the empty bottles!" - This was then
followed by the 2 of them consuming the entire case in order to retrieve
their refund. Boys will be boys!
Avoiding the morning hangover
by drinking the remaining few bottles of Cervesa (beer) we got in the
car for a '4 hour drive to Sayulita' - a beach town just out of Puerto
Vallarta. That 4 hour drive was more like 7 hours - never trust a
Mexican! haha!
In Sayulita Victor's brother's friend had a
holiday house, complete with pool, just off the beach. We stayed there 2
nights and it was wonderful. One thing I can say for sure - Mexico is
the best foreign food we have ever had. I loved absolutley everything
that was put in front of me (scratch that... I did get served a beer
with salt, lime, spices, the juice of prawns and tobasco mixed in that I
chose not to consume!). It was weird to be at the beach having just
been snowboarding a few days before but there were definately no
complaints!
One night we went into Puerto Vallarta for dinner
(usually consumed at about midnight, with breakfast usually eaten at
around midday) and had a look around. After Sayulita we went to
Victor's hometown of Guadalajaha and stayed in his family home for a few
nights. Whilst we were there we visited his extended family, saw the
sights, checked out a local soccer game, swam in a waterfall in this
massive canyon outside of town, and attended a 4.5 hour Sunday church
service with his mum (I don't think I could handle doing that every
week!). His family could not have been more warm and welcoming - you
certainly don't get that sort of insight into a place on your usual
package tour!
Saying goodbye to everyone, we got on the overnight
bus back to Mazatlan. We had half a day to spare to we went to an
island off the coast and rode horses along the beach. By the time we
got to the airport I was well and truly sunburnt which I hope will
develop into a lasting tan to make the Canadian locals jealous! We were
unable to sit together on the plane (it was full of passengers from an
earlier stop) but we slept for most of the 5 hour flight anyway. The
only downside to the trip was a cold I developed ON the plane; causing
my ears to pop on descent. I have had my ears pop before but this was a
particuarly bad case and I hope never to have it happen again (I can
still feel the stinging behind my eye 2 day later!). Note to self -
never travel with blocked sinuses! I suppose that is what you get when
you sit in the snow one day and on the beach the next - My body cannot
figure out which season it is in!!
We had an absolute blast in
Mexico and cannot wait to return one day. It wasn't at all hat we
expected. Sure everything was really cheap (especially the Tequila and
beer!) but it was so modern and westernized that it kind of felt like
home. I think Mexico city or the USA border area would be more like
what I had expected Mexico to be; but that will have to be saved for
another time :-)
So back in Canada we are on the continued hunt
for jobs. It has been more difficult then first anticipated and we are
definately feeling the pinch from the recession but hopefully we will
have something lined up real soon. We are not worried about cash for
the next few months because we have enough savings to keep us afloat for
now... if we can stop travelling that is!!