Aventuras continuadas

At the beginning of this journey I can remember my head felt like it was spinning because of all the new places, people, and adventures that I was meeting. The feeling of total exhaustion, pure uncertaintly, and a spinning world are now nothing but a memory. I know feel like my head is spinning as I think about the many places I've seen, the wonderful people I've met, and the great adventures I've conquered. I cannot believe I'm where I am right now. I was just telling my dad that I remember thinking in high school that one day I would like to study abroad, my first semester of college, the day after returning from Puerto Vallarta, made an appointment with the study abroad advisor at UW, my second semester in college I found a job to start saving, worked all summer, did enless amounts of paper work that next fall, and now am living something that at one time, in reality, only felt as though it would be a dream. How crazy time flies, and how lucky I am to have this life that I live.

My family got to come visit me during Semana Santa, which was seriously an incredible gift and a wonderful week for all of us to experience. The Friday before they got here was Dia de las Flores which was a celebration for Mary because it was at this time she knew her son was going to die. There was so many people and vendors in the streets you seriously couldn't walk though them and the colors and flowers that were there to help Mary were incredible. Then my family arrived on Tuesday afternoon and the things we did and saw were incredible. We did so much. They got to meet my host family here and I think for me that might have been one of the most incredible parts. My host family still tells me everyday what a wonderful family I have and my real family makes sure that I tell my host family hello for them. I was like two of my worlds that mean very much to me got to meet. We all went out to dinner, my Senora made Pozole, my very favorite dish, and had us all over, and we went to Easter Mass together. It was seriously a powerful and incredible experience not only for me, but I think for everybody.

After my family left I took a bus overnight to Puerto Vallarta and was there from Tuesday morning until Saturday afternoon. It was an incredible trip, but I'm not going to lie, being in Puerto Vallarta without all my family was a little bit hard for me as we've created so many wonderful memories there together. With that, it was still a great trip. I took a snorkeling tour where we got to snorkel and go to beaches where you can only get to by bus or hiking because they exist after the main road stops. It was so beautiful. We did some hiking to get from one beach to another and there were spots to jump of cliffs. I think the most incredible part was seeing all these beaches with no people and some had a really pretty simple house on them and that was all. One actually had an abandoned resort that just never worked out. It was pretty crazy. I feel really lucky to have gotten to see all that I did.

Tomorrow I start classes up again after having a two week vacation and what an incredible two weeks it was. I'm thinking it may be hard to get back to school after simply traveling around Mexico a bit.

I never thoughthat head spinning feeling of exhaustion and feeling of the world spinning around you would ever got away. Last night I realized when I pulled into Guanajuato after traveling back from Puerto Vallarta, that it feels like home. My head now spins because of all the I've done and honestly because of everything I once dreamed becoming a reality. It's flying by and I think it makes my head spin even more to think that in less than seven weeks I will be living in the US once again.

Mas aventuras

I feel like so much has happened since I've last written, which is probably why I haven't written for a while. I feel as though I've been on the move since January 18, the day I arrived. Of course, I wouldn't have it any other way.

I traveled to Guadalajara where I stayed in a hostal for two nights. One of the days I traveled to a small town named Tequila were they make lots and lots of tequila. It was really interesting to see how it is made. I took a tour of Guadalajara, which was really cool. It's such a big city that the tour took an hour and a half just to drive around the city.

I think the highlight of my trip since I've last written was getting to see my mom and dad and Dylan. Dylan flew in on Friday and we took a bus to see my mom and dad, Kim and Ron, and Kathy and Darrell. It was an incredible weekend of hanging out on the beach and just soaking up some Mexican sun. I loved getting to see everybody too. I didn't really realize how much I miss home until I got to spend time with everybody.

Dylan and I then took a bus back to Guanajuato and he got to spend five more nights in Mexico. I'm so lucky that he came to visit me. Unfortunately it was raining the whole week he was here so we didn't really get to do very much, but it was still fine, because I was totally happy just getting to be with Dylan. I'm not going to lie, it was very hard to concentrate in school knowing that Dylan was in my city.

Unfortunately he had to leave that next Saturday. I'm not going to lie, I was pretty dang sad when he left, but one of my good friends came and got me and we went and had bagels and malts. Ice cream usually helps. We then went to a soccer game in Leon which was really really fun. It's amazing how much these people get into soccer. Actually I kind of felt a little at home, like I was at a Wyoming futball game...well I guess at Wyoming football games you don't hear little kids yelling terrible words and throwing trash onto the field when the other team scores, but ya know, still the competative admosphere.

On Sunday I hiked up the mountain named "La Bufa," where I repelled off a cliff. I found it really enjoyable and the view was incredible. I was one of the first to go so I told all the girls in my group they needed to do it because it was a blast...well like half of them cried the whole way down because they thought was it was scary...oops. I definately had a good time though. AFter la Bufa I went with my host family and we had a bar-b-que at a place called las palomas. It was a really pretty view of the city and muchos grills and tables. It was really pretty and good to just spend some time with my family.

This week has pretty much just been school, but this weekend I'm going to Mexico City. I'm really excited because I get to see Teotihuacan (a ruin), which is something I've always wanted to see, and also I'm going to go to the Mexico/Costa Rica soccer game. It's a game to get into the word cup so it should be pretty crazy.

My familia will be here the 7 and I can hardly wait. I'm planning out things for us to do. After that I'm going to spend four days in Puerto Vallarta. This I'm also very excited for, but have a different feeling as I know it's just going to be a little different than going with all the family, but it's still going to be great. How lucky to will have gotten to visit the beach 3 times in 5 months! AH! Que Suerte!

This viaje is going by so quickly. I'm so lucky to have this experience. I still feel like I just haven't woken up from a dream. Something I've always wanted to do has become a reality.

Everyday really is a new experience. I do not joke when I say that something happens everyday that juts makes me get the giggles or just sometimes I just stop and I'm like..wait what? So this is a story, hopefully it's as funny written down as it was when I experienced it, that just made my whole day. So here's how it starts. My friend Lesley and I decided to go on a run...well I should say we went on a walk and ran sometimes, but that's besides the point. So here we are walking and right in the middle of the road is a huge bull...large horns included. Pretty much, I really don't like these kind of animals whatsoever and all I could think about was that it probably was full of hatred because it was probably just waiting to go to a bull fighting ring...anway, it finally passes and Lesley and I continue running. Then I saw this huge bug, not even kidding it had to be like 6-8 inches and it looked just like a leaf. Turns out those bugs kill cows...kind of ironic considering I juts passed a big ol' discusting cow. Anyway, after Lesley and I got home I saw a little mouse run across the floor right outside of my room. I didn't really think much of it as I've seen tons of mice living in Wyoming. In fact I kind of forgot about it until I walked into my room about a half hour later and it was sitting on my bed looking at me. Not acceptable. I really didn't want to have little mouse feet run across my head while I was sleeping, so I went upstairs to tell my senora about the mouse. Ok..well first I picked up my room a little so she wouldn't see it messy, then I went up to tell her. Her reply was ..."Are you sure Moni?? We've never had a mouse in this house." My thought was...you also told me you've never seen a cucaracha in the bathroom of this house, but I found one of them as well. So she grabbed the cat (who is pregnant right now..they are 100% positive, but I don't really know how they can be so sure), and we brought it into my room. So my senora and I are sitting in my room with the door shut and well.. so is the cat, so I said, "Maybe the mouse went into the other room." I was thinking, ok, we are never going to find it and she will go on believing that a mouse has never entered this house. She starts to move the couch around and looks under the cushions and then she just screams, "Ah! Lo vi! Lo vi!" I was secretly thinking..oh good, now she knows it wasn't a fib. So anyway, we shut the all the doors and put towels under them. Right now the cat is going crazy running around the couch. Bugii comes downstairs to see what's up and Rosio brings a broom to Senora Magda. Rosio doesn't want to watch the mouse die, so I go upstairs to watch the telenovela con ella. We are watching it and enjoying it and then we just hear all this screaming. Senora and Bugii both, so Rosio and I went downstairs to see what was going on. Well the cat had the mouse and was running for the door, but Bugii got scared and didn't open the door so the mouse was once again set free. It was crazy. Screams, the couch cushions everywhere, to broom hitting things, and the cat running around. After about 45 minutes Senora Magda finally caught the mouse between the wall and the broom. I offered to put the mouse in a box but Senora told me that there was no way because the mouse was just too fast. So she grabbed it in a towel and put it outside (it was dead by this time). Rosio was almost in tears, first because the mouse died, and second because she realized that she always kisses the cat on the mouth. It's kind of funny because I guess we just get used to what we see depending on where we grow. I told Rosio mice dont bother me that bad, but the scorpions and cocroaches do. She told me she doesn't mind those at all, but hates seeing mice. So we only got to see 15 minutes of the telenovela and then prayed the rosary together.

We started praying the rosary together everynight for lent. I told them I thought I would start praying the rosary for lent and they thought that was a great idea so we all pray it together. I really enjoy it and am quickly learning the Hail Mary in Spanish. I was pretty pumped when we said it in mass today. :) Speaking of mass, it's so amazing. The church we go to has the little old priest that has to be pushing 90, but has this crazy energy. Like when he walks into the church he throws his hat across the room and just has this crazy energy and loving mind about him. At the end of church he has everybody gather around the alter and sing and pray. It's so wonderful. And then he goes around and shakes every single person's hand. I just love it.

Today we got back from church and there was a woman selling bags, tortilla baskets, placemats, and all kinds of homemade stuff. She was from a long ways away and didn't speak good spanish because she spoke her maternal langauge. It was really hot and she was really red and had her daughter with her. My senora invited her in, gave her water, oranges, sandwiches, and Rosio and Bugii gave her a bunch of their old clothes. It was so incredible to see. I bought a bag because I didn't have clothes to give. The woman then gave my senora a tortilla basket for helping her out. I just really really was an incredible thing to witness. I seriously feel blessed to be staying the family I'm staying with. They are absolutely incredible.

Everyday something happens that just really makes this experience something I can't explain, whether it's a mouse in the house or a woman selling baskets on the streets. I feel humbled everyday.

It's hard to believe that five weeks has already flown by. It's crazy what can change in this amount of time. I remember the first night I got here and unpacked my things and I thought.. I'm not sure this place is ever going to feel comfortable, and then the next weekend it felt like my host family just wanted to sleep all day long and I didn't know my way around to go downtown and didn't know anybody in this whirlwind of a city. I would sit in my room for hours because I wasn't comfortable enough to come hang out in the living room and my family just always asked me...do you want to go to your room and rest?? Of course I said si...when really I didn't. We don't just take an afternoon to rest where I come from. Luckily that all changed very very quickly. I know have AMAZING friends that have made this experience so much greater than I ever could have hoped or dreamed and I love to just come up to the livingroom and hang out. In fact, I'm now wherever my family is and love visiting with them and cherish every conversation we have. We watch a telenovela everynight and if I miss it one night they can't wait to fill me in the next day. I love being around them and this house actually does feel like a home. The other day I walked into my room and there was just this smell that felt comforting..like home.

I'm the luckiest girl in the whole world and got to have my love come visit me for the weekend of Valentine's Day. We had a wonderful weekend and I'm just so lucky to have somebody like this in my life and the have gotten to have such a great weekend with him. I think my favorite part of the weekend was when he came to meet my host family. Man, they just ate him up and loved having him here. Maybe it's because they think he looks like Collin Ferrel, I don't know, but they were so great. My host mom kept trying to say words in english and it may have been one of the cutest things I've ever heard. It really meant alot to me this time spent in my house. Unfortunately Dylan had to go home on Sunday. I went with him to the Airport and then just asked the taxi driver if I could return to Guanajuato with him. He had to ask the police because the "airport taxi's" are the only ones allowed to take people from the airport, but fortunately the police said it was ok. So I said bye to Dylan and my heart ached and when I got into the taxi I was trying with all my heart not to cry and wasn't being very successful, but then on our way out the police stopped my taxi driver and wanted to give him a fine because I was with him. Long story short...the taxi driver was pretty dang mad and vented to me in Spanish so pretty much I had no time to be sad and had to click back into spanish mode real quick. Whew! The best part was though, as soon as we pulled back into Guanajuato, I felt a feeling of relief because I felt like I was back home again. I mean it will never be my Wyoming home, but I now have this feeling of having a home here. It's like everyday I fall in love with this city more everyday and cannot wait to see what new adventure or something or somebody in the streets I'm going to encounter.

Cosas, pensamientos, y acciones nuevos

Today I was thinking, I'm not sure at which point of the day I was thinking, but I was, and my thoughts kind of went like this: I have been here for almost a month. Sunday will be the first day of the fifth week. I can't hardly believe it's already been three and a half weeks and at the same time, it's kind of exciting because it's really still the beginning of a five month journey. In these three weeks I feel as though I've learned alot. Not just parts of spanish, but many things about myself and the world we live in as well. It's really crazy to think that such differences exist between two so very similar places. Thoughts, actions, weather, and just everything. It's really just a ways south, but it is so different here. After dinner, well yogurt and fruit, I was thinking of a list in my head of all that I've learned. Not only things I've discovered about people in general, but many things that I've actually learned about myself as well. This is kind of the list that was processing in my mind.




1. Everybody has a way of living
2. Sanitary doesn't always exist and it's ok
3. I thought that the turkey we ate at thanksgiving looked gross before it was cooked....that's nothing
4. It is actually possible to keep eating when a hair is in your food...especially if it's home made ice cream from a vender in the street
5. Hot water is not essential for a shower
6. It is possible to shave your legs outside of the shower
7. Mexico does NOT equal warmth
9. Paying $4.00 for a small box of strawberries at walmart is rediculous. A huge bag for 9 pesos is much better and the fresas are much more tasty
10. No matter where I am in the world, walking into the church always feels like home
11. I already stick out like a sore thumb, might as well speak Spanish to improve my skills
12. Living environments, no matter what they may be, are not good nor bad, they are just different than the place before
13. Rats are discusting and I hate scorpions
14. Putting toilet paper in the trash is easy to get used to, remember to bring toilet paper with you everywhere you go is difficult
15. Hills are very hard to walk up, but well worth it when you reach your destiny
16. time is an estimate, for example, class starting at nine might actually be 9:10, especially if the sun in shining
17. Comfort is much more of an essential than style
18. Happiness always exists, especially if it's not something you're looking for
19. When somebody gets close to your face when they are saying goodbye, they really aren't trying to give you a kiss, just saying goodbye is all
20. Cockroaches can be like two inches long and are very fast ginormous bugs
21. Papaya actually isn't that bad and the older it is, in my opionion, the better it tastes :)

The list really goes on and on and I would be very lucky to remember or even realize all that I've learned and be aware of all that I will learn in this journey.

Adventura que nunca olvidaré

Ok. This is a story that hopefully with explain a little bit about what living here is like and if it doesn't cover that, hopefully you will all find joy and get a smile out of this story. My host sister, Rosio, has a boyfriend from France who has been living here for six months, but is going back to France. They decided that it would be fun to go to the beach for his last weekend here and very generously offered the trip to my friend Lesley and I as well. They threw the idea at me one day, just kind of thinking, and the next day it was set. At first we were going to go by bus and it would cost about $57 each way to travel via bus, but then Alex decided that it would be much more econimical to go by car and we would save about $50. Lesley and I said bien, let's do it. So we get up to leave at 4:30 am on Saturday morning. Senora Magda is up and dressed and as we were walking out the door I told her goodbye and she said, oh no, I'm coming too! Ok, wonderful!! The more the merrier right? Turns out we are taking her little VW car that holds 5 people with a quite small backseat. There are now 6 of us going; 4 of us sitting in the back seat. Whatever, we are going to the beach...no big deal, we can be cozy for a while. Well at 4:30 in the morning apparently Guanajuato is quite cold, so the first part of the trip I wanted to cry because I was absolutely FREEZING and starving. After about four hours of having a numb behind from the cozy coupe, we finally stop and eat quesadillas made with homemade tortillas and Mexican coffee. They made the tortillas right in front of us. DELICIOSO! I also found out at this time when you travel in Mexico you apparently have to bring your own toilet paper. Rest stops; nowhere has toillet paper and when you find some, you cannot flush it. We are about to get going again after our breakfast, well it's something we'd eat for lunch in the US, and I'm getting in the car and Alex takes off. I have to hurry and kind of jump in the car and slam the door and in doing so spill coffee on Lesley's pants. He never stopped going even when it was obviously I wasn't in the car...Don't worry, I think he was just excited to get to the beach. So anyway here we are traveling in this tiny car (cochito) and the subject of gas comes up after about 5 hours. Turns out we ran out. First we pulled over and asked a truck driver for some, he had none, so we drove further and pulled over. We waited in the cochito for an hour while Rosio and Alex took our waterbottles and went to find gas. While waiting I bought a bag of oranges for 10 pesos (it's 14.68 pesos to the dollar right now) These oranges were pretty dang cheap. But this time we were also sweating because it had warmed up quite a lot. So after about an hour we were on the road again. We arrived in Zihuatanejo after 7 hours in this tiny cochito. We finally found the motel. There were 3 beds for the six of us...hhhmm. Lesley and I decided to pay a little bit more for our own room. It was a total of 250 pesos, split between two people, 125 pesos, which is less than $12 for one night. Jeeze. So we arrived at the beach finally. Holy Moly the trip was well worth it. We hung out on the beach for a while and then went to the motel to shower and walked to the market. We bought some delicous bread for the morning and then Lesley and I sat on our balcony for a while. The next day we went to Playa Linda (which I guess is known for sharks....yikes, glad I didnt know that when I was in the water for a while, actually at one time a bunch of the Mexicans ran out of the water so I did too, but they got back in so I just assumed it was ok...man oh man). So anyway, we hung on the beach and then took a water taxi to Isla de Coral and spent the rest of the day there where we had a wonderful, muy ricoso, meal. I had a big ol fish and it was incredible! AFter the island we got in the car to return home, only to get lost again on the way home and to spent another 7 hours in the tiny VW. When the trip was said and done, the total for my trip was around $1oo, including meals, taxis, ice cream, and a wonderful sunburn in February. It honestly was an incredible trip and am so lucky and glad that I got the chance to experience such a viaje! I don´t think I´ll ever forget this trip. Especially the part where we ran out of gas and they took my waterbottle to go find some. The best part was that it was no big deal to them, almost like the had expected it to happen. ¡Que bueno! Tengo mucho suerte para recibir el regalo de esta vida.

School has come. I have class from eight in the morning until 1 in the afternoon, which is quite different because last semester I didn't start classes until one in the afternoon. It's very nice to have somewhat of a schudule. My mornings go by very quickly. A couple of friends and I have started an excersise class called Zumba in the afternoons. Oh man, it was pretty crazy and quite difficult, but very enjoyable. My days here are good. Sometimes I feel frustrated as the language doesn't come without thinking, but I just keep telling myself that it's only been a week and with time it will all come. The desire to be fluent and to be able to communitcate without saying...what?...what?..what? all the time is very strong. Many times as I'm walking down the street I feel as though I'm in a dream. It's like when you take a vacation and you think, man...I'd like to walk this street everyday. It's like that thought has actually become a reality. The beauty of not only the city but the people as well is quite immense. Each day I think of what Aunt Yvonne wrote in a card she gave me. "Enjoy everysingle day." As I walk I try to take in this experience and know that each day I walk down the streets that this is an adventure of a lifetime and everyday is going to bring something new into my life.