Quito

Im here and i made it safe!

First off, it has been brought to my attention that i have some grammatical errors and i apologize hehe. After studying spanish and talking it for the majority of a month and a half sentences get stringy and jumpy and i sometimes cant figure words out, so please forgive those little mistakes ;) I also want to say that i know its dificult to post on my blog if you do not have an account so i understand. I know that there are people out there reading it, so no worries there. Moving on..

The flights and everything worked out as the were suppose to. My connection in Panama City was only 45 min long and the plane landed at like 5:55 and i couldnt get off of it till 6:15, but there is the funny thing, my other plane was boarding at 6:06! Great luck thought because when i got to the gate i was able to start boarding right away. Flying into Panama City was really nice, i changed my seat because a mom was traveling with her two young kids for the first time and they wanted seats all together so i gave up my window seat for a middle seat. Panama City looks like it would be a lot of fun, there are litterally skyscrappers that go right up to the beach of the sound that comes into the port. It reminded me of New York in a way, eventhough i have never been there. I definately think i need to go visit Panama sometime in the future.

Flying into Quito was preety sweet. I was getting in around 8:40 and the city was all lit up with lights. I took a video of it. I has to probably be one of the most beautiful cities i have flown into ever. I had to go through customs which always take a while and i met this really cool American who was going into the cloud forest to teach to kids for a month.

After cutoms i went to look for my bag and i was a little worried that it wasnt going to be there because back in D.F. they told me that my bag was on a direct flight to Quito, while i was on a connecting flight through Panama, but nonetheless my bag will be there. It was there and it came out of the little belt right as i walked up. Traveling yesterday was really easy and im glad that there werent any conflicts because it was my birthday. Being away for my birthday is not a really big deal for me. Its kind of lonely but the fact that im in D.F. then Panama, and then Quito definately makes up for it.

When i came out of customs i walked into a crowd of thousands of people holding signs and yelling names out like Sebastian. I finally found Becky towards the door and i met Jose! But i have to run now, Becky and i just dropped by an internet cafe (which are so much nicer than the ones in Mexico) and now were going to one of the malls. Ill post later.

¡Estoy consado y no puedo con el corozon, que tanto!

So to start where i left off or think i left off. At the top of Tepotzlan the view was beautiful. The mountains came straight out of the ground and up, like towering cliffs. Everything was so green and it was awesome. The gang and i spent about 30 min at the top, Court and i had a little meditation session on the top of the pyramid just like we had in Teotihuacan. It was really nice. Self reflection is always a good thing.
As i mentioned in my last post, that they only have bathrooms at the bottom of the mountain. So therefore on my way back down, I'm going along just fine and then boom. I really have to go to the bathroom. I didn't want to run ahead of the group and leave them behind but it i were to have waited any longer my bladder would have exploded! So i left. I started running down the rocky uneven path, flying past parents and their young children and weaving in between new borns who had the comfort of being able to go to the bathrooms in their pants. I however, absolutely could not afford to do the same! My legs shaking from the climb up and descent back down I felt like i was running Bloomsday, but up and down a mountain. I finally reach the bottom of the mountain but the bathrooms are further down the path past the tents and side tables that are full of trinkets and foods. I finally get to the bathroom and it costs 5 pesos, which is stupid but its a way to make a profit, i don't mind paying 50 cents and its helping that family out too, because it was in their house. Enough about my bathroom needs.
Moving on, i waited for Court, Scott, and Alexandra at the bottom and they were actually just behind me. We walked down the path through the tents and food stands and found a nice big table to sit at and have a bite to eat. We ordered i think 13 quesadillas in all. I ordered four, one with mushrooms, one with potatoes, one of chicken, and the other of just cheese. They were absolutely amazing. I swear there is nothing better in the world than tacos or Mexican food after doing some form of activity, whether its 5:30 in the morning after the clubs, or 2 in the afternoon after climbing a mountain, always great food. Cheap too! It only coasted me 5$ and that included the tip and a Coca. Ah Mexico, you and your cheap prices and tax free services, oh how will i miss you.
After we had a bite to eat we went to the market and shopped a little, i bought a few interesting things that i liked. We then went to an Ice Cream shop because it is said that the ice cream in Tepoztlan is some of the best. I love all the exotic flavors like cactus, and rose petal, its interesting. I think i had one that was cherry rose petal called "Reina de la Noche" It wasnt bad, pretty good actually. Courtney had a mint one and I'm still jealous, its sooooo gooood! Sitting in the brightly painted ice cream parlor and staring out into the cobblestone street i see a dog pass, and old women dress in traditional clothing pass and i think, how great it is just to be here. Chatter of the Euro Cup goes on between Alex and Scott and it sounds like Holland won the last game. Soon enough we leave and start headed for the bus station, its a little over a mile away and when we finally arrive we get our tickets and hop on, but wait. What? Scott went to the bathroom and that's the bus driver closing the door. We started pulling out of the station and we can see Scott, looking as confused as ever turning left and right looking for where the bus went. Courtney frantically bounces up and down in her seat waving at Scott who is looking the other way all while I'm just laughing at how sucky the situation is. Scott made it on the bus in the end, he ran through the station and stopped the bus in the street, but boy was it funny. The ride home was peaceful... bump, what was that a cat? Bump again.. not. The ride was horrible going back, way too bumpy. I literally was lifted out of my seat at least a foot on some of the bumps and pot holes they have here.
We finally got back to the house and what do you know, there is a Fiesta going on in honor of Jorge coming home for the week. There is at least 25 people eating drinking and laughing, living it up in the true Mexican manner. The food was so good, you could tell that Tere (my host mom) had brought out the good food for the party. It was some kind of salted steak strip or something and this really good salsa. Jorge invited his friends over and soon enough there was another 15 people, all crammed into the kitchen with whiskey and rum, and other mixed drinks of sorts. I stayed around for a while and i was the life of the party, everyone was enjoying how young i was and making jokes. I meet this girl named Diana who just happen to have came back from Holland. She had studied there for the past year and she decided to give me the contact information for her (ex) boyfriend whom she had to leave to come back to Mexico. She was a lot of fun and everyone here always thinks that I'm a lot older that i really am. I get 22 or 23 on a regular bases. Its nice.. now only if i look younger when I'm older, then ill have it made.

That whole week went by kind of fast and its been a while so i don't remember everything that happened. I do know that it was a hard week at school and that i was in the computer lab late one night and when i was walking home there was incredible lightning in the distance that i recorded video of. The lightning here is so cool, it goes off every 2 seconds and lights up the dark black sky to reveal hidden thunder heads and complex cloud forms. If you're looking to the east you can see the storm system passing over a different part of the city, but more towards the west you have the moon, brightly shinning high above the cloud cover. It was awesome. All week there was two newcomers staying in the house, Elma and Erma i think. They are the sisters of Tere and much older than she is. The food all week long was the best ever! All traditional and delicious. Chile Relleno, steak, tamales, mole, hot chocolate, sweet bread, everything! It was great! I love traditional Mexican food.

That Saturday, the 21st, my friends Taylor and Kaitlinn wanted to go to "El Rollo" which is a water park in Jojutlha about an hour south of Cuernavaca. On my way out of the house I'm walking through the jardin (garden) and Chocolate, the neighbors dog, runs over to me and jumps up on me. He is a cute little energetic bugger that always freaks out when he sees me. Hes a lot of fun.
I finally get to the meting place which is at the Cathedral en el Centro. I took a taxi because i thought i was going to be late, normally i would have walked, but when i got there everyone else still hadn't made it there yet. So, i went to the bank, took out a little money and got a coffee from the Italian Coffee Company. Its interesting to see the corporate battles down here. The two main competitors for coffee products is the Italian Coffee Company (cheaper than Starbucks but like 50 cents) and Starbucks. I got an "Moka Frioreo" which is an iced mocha which chocolate and Oreo chunks blended in. Really good!
We finally meet up around 12 and walk to the bus station down the street from the Cathedral. We get there at 12:05 and find out that the combined package for entrance fee to el Rollo and the bus ticket stops being sold after 12. Great, oh well, not a big deal.
Once in the park we start playing in the water right away. There was this surfing machine that looked awesome but wasn't open, however it was still running because the huge waves that it made flowed into the river to the left of it. They turn on the pumps and make the waves huge, sweeping every person standing on the edge fall over and be pulled under by the strong current! IT was the most fun thing ever besides for the fact that i went under for like 20 seconds could hardly get to the top for air and kept being pulled back under by the current and had people falling on top of me. I thought finally when i was about 45 feet from where i was standing 20 seconds before, that this would never have been allowed in the states, ever! Its too dangerous and Way Too FUN! Taylor told me that her bathing suit had happend to come off her during the whole ordeal and that probably could explain the huge crowd of Mexicans that were standing on the bridge looking down at all the people get swept by.
We decided to go on this ride called the pendulum next which literally looked like a huge half pipe but 5 times taller. What they do is put you in a three person tube, and push you off one of the towering 60 foot sides and watch you while laughing as you plunge down and up the other side. Kaitlinn was sitting behind me and screaming the whole time. I admit with was pretty scary the first drop because it was literally almost vertical. We tried a few other sides right next to it which weren't as much fun and then we decided that we were going to go buy some grub. We found a Domino's pizza and bought a half and half pepperoni and Hawaiian. The pizza here is amazing! So much better than in the states, but they don't put sauce on it is the only thing. They give you little packets of castup to put on it! Its actually really good! We sun tanned for about a hour after that and then we realized that the park closed at 6 not 8. So we ran to the other side of the park and found these really cool fake cliffs that you can jump off of. One was like 15 ft and the other was like 25. It was awesome, i went like five times. Then we raced over to these slides called the racers which are like those huge carnival slides but with water and a little taller. It was insane and so fast! I caught air right before there is this vertical drop and you get going so fast!

I'm trying to not be so detailed in my writing, i know its best if i am but it takes so long and the computer lab looks like its closing now. But oh i have so much more to type and say. Its been a long week and not to mention a very long day. I could go on explaining what happened to me today, but ill save it for the next post, I'm the only one left in the whole lab and the worker is running around shutting the windows and turning off all the computers around me. Just my luck, another blog unfinished. Its my last day here in Cuernavaca, i should go out and enjoy it, not sit here and type all day. My next post will be from Ecuador and when I'm 19! Woo Whooo. I'm going to go enjoy my birthday, i deserve too.

Finalmente

The scene unveils as the dark obscured clouds part in the sky and a ray of light flows down on the foreigner below; typing furiously at his computer in the little Internet cafe on the side of a busy road. The "t" sticks on the key board, now the "r," oh, and there goes the "s" too. Pressing firmly on the keys making sure the words spell out right the foreigner pours out his emotions on a web site, knowing there's family out there waiting to hear word of his travels. Unknowing the settings on the computer he naively presses the link to a myspace page, and his blog screen vanishes into cyberspace, lost forever. Frantically pressing back in the hopes of reclaiming his last hours of typing the screen pops up blank, reflecting his blank face on the white screen. "NO!" I yell and that is exactly what happens every time i try to post a blog.

Right now I'm sitting in a new comp lab that i discovered on campus in a building about a 3 min walk off the main campus. Its closer to my house which is really nice but there is currently an alarm going off every 2 seconds because the three workers behind me are trying to install a new security system that blares a loudspeaker alarm sound into your ears when the door is opened. Just as long as they don't cut the power.

Anyways, this past week has been the hardest for me by far school-wise. The classes weren't exactly hard, there was just piles and piles of homework that i lost motivation to do after 6 hours of classes a day, it just becomes too much.

This past Sunday, not yesterday the one before, we had two people... wait, no last Saturday... we had two new people arrive. The son of my host mom and an old student from Switzerland who studied here for six months last year and then went and lived in Cancun for 2 more months. Their names are Alexandra the Swiss, and Jorge. Last Sunday, Alex, Courtney, and our house mate Scott went back to Tepoztlan to climb the mountain with the pyramid on top. Since i didn't get a chance last time in was in Tepoztlan i figured it estaria vale de la pena ( would be worth it). We took a bus that went entirely too slow through the city and extremely too fast through the twisty windy what they call a highway. We arrived in Tepoztlan around 12 and started following the big blue tourist signs with the pyramid symbol on it. Through back allies and abandoned roads we climbed. Then we finally started my fateful ascent up the mountain passing the last sign of civilization which read, "Baños W.C.," and thinking nothing of my current physical state, we climbed.

The climb was not that bad at all, it was a really nice view going through the jungle up the side of a mountain. I always have though we have been disconnected from our environment because we don't walk enough. Driving everywhere really removes the distance and human condition from our mind. Anyways, the sun is just getting to its high point in the sky and the air began to heat up. Climbing and warming temperatures don't mix well. Therefore, off went the shirt. The climb itself took about 47 mins up, it was probably because everyone on the path had to bring their 2 yrd child who couldn't even walk yet stand up. They just hold on to their child's wrists with both hands, bending over slightly too much to where their crack is hanging out and they walk so slowly they don't realize their child is not moving because he has about 5 pounds of crap in his diaper that needs to be change. Oh yes, the slow pace of Mexico. No really i love the slower pace of life, just take care of your child needs before climbing the mountain. But i wont talk to fast.

We reached the top after the last leg that was a vertical hike, which really sucked for Alex because she wore a skirt that was kind of shorter, courtney wore a long skirt though, anyways at the top. The view was amazing. The weather was looking a little temperamental and the thunder rolling down the mountains behind the view weren't giving me a good impresison. Nonetheless, we continued climbing up to the pyramid which wasn't too big, but for being on a mountain top, it was impressive. It was supposedly built around the 1200's i believe i cant remember exactly, but it was eventually conquered by the Aztecs around 1450 (if I'm thinking the right times).

Courtney and i saw that people were sitting all along the edge of the pyramid and so we decided to climb around and sat down and had a little mediation session on the side of the pyramid like in Teotihuacan. It was nice and reminded me of the view of when i went mountain biking last summer in Montana with GU. The mountains fade off into the distance. IT was great.

I have to go now though because apparently the computer lab I'm in is a classroom and there is a class starting in less than 5 mins, so says the wonderfully not so nice professor to me. Great another blog not finished. So i gotta run home for lunch. Ill pick up later.

Where oh where did sunshine go?

In the morning.. rain
In the night.. rain
When i walk home from school.. rain
When i walk to school.. rain

Rain in my dreams....
Rain on my parade..

rain
rain
rain...

A poem by Johnathan Hansen haha..

I don't think i have ever been so wet.. Welcome to tropical weather i guess.. That's all. I'm not complaining.. I'm really liking the rain. It reminds me of Europe and of lazy rainy days at home. I just wish it didn't rain so hard. It was more of a light rain this morning. Anyways, off to class.

Comments?

Feel free to leave them...

¿?¿? Chicharron ¿?¿?

So i thought that Papaya was bad....

What about Pig's Skin!?

I seriously feel like I'm going to throw up right now. Courtney, Scott, and I just ate what we think is Pig's skin.. but were not sure of the translation. I asked a second time for clarification and my host mom said that it was a type of meat from a Pig, but ill tell ya... there was no meat on that. It was all fat! There is one good thing about not being able to understand everything in Spanish. You can keep your food down and find out after you eat it what it was. I had no clue until i downed a bowl of the stuff, but poor Courtney.. she knew all along. It had one of the most interesting textures, i mean if you could imagine what a slug might feel like, or maybe more like a really soft tongue.. Nonetheless, i am so full i feel like bursting!

Besides from the "exotic" food my day hasn't been bad. Classes went well and right when they were finishing a really dark cloud rolled in and so Courtney and I decided we would start to run home because the rain had already started sprinkling. Well here in Mexico the rain sprinkles for maybe 30 seconds before it starts to pour rain. Obviously our house is a little too far away to make it in time but it felt like the rain had stopped. So we walked for like 10 and then Bam! There came the waterfall. Imagine two Americans running past as the old Mexican vendor selling flowers underneath his0 arch way to his house watching peers on giving a chuckle and smile at how funny we are. We were still about 4 min away from the house when it started pouring and we ran for it. It was actually a lot of fun to be honest. It was like one of those scenes from a movie where you get caught it the rain and run through it for fun. Like you're forced to be a child again, for a second. But now its time to get back to reality and start homework! ¿¡Que chido, no!?

Sigur Ros!

Sorry that its been so long since i have posted anything. This past week i would have to say was my longest and hardest of them all. I don't know why but my mood just wouldn't improve. It was raining here almost every night which was pretty amazing. The rain is literally like a waterfall just cascading down and the lightning was indescribable by any spoken tongue. I was hanging out with some of my friends this Friday at an Italian restaurant called Marco Pollo and had really good Italian food. It was interesting seeing Italian food made by Mexicans. I had a few Sangria and then we all walked outside. Right in front of Marco Pollo is the City´s big Cathedral and it was all lit up and looked so amazing. There was lightning flashing behind it. You literally would have had to see it, it was one of the most beautiful things i have seen here. Anyways, we walk back to my friends house and it starts sprinkling rain and I'm like, "Oh cool it will rain in like a few minutes and it will be nice." Hahaha not. It started to down pour like 3 seconds later and so here was 8 Americans running for their lives from Mexican Tropical Rain. We all hid underneath a little ledge of a balcony and we were waiting to cross one of the biggest road in our town, at 10 at night, with rain. Mind you there are 50,000 cars driving around too. So, i decided that we're all going to run for it when the light changes and we can go. But when the light went red, it only went red for half of the street, and right when it changed too, seriously, like 5 bolts of lightning strike maybe a mile away! At this point I'm already in the middle of the road running through traffic as a river is flowing over my feet and i get across and my friend who was wearing flip flops was one of the last to make it.

But there was a problem...

She gets to the other side with her glasses fogged and yells, "I LOST MY SHOES!" They were in the middle of the street! MY friend Courtney says "We have to go back for them" Noelle: "No, They´re gone! Don't" As Courtney runs back into the raging river, through traffic to grab black flip flops at night. The problem was Noelle was not going to walk home without shoes because there is broken glass everywhere and its dangerous. We get to the house, drenched looking like we just went for a swim and we were planning on going out in less than an hour.

It was no less than 3 minutes after we get to their house that the power goes out. No electricity to dry our clothes nor see where anything is. Great. My friend Nick lived there too but it a little separate building and he said i could change into some of his clothes. So i walk outside and I'm standing underneath the garage and I'm like one, two, three and i start to run to the other part of the house. Right when i get out into the open lightning strikes literally three houses away. Its one of the most amazing/horrifying things ever. First there is a white light, blinding as it strikes the ground, and it disappeared in little segments fading in sections, as thought it was shrinking into itself. As it folded into itself the surrounding area dimmed but as in got darker the sound of ear drum breaking thunder fills the body and you just stand there, petrified unable to move. It was pretty amazing, but after that i refused to go outside without everyone else. We went to a few clubs and danced till like 4 in the morning and then hit up one of the local taco-rias and had amazing food! I crashed at 5 into the blankets on my bed and slept for like 4 hours till i had to get up for the concert i went to the next day.

I wake up at 9. Feeling... amazing for the day to come.... I brushed my teeth got ready, checked for spiders in my shoes... ect ect and hopped into a cab and headed for Las Gallerias, which the cab driver had no clue where it was. So i sit in a cab for like 30 min driving across town, having no clue where I'm going. I think the best way to get to know a City is to get lost in it. Well lost within reason. There are some really nice and developed modern places around Cuernavaca. I was dropped off at a mall that was like 5 stories high, and looked like tent thing next to the clock tower in Downtown Spokane, but with a white cover over the building. It was huge. My Friend Joanna and i decided on Wed that we were going to go see Sigur Ros live in Tepoztlan. It was lucky that we heard about it too because it was just in time.

We arrived where we were apparently suppose to pick up our tickets and no one knew where we were suppose to go. No one! We even went to the buses outside for the event and they sent us up to some Mega Mart to pick up the tickets which we couldn't get there either! We went back to the buses and they then told us that the print out of our purchase that we had was our tickets! AH! It was so nerve racking. So we get on the bus, and we´re the only 2 Americans which I'm not really use to yet because at the University there is a majority of Americans. We get there and the event was apparently for 6,000 people in total.

We get there and we stand in a line for like 20 minutes that is well over a mile long and we wait. We don't even have our "official" tickets yet just a piece of paper with they guy who said that we were OK to get on the bus. So we were worried we wouldn't get into the event at all. But we managed to. Our tickets were on a will call type thing at the front entrance so we were good. The walk to the concert area was about 10 minutes from the front gate. The concert itself was held in Tepoztlan which is up in the mountains about 45 min away from Cuernavaca. It was an amazing place to have a concert. The stage was placed in between these two mountain things, and the mountains wrapped around the whole area. It was like a flat platoue, and then out pops 500-600 foot tall mountains. There were food tents to one side of the event which were packed like no other all day long! We arrived at 2 and they had bands playing all day. It was exactly what i needed; a nice long day laying in the sun listening to music and meeting friends. Its the Life!

The funny thing about the event was it was an Ecological awareness concert and they told everyone that it was a non smoking event and one that was without alcohol too. Well everyone was smoking, and they were advertising and selling BEER! It was really confusing for the first few hours why they were selling beers but then i realized that it was Cerveza (Beer) Sin (with out) Alcohol. What is beer without alcohol?! Crappy tasting water? It doesn't my logical sense to want to drink something that taste like beer and not be able to get drunk off of it. The reason why you want to get drunk is because of the horrible taste! Just kidding, kind of. But it was interesting to sit and mingle for a day with 6,000 other Mexicans. My friend Joanna and i encountered a group of 3 other Americans who were living in Mexico and teaching English. I thought that was really cool, but other than them, there were no other Americans.

We met up with Joanna´s friend who told her about the event, he is Canadian. And we chilled for most of the day. The big events were a brief down pour of rain that forced the greater half of 6,000 people under one little Red Bull tent. It was an interesting sight to see. Id post a picture but the last picture i tried uploading almost crashed the computer lol and i would have lost this entire blog! So I'm going to wait a while.

The main event was the Sigur Ros concert at the end of the night which everyone was there for. It was one of the best concerts that i have ever gone to in my life! They had one amazing song where the beat was really fast and uppidy, and they had lights of all colors going and then BOOM! They blew out Confetti! It was awesome. The best way i can describe it, is that it looks like New York´s time square on New Years eve! IT was great! Es specially in the mountains and sunset. Amazing.

What happened next was kind of ridiculous i think. I don't know if the event co-ordinater realized that all 6,000 people are going to be leaving the event at one time. Nonetheless if you could imagine an evacuation of what the Titanic looked like with everyone trying to get off the boat at once.. yea, it was Chaos! That path towards the stage i told you about was over flowing, and people were walking through the dense brush on both sides with flashlights trying to cut and move faster. People started chanting Don't Let Them Pass! IT was a mob! We finally after an hour of walking through the same path that took us 10 min before, get to the entrance where no one knows where anyone is going and people flow into the street and stop traffic. Its 11 at night at this point and all the buses are lined up on the right hand side of the road and they all were filled. The problem is that they brought people to the event in trips over the course of 5 hours and I'm assuming they planned the same for the trip home but who is going to wait till 4 in the morning for a bus back? NO One! Not only that but everyone was swarming the street so that no bus could even move. So Joanna, James, his friend, and I walked with the crowd through the street and we eventually got to the front of the people walking. It was such an amazing adventure! Walking in the dark through the mountains of Mexico not really knowing where you re going or if you re even going to make it home that night. I loved it. Because we were walking on a mountain we could see the entire city below and OMG! IT was amazing! Lights stretching off into the distance. It was like nothing i ever had seen before.

I saw for the first time a Firefly last night! It scared the Sh!+ out of me! I was walking in the dark on the road and on both sides of the road there is just jungle and i see a glint of what i thought was an eye, and I'm like !!!!!!! So i keep walking looking the same way and i see it again but closer to the ground and it looks like its following us, whatever it is. Then my friends says oh look Fireflies and I was so relieved lol, i thought it was the Chupacabra or something. Anyways we found a cab and paid to take it back to Cuernavaca which wasn't too bad and we went out to a Taco-ria and it was great! I got home at like 1 i layed on my bed and crashed. IT was a great night and concert! I would love to type more but I'm in a cafe that doesn't have a bathroom so i have to walk back to my house now, Its been fun hope everything is going well!

Destination Uknown!!

Sry its been so long since i last posted. I actually typed out an enitre blog and then the power shut off on me. So now im in an internet cafe typing this out! First off there is a song being played in all of the clubs down here that you should watch the music video for. Its called Destination Unknown by Alex Gaudino feat - Crystal Waters .

These past few days have been pretty crazy! Week two ended with another exam that i think i did fine on, and then we had an excursion to Puebla which is about 3 hrs away from Cuernavaca. The city itself looked a lot bigger than Cuernavaca. I found out that Cuer. has about 1 million people living in it! I never would have thought.. but it is pretty big. Anyways, Puebla is very popular for its grand cathedrals. im in a cafe right now and have to run but ill post again soon