More Irapuato/ The Start of Mexico City

More Irapuato/ Mexico City

Guanajuato was an incredible city and I loved every minute of it, but it was time to move on. We caught a cab on our last day and back into the mountain we plunged away from the happy little city. Back to the bus station we went for another uneventful bus trip – no movie this time. We arrived in Irapuato and traveled back to Marcela and Natalie’s house. Let me just say that I will miss Natalie greatly. She is just the cutest!

I would consider the neighborhood that Marcela and Natalie live in to be very poor although I would not consider them to be necessarily. Their house is always pristine and they always have food in the fridge, gas for the stove, electricity, hot water, and clean drinking water. I do not think that many of the surrounding persons could say the same. Many children walk around with dirt from head to toe and many live in aluminum shacks with no doors and partial roofs if any. The roads are all dirt and are littered with garbage. The creek that is one hundred yards away from their house is nothing more than a stagnant “muck pit” filled with garbage and excrement that fills the air with a putrid smell. When the wind is blowing the direction of the house it is quite the shock to the nostrils. It does not stop the cow and sheepherders from walking their animals around nearby and from grazing in the grass that grows around it – I’m surprised anything grows around, but am positive nothing is living in it. I thought about Santa Cruz and the pristine dump that smelled like roses with an ocean view.

There was a makeshift bridge that crossed the muck pit. It was constructed of two large trees, wood cross planks, and aluminum sheeting over the top. I was quite impressed with Melanie the first time we crossed the bridge (and every time thereafter). She simply asked if it was secure and walked right across. When we were loaded up with all our belongings it was kind of a hope and pray situation that that thing would hold us. I laughed as we were walking up to it when leaving that it would be kind of funny if the bridge cracked in half as we were waving goodbye to Natalie and Marcela, who were standing in the road watching and waving. I wish we could have taken a picture but it just seemed too awkward.

“Wow look at that pit of grossness in your neighborhood, care if I take some pics and pose in front of it?”

On the day we arrived back a young man named Carlos which I think is the son of one of Marcela’s relatives brought over a little mini-poodle cross that he had rescued off of the street and Marcela said it was okay for him to leave the dog in her backyard temporarily. The poor little thing was covered in cuts, sores, and bites. It also had sunburn from head to toe along with ear mites and probably scabies (although I did not do a skin scrape). Everyone left for the day and I couldn’t help myself from taking care of the sad little waif. I bathed her, disinfected her, cleaned her ears, and put Neosporin on all of her cuts. We bought some revolution the next day to treat the ear mites, scabies, and fleas. The difference between when we left and when he first dropped her off was a sight to behold. She started out as timid and miserable and ended up playing fetch and climbing up in our laps and licking us to no end. Natalie named her “Cebollita” (lil’ onion) – and I think they are going to keep her.

So back to the bus station we traveled, where we caught a bus to Mexico City. I sat and listened to music while Melanie peered out the window the whole time. We arrived in Mexico City and went to collect our bags. I thought it was amusing how the sixty-year- old ladies shoved past me to give their baggage ticket to the luggage boy and then ironically I was stuck walking 2 mph behind them toward the exit. We made our way to the taxi stand and paid for a secure taxi to our hotel.

We got in the taxi and the driver started talking and laughing. He was talking so quickly that neither of us could understand him. I nodded and laughed along with him anyway. The taxi ride was quite thrilling as it was 5 – 6 lanes wide, that is, if there had been lanes. There were no lanes and everyone was driving like a maniac – squeezing by large trucks, swerving, merging traffic cutting in. It got my heart pumping but I tried to look as nonchalant as possible. We arrived at our hotel near the historic center and made our way inside.

The name of the hotel is “Casa de Los Amigos”. It is an extremely inexpensive hostel-type Quaker commune. We were greeted by a nice young man and filled out our paperwork. He showed us to our room and asked if he could carry the box I was holding along with my guitar and backpack. Little did he know that it was a box-o-books and that it weighed about 40 lbs. He almost fell over when I handed it to him – lol. We slept very well that first night being thoroughly exhausted from traveling.

Before we crashed out though we went for some dinner at a sidewalk café just down the street. The food and the service were great. While we were waiting, however, an old lady approached our table and held her hand out and asked for a donation. Neither of us had any change and I told her “No, I’m sorry” in Spanish. She instantly changed from sweet loving grandma to pissed off, swearing bitch – “maldito, cabron, etc…” as she stomped away to the next table where she transformed to sweet loving grandma once again. I had never been cussed out by a grandma before and was quite shocked.

We woke up the next morning and had a nice cheap breakfast that they served down in the kitchen. Although it is supposedly a Quaker community they didn’t even serve oatmeal! Everyone at this place speaks mostly in English as well, which isn’t helping my Spanish progress. We walked around the city for most of the day after breakfast. There was some kind of very large protest going on which was a little unnerving. We kept our distance for a while until we figured they weren’t protesting gringos and then we moved in. The police force was immense. There was bus after bus of cops. There were also riot police in full riot gear. We really wanted to take pictures, but not such a good idea if you want to stay out of Mexican prison. I thought it was all extremely exciting. Melanie got a few good pictures of the protest that I’m sure she will post.

We walked around that night a little and went to a corner café to eat dinner. There are quite a few more gringos and light skinned people walking around here compared to Irapuato, so I don’t feel like nearly as much of a poltergringo walking around at night. We had some excellent sandwiches and went back to the hotel were I wrote this entry and then crashed out for the night. We have two full weeks here in Mexico City and if the rest of it is anything like the first two days it’s going to be one hell of a ride.

Just for fun here is another Natalie pic:

"Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!"

Until next time,

Chris

Irapuato/ Guanajuato

Irapuato/ Guanajuato
“No Entiendo Nada”
(I don’t understand a thing)

Off to Irapuato Melanie and I went after a delightful week in Guadalajara in which I felt that I was able to understand most everything said by the hotel front desk attendant, waiters, 7-11 employees, the cashier at Wal-Mart (named Suburbia, but with Wal-Mart nametags), etc… Communication for me in Guadalajara seemed easy for the most part. I could order food, ask for the bill, count, ask for the bathroom, ask directions, and accomplish many other simple direct tasks fairly well. I wasn’t exactly asking about anyone’s life story but I thought I was doing well. Not really…

The bus ride was yet again very comfortable and very uneventful. However, I was forced to watch the dubbed version of Jumanji, which actually happens to be a slightly better movie when you don’t understand anything the people are saying in that god-awful script.

Not that this bus ride compares, but I am reminded of one we took several years ago in the Yucatan Peninsula from Chichenitza to Cancun. It was a 4 hour bus ride in 200 degree heat with a malfunctioning bathroom door latch causing the bathroom door to bang against my leg every 5 minutes, the person sitting on the pot left to say “Lo siento (I’m sorry)” as politely as possible while farting. To top it off, “Small Wonder”, the most ill conceived sitcom in the history of sitcoms, played the entire journey on the televisions at top volume. That was definitely the worst mood I’ve ever been in while traveling. Melanie will attest to that. Hopefully I don’t come up with a worse story on this journey.

So, returning to our current trip, we arrived in Irapuato. We gathered our bags, guitar, and box o’ books and called my sister-in-law’s mother’s sister’s son to come and pick us up at the bus station. My sister-in-law (Isela) had set it up to have him pick us up and show us around a little bit. As it turns out they were all more hospitable than we could have ever imagined. After showing us around town a bit and getting a bite to eat at the Wal-Mart restaurant (named Patron’s, but with Wal-Mart nametags), the nice young lad named Mauricio, brought us back to his house to chill and watch Mtv until his family arrived home from their respective works. He spoke a little bit of English very shyly but better than he gave himself credit for, so I was able to have about 2 minutes of conversation with him. The rest of the time he spoke Spanish at a clip of about 100 WPS (words per second) which Melanie understood perfectly, but which I, even if he had been speaking to me like I was an American talking to a Japanese tourist, would not have understood. I was starting to fade into communicative darkness. He and Melanie talked about many things and had a few good hearty laughs, I’m sure probably at my expense.

The family all arrived home and we were expecting to say hello, maybe go out to eat, then get a ride to the place we were expecting to stay, at Isela’s father’s house. They, however, wanting to show us a good time (even though I think we were all tired, us from traveling and them from working all day) decided to take us out to the local fair that happened to be in full force that week.

When we arrived back at their house a few hours later they invited us to stay the night at their house, which by the way was a very nice home, and the two brother’s even gave us their beds to sleep in. I, of course, simply nodded and said “Si” whenever anyone said anything to me, then asked Melanie for the translation when no one was looking. I could tell by their vocal intonation/ body language, however, that they were extremely happy to accommodate us and were amazingly hospitable people. We slept well and in the morning their mother had breakfast ready. Mystery meat tacos, refried beans, and pickled jalapeños aren’t exactly my favorite breakfast entrée but it was a grand gesture. After breakfast they gave us a ride to Isela’s father’s house.

Isela’s father is currently in the U.S. but his wife (Marcela) stayed to watch over their house and their things. Her daughter, Natalie, also lives here, and is the most precious 4- year-old little girl I think I have ever met. Marcela immediately showed us up to our bedroom and gave us keys to our bedroom and keys to the front door. I cannot overstate the hospitality that she showed us from the first minute she met us. She bought food and cooked for us every night the first week that we were here. We also went out with all of them to the fair and had a great time once again. This time though we watched the rodeo, complete with bull riding, horse tricks, and even some drunk, stupid human tricks. It was a blast. I still did not understand a word anyone said and was as quiet as a mime. I did, nonetheless, communicate perfectly with 4-year-old Natalie, so we become good friends very quickly. While Melanie is having in-depth conversations with all the adults, I’m at the kid’s table with Natalie making animal noises, juggling, and crossing my eyes to great cries of glee, which is perfectly fine with me.

We stayed for a week in Irapuato, and then decided to take a 4-day side trip to Guanajuato. It was about an hour bus ride (sans box-o-books hooray!). Once at the bus station we grabbed a taxi that brought us to the main part of the city. The last bit of the car ride was amazing – a tunnel that plunges into a mountainside and ends up being an extensive network of roads inside of the mountain. It seems to go on forever and the walls and ceilings look as if they were freshly dug. In fact, as we drove through there were workers wearing miner hats digging new tunnels or doing maintenance. The dumb thought actually crossed my mind that this is where they took tourists, into the center of the mountain. Then we emerged out of the darkness and into the beautiful city.

What an outstandingly beautiful city Guanajuato is. The center of the city is set in somewhat of a valley, the amazingly colorful houses rising above it in layers into the surrounding hills. The mountains and hills in the distance are some of the most picturesque I have ever seen. The city overall is extremely photogenic. There are hundreds of years old buildings, cathedrals, and theatres that are absolutely spectacular to look at. The town also seems to be an epicenter for gorgeous people as well. Here’s a good example:

We stayed in a luxurious historic hotel in the center of the city. On our day of arrival we walked around a tiny bit, ate at a cute little café, then went to sleep in our plush king sized bed. The second and third days we were way more industrious, hiking up the very long and steep hill to a statue called the Pipila. The view from there was breathtaking. We ate at a nice restaurant that night and took in some free salsa music in the center rotunda stage of the main courtyard while watching the old-timers dance around like teenagers. There were about ten mariachi groups waiting to be hired by people at the surrounding restaurants so we sporadically would see their great performances as well.

The next day we hiked more and went to several museums. Our last stop of the day was the Museo de las Mummias (The Mummy Museum). Wow, this place definitely gets the creepy award of the trip so far (even over the corpse in the church in Guadalajara – see previous blog). There were about 50 corpses in glass cases in this place, mummified with some of the freakiest facial expressions ever. It was truly a catacomb with about 15 different rooms winding around like a maze each room sickeningly creepier than the next.

It was kind of weird taking pictures of all those dead people, but I felt better after exiting and seeing the mummy gift shop with all the mummy postcards and the dudes selling the mini-mummy stuffed dolls for the kids to take home (yes, there were a couple of five or six year old kids walking through this place while we were there, not freaked out at all. I would have been crapping my pants at that age – I did a little anyways, shhhh…)

After the mummy museum we ate at the theme restaurant next door called “Mummy’s home cookin’”. I would highly recommend the entrail enchiladas, however, stay away from mummy’s maggot mole.

Just kidding!!!! There’s not really a restaurant but there should be.

We actually took a nice stroll through a beautiful cemetery afterwards, then hiked back to the main plaza, and ate a great dinner at a fancy restaurant. There was live music yet again, this time orchestral style, which we sat and enjoyed from a nearby park bench until we were ready for bed. By the way, I would highly suggest taking a valium before sleeping after visiting the mummy museum unless you want Tales From the Crypt nightmares all night. ------------------------------>

The next couple of days we mainly strolled around the city taking photos of the locals and students, trying not to look too totally touristy. We had an incredible time in Guanajuato and I would highly recommend it to anyone planning a trip to Mexico. We packed up our things on checkout day and bused it back to Irapuato where we will be staying for another week before leaving for Mexico City and where I am sitting as I write this entry.

Today I just practiced my guitar, played a lot with Natalie (she loves Elmo), and we took a trip to the town center so Marcela could buy Natalie some new shoes. It’s a tough life, but someone’s gotta do it right? By the way, I am almost fully communicating with Natalie now – she’s taught me a lot, but there’s a long way to go.

Everyone (not just my mother) please feel free to leave comments. I love to read the feedback and it gives me the opportunity to hear from all of the people that I miss so much.

Thanks,

Chris

The Next Chapter: Guadalajara

My stomach illness receded and we were finally able to leave Chacala, although we didn’t really want to. We lugged our two backpacks, guitar, and box o’ books to the center of the village where we caught a taxi to Las Varas (a slightly larger town about 5 minutes away from Chacala). As mentioned in my previously blog, the taxi driver went above and beyond the call of duty. We arrived in Guadalajara from Las Varas after an uneventful 4-hour bus ride. We watched the Adam Sandler movie “Click” (with subtitles, not dubbed thank goodness), watched the scenery, and generally relaxed in the cushy comfortable seats of the first-class bus. The movie, by the way, was very amusing, and yet again inexplicably, as seems with all of Adam Sandler’s movies, it got bad reviews from the critics. Anyways, I digress, where was I? Oh ok, so I was still feeling a little woozy from my Chacala bug (which Melanie passed to me with a kiss – not a bad way to get sick I guess), but overall my intestines were doing ok and luckily (for everyone on board, not just me) I only needed to use the 200-degree bus bathroom/ sauna once. Why do they keep the passenger sections freezing and the bathrooms like sweat rooms? All I know is that the aromatherapy in that sauna wasn’t very relaxing.

We arrived in Guadalajara, flagged a cab, and after a long ride (it’s an extremely large city (6-7 mil people)) we arrived in the historic center of the city at our hotel. I think Melanie gives a description of the hotel bathroom in her blog (bohova-mel.blogspot.com). Check it out!

The city was teeming with people of all ages, shapes and sizes. Like I said this is an extremely large city, however, as seems to be a continuing theme for me in Mexico, I was the only blonde. Nevertheless, in cities everyone walks around with blinders on, so no one paid much attention to me. We mostly walked around the city taking pictures for the next few days. There were some amazing sights to take in such as the Orozco murals, the cathedral, the bird market in the city center, live music in the town center, and many antique hotels and buildings.

The main Orozco murals were by far the most impressive spectacle and are a must see for anyone that ever visits this part of Mexico. They are truly awe-inspiring, jaw-dropping, masterful works of art (see Mel’s blog for an example).

The cathedral was grand and elaborate with statues, gold and extravagant stained glass. On display was a real corpse of a 7-year-old virgin martyr preserved in a glass case with a plaster face covering (why do they have to specify a 7 year old as a virgin? Ok, I have a lot of questions about this one… very creepy).

One of the other interesting sights was the food market in the basement of a multi-floored shopping center. This place was definitely the most putrid experience so far in the journey, and although we wanted to take a picture, it felt way too awkward with the vendors all giving us the “stink-eye” (pun intended). It was gross enough seeing the many rows of fresh cut fruits, breads and pastries that were open to all the feasting flies and other hungry little bugs, but when we got to the meat aisle it was stomach jarring – huge slabs of beef, whole skinless pigs, cut up chickens all hanging out into the aisles – no glass cases here. There seemed to be no end in sight – open season for the hoards of bugs and flies to eat their entrées, lay their eggs, and then proceed one row over for a nice pastry and some fruit for dessert. We had a good laugh thinking of all the veggies/vegans from California being trapped in that basement (some people aren’t laughing right now).

The bird market in the center of the city had some really funky looking genetically engineered pigeons – never seen anything like them. There were lots of other little bird markets (some in the same complex as the meat market) with 15-20 birds stuffed into one little cage. Poor little things! We wanted to free them all. The music was orchestral style classical music, free every weekend night, the town center filled with people sitting on benches (some of them making out exuberantly) surrounding the elaborate rotunda stage. It was not quite as entertaining as when we were in Merida, Yucatan, Mx, a few years ago, where there was free live salsa music on weekend nights, and all the grandmas and grandpas were up bumpin’ and grindin’, and there were many many more people sitting around cuddling and kissing.

On our next to last day we took a day tour by bus to Tequila, Mx for a tequila tasting tour. On the way we stopped at little town to learn about and see the Basilica de Zapopan, where people flock to pay homage and pray to the vírgen de la expectación, which is a tiny statue inside the cathedral. It is also the home of many Franciscan monks. The Basilica was spectacular although we did not get a chance to go inside. It was Sunday with mass every hour, people packed in like little holy sardines. I’m sure the inside was a sight to behold. We were then quickly whisked away to get drunk off tequila to counter-act all that religion. Our first “getting drunk” stop was at a little shack on the side of the road called “Tres Mujeres”. It was, by far, the best tequila on the tour (better than Don Julio – was thinking of you Dave and Craig) and as you can see they offered 100% natural mujeres as well, although Melanie wouldn’t let me order any. We took a few shots and then it was off to the Jose Cuervo factory where we took a backstage tour of the production process. Very interesting, but the tequila sucked. The margaritas weren’t bad though. Melanie got really drunk – just look at her, bottle in one hand, margarita in the other! We were then rounded up like drunken little cows to a desolate corner of the town where our tour guide proceeded to rob us at machete-point. We were then loaded up onto a different bus and brought back to the city.

We had a wonderful time in Guadalajara and, by the way, our tour guide did not actually mug us. Our hotel was cute, we had a nice café and a Dunkin Donuts right next door, and there were two terrific restaurants within eyesight. It was very romantic and had many things to see and do, and even though it is a big city, the best stuff is compacted into the historic town center. The only time we had to take a vehicle was on the tequila tour. Well, that’s it for now. I’m currently sitting in my bed in a city called Irapuato, where my sister-in-law’s family lives. We’ve had a great time here as well, but I’ll write about that in my next blog.

Hasta Proximo!

Chris

Mexico or bust

Thanks to Dad and Stacey

First I would like to thank Rick and Stacey for their hospitality while Melanie and I were staying with them. We had first class accomodations, use of their car, and complete comfort. They are taking care of our trouble-making cats which I already miss immensely. Gotta love that picture of Monkey with the toilet paper bow. Anyways, Thanks again you guys for helping us make this a reality. It took me almost an entire week to shake that Okie accent though, grr. Shout out to Charlie Redd, Caddio, Chris, Stan the Man (even though I didnt see him), and the rest of the band -- you guys sounded incredible. Full Flava Kings. Also, thanks to Mike, Matt ankd Karen for the great fun -- We had a sleep-over LAN gaming party, Woohoo!

Chacala

We have been in Guadalajara since last Tuesday and are having a wonderful time, but more about that later. Chacala was incredible. Although Tushar was unable to come down to hang out with us while we were there, his spirit and graciousness was with us the entire time. Among all of the little things he did, he hooked us up with an opportunity to hang out with the kids at the local school for a day and he introduced us to two of his friends, great people and who I consider friends of ours now, Shai and Shuli. He even called in a favor to one of his buddies in a neighboring town to come and give us surfing lessons. Here I am on the left about to catch a huge wave (not exactly Mavericks I guess). But I will say I went out the next day and the ocean was much angrier and I got my ass kicked by some good 8-9 foot waves off shore (didn't catch a single one, but many caught me...). I'm officially a surf bum now. Look out Santa Cruz when I get back into town...


We had an amazing experience and the perfect start to our journey in Chacala. The raw beauty of the nature as well as the people still exists here. I've never been somewhere where all the people and kids are so kind and hospitable. We both managed to get sick for 24 hours, but thankfully we each took turns each of the last 2 days. I can only wish that will be the worst of it (D, no V) in a private bathroom with an ocean view. My bowels have been back to normal for quite some time now...TMI? (no picture, you'll have to trust me).

I'd like to give shout outs to Lupe and Pablo, the people taking care of the place while we were there. They were so helpful, kind and caring. I will always remember them. They kept that place spotless -- It seemed a shame we didn't have more of a chance to get to know them when they weren't working -- they seemed like our surrogate grandparents or something.... More shout outs in Chacala to: Acela's restaurant, the best ceviche on the beach and the best service by far. The prices of course were amazing and the fish was great as well. The best salsa was at Chico's. The best overall dinner was at Majahua, which also had the best view up on the mountainside-- looked like a great spa as well. Best breakfast by far was at the cafe at Casa Pacifica guest house - fresh homeade bread, huge fruit bowls, and great french toast - with an incredible view as well. Thanks also to the taxi driver that ran with us for three block carrying one of our extremely heavy backpacks and Melanie's box of books (the encyclopedia britannica collection is coming in handy though) so we could catch the bus to Guadalajara. So many people that we hardly know going above and beyond for us -- it seems surreal. Thanks to all.

Like I said Guadalajara has been great. We're here for 2 more nights and I will write some about our stay here another time. Btw, Melanie and I are buying wedding rings to wear so we're not seen as immoral. One of the actual rules at the hotel we're staying in here states that any actions seen as immoral by management will result in immediate expulsion from the hotel. They stuck us in a room with two beds. I guess they don't care we've been together for 10 years. Anyways, we don't want to get kicked out on the streets, and who knows how many camera angles they have covered in this room so we're gonna get fake-married and no one is invited. :P

Hasta Pronto!

Chris