These are variations of what I heard from the person checking my boarding pass as I stepped onto the Volaris airplane—It was a long and fast slew of Spanish words that I couldn’t make out. “What?” was my immediate response. Then he repeated everything he had said to me in English: “Give this part of your ticket to my co-worker over there.” “Ok.”
Thus was the beginning of my adventures in Mexico.
I’ve been trying to pick up words and phrases in Spanish, and some of my Spanish vocabulary from high school (6 years ago) comes back to me more and more the longer I am here. Big thank you to Sr. Zavaleta, my high school Spanish teacher, and my mom, who when I wanted to take Japanese in high school said “No, you’re taking Spanish because it will be more useful to you.” Mama knew best.
At the printing shop, we get a lot of Spanish-speaking customers. I found a phrase that I am going to use with my Spanish-speaking customers: Precios bajos. Guarantizado. = Low prices. Guaranteed. ;-)
Some things I found of interest in Mexico:
VIP Theaters- a theater with reclining leather chairs, a table for the food you get, and cupholder for your drinks...relaxing way to watch your movie. Perfection.
Pedestrian Light- The walking man walks at first, and then he walks faster than starts skipping and then running, and then the red light goes on. Clever. I like!
Outdoor gyms- There’s a bunch of outdoor work-out machines, very basic ones of course, but I think that’s cool. To me, I think it encourages working out.
Running- There was this 5km route that I ran that was labeled at every 0.25km. It was a really nice route. I don’t see many trails like this in the US that are labeled for walkers and runners. I see it sometimes on dirt trails for hiking. Does anyone know any?
Guadalajara
Very nice city. The time I spent there reminded me of Vietnam...on the back of a motorcycle, with a helmet that barely fits me, wind racing through my hair and dirt in my eyes.
Guadalajara Zoo
One of the best zoos. There was even an aquarium, a safari (we could hand-feed the giraffes), huge bird cages, and more.
Guanajuato
Beautiful beautiful town. Reminds me of what I see Europe looking like in the movies with stones on the ground and tiny alleys and lots of bands singing and playing music to people at restaurants.
Some things surpass language barriers…sitting eating this Torta Ahogada, and I just felt so warm and welcome even though I tried to tell her food was delicious and she didn’t understand me.
Mummies…this town is really into death
Mines
Torture chambers of some sort
Lots of singing and comedic entertainment
Mexico City
Lots and lots of people! Mexico City apparently ranks 5th for the most populated city. New York is 4th. Who knew? I didn’t believe it until I got here. There ARE a lot of people.
Travel Tip: A lot of taxi drivers don't want to use the meter because they want to take the money under the table. It works if you know the correct price. If you're a tourist, try to get a taxi driver who uses the meter. I don't think I've ever travelled anywhere without someone trying to jip me.
Also, Get a hotel in 5 De Mayo street! We’re staying at Hotel Juarez right now, which I like. It’s only 220 pesos a night (right now, $1 USD = 10.8 pesos). The hotel we were staying the day before was Hotel Reforma for 599 pesos and both receptionists we met were unhelpful and always looked irritated. We called them “Mr. Sunshine” and “Miss Sunshine.” The only person we liked in that hotel was the Bellboy, an old man who always smiled at us and bowed at us too. I think he thought we were Japanese. I was really confused when he kept bowing at us, and I was like I’ve never seen a Mexican bow at someone. Chris says that he probably saw some Japanese or Chinese people in a movie bowing at each other and thought that he was following our custom. That made me laugh. I thought it was cute he made that extra effort.
Plaza
Art Gallery
Food
Churros stuffed with chocolate
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