Hola chicos!
It's been awhile since Danny and I have posted on here, but it's not for lack of events or things to do here in GDL. It's actually just the opposite. We recently returned from a long weekend away on the pacific coast. The trip was with a group called Conexion GDL which organizes trips and events for international students (of which there are an abundance in this city). It is one of two which sort of compete for the international students' money. Both organizations had planned a camping beach excursion this past weekend but, after hearing that the other org was more "high school" we opted for Conexion. The promo video also might have swayed us a little as well (especially the lanterns...sigh): Camping Beach Trip Promo
So we packed our bags after dinner on Friday night and set off for a long weekend, scheduled to return Monday night (Monday was a national holiday...I asked a Mexican girl and she told me it was "flag day...possibly"). Whatever, 3 day weekend yayyyyyy! We walked from our place to the Universidad de GDL building (maybe a 10 minute walk) We would be staying in tents all weekend so we packed pillows and blankets in a bundle and secured it with rope. We arrived to the loading place and saw three large buses, loaded our stuff on one and climbed aboard. It was around midnight when we left and while Danny and I had no illusions about getting a great night's sleep on a bumpy 9 hour bus ride, we still thought SOME rest would be had. We were sadly mistaken. As soon as the bus pulled out of the lot, beers were opened and rum drinks were poured. Everyone but us and the lifeguards in the seats next to us (squares) got up out of their seats and proceeded to have the longest "small kitchen party" i have ever experienced. By "small kitchen party" I mean the phenomenon where everyone at a party stands in the tiniest room of the house (la cocina) and then has to crawl and fall over one another constantly. It was like that for F I V E hours... As the party progressed, people started lighting up cigarettes and pouring liquor into each other's mouths. Music was blaring, the bus was freezing and, since we'd packed our blankets under the bus, Danny and I hunkered down and tried to at least ignore the chaos around us. I've never felt like a bigger prude in my life, but our reasoning was we didn't want to party all night and then sleep and miss the beach the whole next day (sleeping in a tent in Mexico after 10 am is a no-go) . By 5am, we stopped at an Oxxo and the whole crowd filed out and returned with hot dogs and Cup O Noodles. As the food settled, so did most of the revelers and we were able to enjoy the dark and silence for maybe 3 hours.
Then at 8am the announcement was made that we would be at the campsite in one hour. We pulled off the "highway" (a dirt road) onto another dirt road and rode through the bumpy hills for awhile. We finally pulled up to the campsite which also was home to a hotel with a pool around 9am. We were in the middle of nowhere, but it was gorgeous. It made the hellish ride we had just experienced completely worth every minute. We all got off the bus and were given assigned tent numbers. As Danny and I approached our tent we noticed it was pretty tiny. Like, would only hold two small people and exactly NONE of their stuff. So we made a little pallet on the ground and left our suitcase outside the tent, figuring if anyone wanted to steal a giant orange suitcase out here in the middle of nowhere, they could have it. We slept in the tent until we could bear the heat no longer (10 am) and then put our bathing suits on and started the party.
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| The view from inside our tiny tent |
Around sunset, a bunch of us were sitting in a group and someone mentioned that the buildings next door were part of a turtle reserve and that soon they would be setting the newborn baby turtles free. Obsessed with sea turtles ever since I first saw one while snorkeling in Hawaii a few years back, I jumped at the chance to see/possibly hold one and we walked over to check it out. We held them for awhile and then walked down to the water and let the waves eventually take the little guys out into the deep blue.
After saving the sea turtles, we had worked up quite an appetite, so we walked back to the hotel and had some shrimp burgers and cold beer. The open bar started at 9 and the DJ set up under the shelter at the restaurant (cleared of tables and chairs of course) and made a little beach nightclub. After a long day in the hot sun, we decided to call it a night around 3am. We walked back to our tents, ready to enjoy a long night's sleep...on the ground...with our hipbones digging into the hard earth underneath us. Awesome.
The next morning we woke up and essentially did the exact same thing as the day before. Danny had brought his chess board that my parents gifted him for Christmas and he played (and defeated of course!) a few of the other guys. During the day, there was music playing, people hula hooping, volleyball, splash contests, dance contests, and any other group beach activity you can think of. We met some cool Mexican girls and invited them to come jump on the trampoline next door. After a rigorous jumping session, a local pulled up on an ATV and offered the three of us a ride down the beach. Remembering all the words of caution my parents and friends had given me about living in Mexico, I ignored them and hopped on the back of a 2-person ATV with 3 other people and sped off down the beach with a total stranger behind the wheel. Street smarts, I am lacking.
We made it back to the hotel in time to hear someone mention an all-you-can-eat fish dinner next door for 100 pesos. Anyone who knows me, knows that seafood, especially fish filet, is not my thing. I'd much rather have a nice steak. But it seemed like the right time to throw caution to the wind. After all, it doesn't get much fresher than that. The striper we ate Sunday night was planning his future that very morning. Super fresh. So we rinsed off, got changed, and walked next door to a small building (another hotel?) that was owned by an American woman. The outside tiki bar was playing the Super Bowl, which everyone was amazed that the Americans cared nothing about. We rubbed our toes in the sand while we ate fish, potato salad, rice, salad, and tortillas and watched the Giants beat...the Patriots?? I ate two helpings of fish and have since decided to give it a try more often when I go to restaurants (this is a real turning point for me, guys). After dinner, we walked back and sat by the campfire for a bit. As the food settled and the fire hypnotized, Danny proposed that we go to the tent and try to squeeze in a half hour power nap before the beach party. I admitted that I was feeling kinda beat too, so we walked up to the tent and set our alarms...and woke up at 1am...I basically sprinted from the tent and grabbed the first person I saw to ask if we had missed the floating lanterns...we totally had...I was pretty bummed that we missed it considering it was the one thing I had looked forward to most about the trip. Everyone kept saying how life changing and magical it was. Yadda yadda yadda. The beach party was in full swing, but it was a little hard to get in the spirit after that. We walked down a bit on the beach and sat awhile and then headed up the tent to go back to sleep. The next day we were supposed to leave by 1, but of course in Mexico time that means more like 2:30. We ended up not getting home until midnight. All in all, it was a great trip and we met some really cool people that we will be able to hang out with and explore with in the next few months.
Hasta la proxima!
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