Puerto Vallarta, Take 2

This past weekend we headed to Puerto Vallarta with a group of friends. A couple of the guys in the group are originally from Vallarta so they offered to take us on a trip and show us the more local side of things. We planned for half of us to stay with Jose Luis (aka Coi) and the other half to stay at Diego's place on the beach. We left on Friday afternoon at 6pm and took Primera Plus again (the luxury bus line).

looking our the bus window at the pretty mountains on the way to Vallarta

 Danny and I stayed with Coi and a few other people at his house in the center of Old Vallarta. His dad, who owns a furniture dealership in Vallarta picked us up at the bus station and drove us to his beautiful home. As it was already pretty late when we got into town, we quickly changed and headed to the club. The first night we went to a club called "Disco Rockie" It was only 100 pesos for girls to have open bar until 2 a.m. Somehow, Coi and Diego managed to work it out so that "open bar" turned into entire bottles of alcohol (including a bottle of champagne at one point) and mixers being brought to our table, so we didn't even have to bother with going to the bar. It seemed like they knew everyone in the club and apparently Jose's sister is married to the mayor? or the king of vallarta?? something like that, so it seemed like he sort of had his run of the place. To be honest, I wasn't 100 percent prepared for the party scene in Vallarta. The group we were with partied well into the morning, returning both nights at around 6 a.m. It was pretty tough to stay alert and excited about being out. In my opinion NOTHING is fun for 6 hours. I hung in there though and we went to Xtine after the first club and then grabbed tacos al pastor on the way home (at 6am), at a place called Pepe's .

 

Our group inside Disco Rockie

The next morning, I was the first to wake up and I spent about a half an hour talking to Jose's dad in VERY poor Spanish about Vallarta and his family (hey, atleast I tried). My spanish is getting a little better now that I'm two weeks into my class. My listening comprehension is pretty good, but I have a tough time remembering the conjugations and tenses. Anywho, a nice lady who works for Jose's family made us eggs and cut up fresh fruit for us and then we put on our swimsuits and headed over to Diego's house in Nuevo Vallarta to spend the day at the pool/beach. Here's some pics of Jose's place in downtown Vallarta.

By the time we got to Diego's place in Nuevo Vallarta, it was around noon. Diego, who also had a paid helper at his house, served us a version of Mexican lasagna which was served in a casserole dish and consisted of layers of tortilla, cheese, shredded chicken, and mole verde. Super tasty. I thought this was the place we would be staying for the day, since it had an awesome pool and was located right on the canal, but then we were told we would be heading to the "real" beach/pool area. Sooo Diego's family not only owned a beautiful home on the canal with a pool in a very nice gated community, but they ALSO owned a second beachfront apartment in the same development. Needless to say, this is not how the majority of Mexican citizens live, but it was definitely a sweet deal.

Tough life.

We hung out by the pool for most of the afternoon and then went out for ceviche and shrimp tacos at a cool local seafood restaurant nearby.

Ceviche tostada

After a nap and a shower we went out Saturday night for drinks at a rooftop bar in Nuevo Vallarta. We  introduced our Mexican friends to the "Pickleback" shot, which is basically a shot of whiskey immediately followed by a shot of pickle juice (thanks, Jackie!). However, since pickles aren't really part of the average Mexican diet, everyone thought they tasted pretty strange ("It tastes like McDonald's!). After the rooftop bar, we went to a place which was having a Casino-themed event.

light-up ceiling at the rooftop bar

Jose Luis and Phillip at the blackjack table

Once we got inside, we could tell the casino theme was in full effect. They had blackjack tables set up, and vests you could tie on to make it look like you were wearing formal wear. All of the tables looked like large di and there were giant playing cards everywhere. They seemed to notice that we enjoyed the plastic top hats and vests so they just kept bringing more and more props for us (what is it with Mexicans and props??) At one point during the night, we discovered that Mark, one of our friends was on Mexico's version of American Idol. He also performed at Euro Disney for a few years. He's sort of a mini-celeb in Mexico. So after a few drinks, he got on the stage and sang some classic Mexican love songs. Here's mark on "L'Academia":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fwra8FEyXe0

And here's Mark onstage Saturday night

Yep. Wigs and Boas

Dancing in my formal wear

The next morning, we woke up and went to a market near El Malecon. I bought a beaded skull made by the Huichol people (the same ones who make the yarn art). I'm pretty excited because I had been specifically looking for one for awhile now. At 5pm, we headed to the bus station to catch our ride back to GDL. The weekend was a lot of fun, but a little bit draining. I think we will abstain from partying for at least a week. Maybe.

Hasta la proxima!

Random Guadalajara Adventures

I realized Danny and I had a few random pictures from adventures that we'd forgotten to put up on the blog, so I'm gonna catch you folks up on the things we've been doing here in Mexico...

 First things first, a couple weekends ago, a guy named Edgar whom we had met at a party through a mutual friend invited us to his country house for his sister's birthday party. No one lives in the home, it's strictly for partying on the weekends. The house was located in Tonala, a small artesan town about 40 minutes outside of Guadalajara. Saturday night, Edgar sent us a facebook message saying he would pick all of us up on Chapultepec at 8:30 (in ahorita time that means 9pm) So Utsav, Anosh, Kinjalk, and Danny & I all waited on the corner for Edgar to show up. He finally arrived and told us that his friend was across the street waiting to take us to Tonala. At first, I saw a nice Audi SUV, but then that pulled away and behind it was sitting a small Toyota pick up truck. We realized that we were meant to ride in the back of this truck for the entire trip to Tonala. Being the only girl in the group, I got to ride shotgun with a complete stranger who spoke zero English for the 40 minute trip (lucky me!). It was pretty funny looking back at all the guys in the truck with the wind blowing in their face. By the time we got to the house, they were all pretty chilled. 

On the ride to Tonala. Comedy.

Typical fiesta fare in Mexico. They're basically fried air which is then covered in hot sauce. Delicious AND nutritious

 When we first arrived, there weren't many people there (it was still fairly early). We had some Agua Loca which is a punch served at parties. I'm pretty sure this agua loca had a few types of liquor and some fruit juice in it. It basically tastes like a hangover. More people began to arrive and the agua loca started flowing. At one point, a box of wigs and masks was brought out (doesn't everyone have a dress-up chest in their house???) which made things even more interesting.

 

Utsav and I in disguise

 It doesn't get much more authentic than the experience we had in Tonala. We danced the night away in the living room, high-school party style, and got to practice our Spanish with some native speakers once our inhibitions were lowered. Super fun.

Another recent adventure is the trip we made to Areno Coliseo to watch a Lucha Libre fight. Lucha Libre in Mexico is fairly popular. The closest thing I can compare it to would be WWE wrestling in the States. The luchadores come out to some sort of crazy music and some of them are wearing masks (some of them are even women! I was pretty surprised). The fighting is mostly fake and heavily rehearsed, but you've gotta admit it does take some talent for these guys to throw each other around and make it look real without killing each other. The crowd actually pays little attention to the fighting itself and mostly chants insults at each other/random people in the crowd (ex. "The guy in the green is a loser." obviously cleaned up immensely since this is a PG blog) or they chant "vuelta!" or "turn around" whenever a pretty girl walks through the crows. Needless to say, I was frozen to my seat for the entire time, afraid I'd be called out and embarrassed in Spanish. It was cool to experience part of Mexican culture, but I doubt we will go back. I did, however purchase some Mexican movies today, one of them starring the famous Luchador, El Santo, who did several movies from the 50's to the 80's here in Mexico. The guy is an icon here. We watched "El Santo contra Los Monstros" in class on friday. It's every bit as bad (good?) as the old Batman and Robin movies. Defintely worth checking out. Hasta la proxima!

"I'm a model you know what I mean & I do my little turn on the catwalk"

Just a few days after we had first arrived in GDL, Danny was approached outside of the hostel by a couple guys from a new modeling agency next door called Highlight, who handed him a business card and told him to come by if he was interested. They said they liked his "look" (tall, skinny, red hair, beard) and if he wanted to come by on the weekends, he could do some test photos and learn how to do runway shows. Excited at the idea of being able to meet people, learn Spanish, and do something he'd never done before, Danny went to a couple of the classes and, a couple weeks later, attended a presentation of all the models at the agency. The presentation was an opportunity for some of the local designers to select models for an upcoming fashion show.

The Venue (aka the Fiat showroom)

The man of the hour

Last week Utsav and I attended the show, which was also a promotion for the new Fiat 500 car which is being released in Mexico. The show was held at the Fiat showroom on Avila Camache and Utsav and I arrived in time to wish Danny good luck and then take our seats. The first few collections were interesting. The designers were young and local so there was definitely room for them improve their technique. However, the last few collections, including the designer Danny walked for, Diego Zuniga, were pretty cool. All of the other models were Mexican, so Danny was fairly easy to spot. He didn't get paid for doing the show (none of the models did), but he said it was a really cool experience and, I've gotta admit, it was pretty surreal to see him up there strutting his stuff. I took a video of the collection Danny walked in for your viewing pleasure: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1OtVtO638Q&feature=youtu.be

Romance in 'The Pearl of the West'

   Despite the uncharacteristically poor weather (a week straight of rain and clouds), Sallie and I managed to have ourselves a charming little time here the past few days. We had been looking forward to brunch at a popular spot 5 minutes walk from the hostel called "La Cafeteria," and it was every bit as good as we'd hoped. The lattes were the best we've had yet, the people were friendly, and there was even a cool little boutique upstairs where Sallie found herself a pretty choice dress.

Out front they brought us coffee while we waited to be seated. Really wouldn't mind if this idea caught on more.

As is typical with most mexican dishes, the huevos rancheros came drenched in sauce.

Going away party for Jose Luis, aka 'Goy', with a bunch of friends from the beach trip. Goy is leaving to NYC for 10 days to see his girlfriend. Wish people threw me a going away party every time I left town for a week and a half. This was back at the restaurant La Tequila if you couldn't tell from the giant wall of tequila behind us.

Since we arrived Sallie has been looking hard to find productive ways to occupy her time while I'm at school. First she looked around at possible jobs thinking maybe working at a cafe or hotel would be fun. But alas not speaking spanish proved to be a big obstacle. So she thought, "hmm... what kind of job would let me speak english??" English tutoring! Right!?... Wrong :( . Unfortunately it was too late since the school term already started and it would take 4-6 weeks to get certified at the language institutes. So since figuring this out she has been looking for a way to study spanish. Most places were way too expensive, but she finally found an excellent place in Tlaquepaque, a very nice town on the outskirts of GDL. The school is called the Guadalajara Language Center and offers classes for 2 hours a day for 4 weeks, and it runs at around $350 USD. All the reviews said that for the quality of the training the deal is a steal. So at 7:30am on Monday Sallie donned her bookbag and set off for the 50min-1hr bus ride. She found herself in class with 2 Canadians and an American for a grand total of 3. Her teacher's name is Luz, meaning 'light' in spanish, and is very skilled in bringing floundering foreigners to some level of fluency in a very short time. Here are some shots around Tlaquepaque:

WARNING: Sappy romantical stuff ahead...

El Dia de San Valentine was a much more popular holiday here than expected. At school they had a big fair with lots of nifty gifts like elaborate homemade chocolates, chocolate fountains, chocolate covered fruits, and  well, I guess mostly just chocolate.  Most local stores and restaurants also had amped-up  Valentine's Day specials, and I was generally impressed with the amount of effort the city put into the event. Sallie went to a local papeleria to get paper to make me a card AND envelope. Don't ask me how. We took pictures and hung out with the hostel guy, Moises, and his girlfriend before going to Cocina 88, a highly-recommended restaurant within walking distance.

Way too excited to wear my new shades.

 

After enjoying fish for the first time ever on the past beach trip, Sallie has been looking for more opportunities to try out her new-found seafood taste. Ours came fresh and in a mango sauce. Again she wasn't disappointed.

But cheese for desert. Really Mexico? It's down-right impossible to have an entire meal devoid of cheese here.

 The rest of my card from Sallie. Note the two heads sticking up from the bottom. Isn't my gal just a doll? 

We thought the LCD screen on the bill holder was a bit extreme but still pretty cool. 

After dinner we headed to El Centro and asked the cabby to recommend a good place for coffee. We then grabbed some drinks and found a horse carriage around the corner that would take us on a nice tour of the city. $200 pesos for 35 minutes was very reasonable. We knew it was very touristy of us, but figured our pride would allow it on Valentine's Day. It ended up being very fun, and I'd definitely recommend it to visitors whenever the urge strikes them.

Camping Beach Trip with Conexion

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.

The view from inside our tiny tent

The beach was beautiful and, aside from the 150 international students and a few hotel workers, completely deserted. We made some cocktails with the tequila we brought and laid in the sun awhile and made some friends. We met up with some Australians who we had invited along on the trip and they were chatting with a Canadian guy and a Spaniard. Both were very funny and nice and it was fun exchanging stories about assimilating to Mexican culture. After getting a little light-headed from the day-drinking, we explored a little and found a place next door (later discovered this was a turtle reserve) with a trampoline and had a little fun there.

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!