Calamari
Kelly Murray Joined: June 13th 2009
Logged in: July 23rd 2010
Logged in: July 23rd 2010
Travel Blog Posts
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Coyoacan is a district in Mexico City. It is quiet and quaint...Dr. Fernandez took a group of us out to this to see the Frida Kahlo museum. We took the metro for 10 stops to reach Coyoacan, and walked a mile to the area we wanted to visit. Some members of the group were complaining about the walk, but I say, what better way to get to know a city than to walk it? My friends like to joke that I trip or stub my toe often...They try to count how many times I trip each day...I can't help it! I don't like to look at my feet when I walk but apparently in Mexico it is a necessity! The sidewalks are either uneven because of roots from trees growing underneath or there is cobblestone which ... read more
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I wish I could upload my 250+ pictures, but it will take hours on a slow internet connection. I am actually leaching internet from the Starbucks down the street from my hotel room. The last three days have gone by like a whirlwind...I have to admit I've done a good bit of sleeping while in Mexico City...This hotel room is just so nice and there are big fluffy blankets and air conditioning...it's so difficult to get out of bed in the morning because it's just so dang comfortable. Adventures have included... Monday: The three culture plaza--the site where a massacre occurred during the 60's (see ) when a group of students wanted the Mexican government to spend less money on the Olympics and more money on education...Hundreds died; a trip around downtown and Zona Rosa...we saw ... read more
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Mexico City in 20 words or less: An incredibly large, absurdly dense, booming metropolis of unbelievable proportion with a history dating back to the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan. La Ciudad de Mexico was built upon the former Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan (Teh-noh-cheet-lahn'). Tenochtitlan was originally composed of man-made islands in the middle of a lake. See After a sad goodbye to our host parents, we took a brief flight (one hour) from Guadalajara to Mexico City. The landscape changed from City to Desert to Foothills to Mountains to...Urban Giant. I cannot describe in words how it felt to be flying over 23 million people...I could have sworn I could hear the cars and people below from inside the cabin. As far as the eye could see: buildings...along the horizon the city continued, and then faded into a dense ... read more
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So the stress is over! We had exams yesterday (Thursday)...not sure what my "notas" are, but I will soon find out. We are trying to "live it up" our last couple of days in Guadalajara...after exams, we took a long siesta and then headed out to the clubs! The scene last night was similar to east Atlanta...alternative-ish...lots of music lovers, etc. We went to Wingston's, a place that only sells hot wings and beer, then to a club on top of a roof of a building, then to a bar called Bali Bar. Bali Bar had this amazing cover band...a girl and a guy singer...they could sing ANYTHING...Queen, Reggaeton music, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and on and on...Crystal and I especially loved the band...they'd alternate a few songs of the band and then discotheque music. We stayed ... read more
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Another adventure awaited us in Puerto Vallarta (pwehr-toh vay-ahr'-tah). A girl in our group's mother works for a travel agency and found us a great deal.... US $34 per night/day in an all-inclusive resort on a southern beach in Puerto Vallarta. Meals, drinks, room, towels, entertainment, etc. were all included in the price. Most all-inclusive hotels in PV cost around US $200-300 per night. We left Guadalajara on Thursday afternoon and took a six-hour bus ride again through windy bumpy roads across the mountains to the coast. A few days earlier, I had read some online reviews about the place we stayed at, Club Meza del Mar, and the reviews made it sound like a disgusting truck stop! But I was pleasantly surprised by the place. We were the only "gringos" at the hotel, and ... read more
I'd say the best part about going to Mexico has been, besides the sights and attractions, besides the new experiences, besides learning Spanish....has been simply hanging out with the people I'm rooming with and the other GSU students that are living down the street. Yesterday, after classes ended, we decided to go to the San Juan de Dios market near downtown Guadalajara. I had heard that it was a really big market, but I had no idea exactly to what extent. This place was actually an indoor market, and it would have taken 3 or 4 hours to shop the whole thing. It was a cramped, crowded, and hot, giant multiple-floor warehouse. If you wanted a watch, they had 'em. If you wanted sunglasses, they had 'em. If you wanted a microwave, they had 'em too. ... read more
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This past weekend, we had a blast in Sayulita, Mexico!! A group of 16 of us from the University of Colorado and Georgia State University rented a house called Casa Agave in the mountains of Sayulita. The 5,000 sq. ft. house was completely covered in tile and adobe...and the bedrooms had A/C! Ah, the luxuries of air conditioning. We decided to go to Sayulita because we heard that it wasn't as touristy as somewhere like Puerto Vallarta. It is small and quaint with mostly dirt roads. However, there were plenty of tourists, Mexican and USians, and tons of haggling on the beach. It was still very beautiful, though. When we arrived on Thursday night after six grueling hours of nauseatingly windy roads through mountains, there was a hurricane-like storm on the West Coast of Mexico. The ... read more
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This past weekend, we traveled four hours via bus to Guanajuato, Guanajuato (state). Guanajuato (pronounced gwahna-hua'-toh) is known for being one of the most beautiful cities in Mexico. Cobblestone streets, outdoor markets and mariachi make this small mountain city unique. The history of the city dates back to the 1500s with the Spanish conquest of Mexico. The name means "hill of frogs" in the local indigenous language. On the bus ride from Guadalajara to Guanajuato, we got a chance to see the Mexican countryside. Not surprisingly, we got a glimpse of "third-world" side of Mexico. Most say that Mexico is closer to its third-world past than its first-world future. Living in Guadalajara, it is hard to see this unless you travel outside of the city. Not to say that there isn't any inner-city poverty, because there ... read more
So I have noticed that my blog is lacking in cultural observations...so here are a few that we've found so far: 1. If people are being jerks on the bus when there's standing room only, it's okay to physically force people to move. 2. You must always look both ways when crossing a one-way street. 3. Instead of slowing down when there's a pedestrian, many people will literally speed up. 4. Money will allow you to do just about anything. 5. Bargaining is encouraged when there's no price listed. People here know to overprice things to allow for this. 6. Men will whistle and shout at US women even if it means causing a traffic jam. 7. If you don't understand what's going on due to the language barrier, just smile and say "OK" and that's ... read more
