Blogs from Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, North America - page 5

But it sure gives me something to write home about! ;) Life in Mexico: a few observations written over days/weeks I'd like to share with you all a few simple things I've learned. 1. The authentic way to eat a taco: Take a half lime, squirt the juice all over the taco, add spicy spicy salsa, and roll it up. Then eat. 2. Those hard "taco shells" that we have in the U.S.? They're pretty much non-existent in Mexico. 3. If there's not (at least) one taco stand on every block, you're not in Mexico. Some are open 7-7. That's right. 7pm to 7am. And they deliver. Also, you can get a taco with pretty much anything on it. I still don't understand the difference between the different types of carne: asada, de res, bistec, seca ... read more

(I promise you won't be getting updates this often... it's just that a lot has happened in the first week here, and I took lots of photos I wanted to post before I forget about them.) Pues, ¿dónde empezar? Saturday 7/22 Jorge picked me up at my hotel (after several--about 6-- attempts at getting a hold of me). He's really nice, super lindo, and very very eager to help out an extranjera (foreigner) who has no idea how to go about finding an apartment in this city. It was great because we drove over to campus, he took me up and down some of the streets, showed me different campus buildings... how cool is this?!: two of their campus buildings have nicknames like licuadora and servilleta because they look like a blender and napkin holder, respectively. ... read more

The passengers were ushered through immigration in Cancun like VIP´s after we arrived back from Havana. The return flight was fun as I bumped into an Aussie guy from a hostel in Guatemala, and we had an animated debrief of our respective travel experiences in Cuba. From Cancun I organised a bus to the famous Mayan ruins of Palenque where I spent an engrossing morning exploring, taking photos and meditating at this wonderful sight in a peaceful setting. I then pushed on to the quality Backpackers hostel in the gorgeous colonial town of San Cristobal, where I effortlessly slotted back into the backpacker scene. The difference was striking as I had been spending all my time with Cubans of late, but meeting friendly and polite travellers is always one of the great joys of life on ... read more

051121 THE Salsa night... ooh and other dances I sit here in an empty class room, after 45 mins sleep in a slight relaxed rush to finish my final project for my 7am ‘Life Drawing’ which conveniently moved to 8:30, i mean I could’ve made breakfast.... forget the sleep! Lol Anyways, last night was the most magical night of my life.... lol no, not really... but it sure was fun, after a semester of salsa (which mind you, secretly, I think it’s the most I’ve acquired in the sense of knowledge here ...) life lesson on the other hand... come everyday :) SO final night, and we were the final act! Two shows the second was PACKED out and the auditorium is .... pretty gigantic... like double the size of the Auckland Girls Grammar one. Ya ... read more

051001 First weekend back at ‘home’ ☺ Wow, it’s October already! Scary… my Spanish is still ‘mas o menos’(so-so), my intentions were to have a Spanish Saturday and Sunday study ☺ But after three hours… those intentions, changed :S Saturday, after a big sole- clean-up of the house, I started to do my homework…. A wee while later, Janey ask my to accompany her to rival (a piercing and taboo place - very professional and hygienic I might add), the second person I’ve accompanied to get their tongue pierced (what’s with that?!) anyways, we had a girly day, shopping downtown, piercing, and grocery shopping … ooh and I had McD’s for the first time in Mexico too, not bad, not bad ☺ That night, i came home to a quiet house and a full fridge, but ... read more