nicaraguan peace corps volunteer's adventures in mexico city, part 1

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Hey hey who gets to choose "North America" and "Mexico" for her locations! This girl!!

So my flights were goooood. I stayed at Backpackers Inn in Managua the night before my flight. I was sitting there getting very annoyed with all the travellers who have hit up the tourist spots in Nica and are sure they KNOW Nicaragua because they once talked with a street vendor / homeless man / bartender. To hell with that. You go live in the campo de campo for a few months and THEN we'll talk.

Left at 4:30 am for my flight to the good ol' USofA at 6:30. Got to Texas and through customs. Love how they look at your passport and always say "Welcome Home". Really, I appreciate every time. But yesterday I was like, thanks, gotta run to get to Mexico! And literally, I had to run. I was still waaaay far away and I hear, "All passengers for flight 1424 to Mexico City should be boarded at Gate E5," so I am THAT girl running through the airport being like EXCUSE ME! PERMIIIISOOO!

But I got here. And it is glorious. First, after getting through customs once again for over an hour, I finally emerged and was confronted with a bunch of Mexicans holding signs for various travellers... but no wife. So I figure she's in the crowd somewhere. So I bust through and go wait on the fringes, looking for the Abeyta. And then she emerges from the crowd, and it was a very "Love Actually" moment as we ran to each other in slow motion, me throwing my bags to the floor, and embraced each other and turned in circles giggling. Yeah.

The taxi ride was a little overwhelming. Basically all of yesterday was overwhelming. But after a few beers we loosened up and the convo flowed freely.

So Abeyta lives in the Gayborhood of Mexico City. With a gay man named Orlando. And her best friends are Joey and Enrique and Kim. Joey is a gay American who is with Enrique of DF. And Kim is a cracked Korean living in DF. But I've only met Joey. And I love him.

But first, this apartment! Old tile floors, old wood floors, awesome old glass windows with great light and a guest room and a laptop with wireless and good music that's different than mine and CAT CAT! Yes, Rori is here from Philly! Arielle has hauled her from Philly to Seattle to Mexico City and through three different apartments.

Then we went to Joey and Enrique's apartment. Where Joey was busy cooking pasta carbonera for us. So we walked in to the smells of frying bacon and garlic and I was kissed on the cheek and I was in love. Bacardi lemonade and some awesome food in another awesome apartment IN A CITY.

Yesterday I had: pasta carbonera at Joey's. Then, big mugs of dark beer sitting outside at a bar where the crazy football fans of the Mexican team Cruz Azul made a lot of noise, and then we went to Papi Fun Bar... perhaps the gayest bar I have ever seen. Where we had beer with salsa in it and salt on the rims. And it was awesome. But by then it was all of like 9pm and I was hungry. So we got hotdogs on the street, fried with Oxacan cheese with green salsa and tomatoes and ketchup. And it was glorious. And then we were walking back to Arielle's apartment and she heard the tamale guy's song, so she went running to get us tamales that we could come back here and eat while we watched a movie. Tamales of chicken and green chile with fresh cream from her fridge. And we finished with some of the awesome chocolate that I brought from Nicaragua.

Things Nicaraguan is missing. Salsa and salt in beers. And green chile. Why in the world does Mexico get green chile and we don't?

Now, my body did expel most of that awesomely rich food this morning. It just needs time to adjust. So. I am going to shower. And do some laundry by hand on her roof. And then we are going TO STARBUCKS!!!!

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Comments

[mom]

Thank You! aahhhhh
So glad to hear that your journey went so well! Did you get your mail before you took off? OK,...IF you did,...remember to put peanut butter on your frig list! Bye! Love you! ENJOY!

[Angel]

whoa!
the excitement over le starbucks :) its exciting! miss you guys!