My Apartment

Here's a few pics of my apartment. It's HUGE but has little furniture.

I live with two mexicans who are my age and older and don't go to my school. They have real jobs and one is an MBA too. They're awesome and always speak spanish to me to practice even though it would be much much easier for them to speak to me in english.

I live in condesa which is the cute, young neighborhood where all the bars and restaurants are. It's very safe and beautiful with 2 large parks and it's always lively. I can time my watch by the whistle from the tamale guy at night everyday except sunday. Tamales were my favorite street food until some mexicans ruined that for me the other night when they told me they are made with lard...ugh...maybe i'll forget that detail at some point

Puerto Vallarta

splurged on a long overdue birthday vacation with my mom...our hotel was amazing. this woman bought up 3 separate properties that were next to each other and turned them into a boutique hotel. it could not have been more perfect. if you're in the market, its called hacienda san angel

our room:



our pool right outside our room:



some of the grounds:








the beach walk (el malecon):







thanks mom! love you!

#1 Taqueria

Frida

Visited Frida Kahlos house in Coayacan (no pics allowed inside). Pretty cool. It actually looks much like all of Mexico. Nobody believes me but the city is covered in green, green, green everywhere. I'm sure it helps with the pollution.



And Claire grabbed a much sought after (though mini) glass bottled coke after walking the cobblestone steets that we got lost in

Shopping!

So we went to Taxco which is apparently the place to be for buying silver...cheap. We had a great lunch with sangria and margaritas that got us ready to shop! Oh! And if you ever see 'molcajete' on the menu...get it! que rica!

The hours just flew buy...oh yeah, and the church was nice. I think this might be my fav pic of the whole trip so far.

Teotihuacan

My friend Claire came to visit and we went to see my first ruins (ever) at Teotihuacan. Apparently these weren't built by the Aztecs (they don't know who built them) but the aztecs uncovered them when they were just kickin' it and following an eagle around because they were smokin peyote (that's not exactly how the guide told it but i think that's what really happened). So apparently they predict the world is going to end in 2012 by earthquake...watch out cali!



We climbed the pyramid of the sun and got a little lesson on how awesome the cactus plant is that they use to make pulque out of is. Pulque is a very weak almost milky alcohol and is what mexicans used to drink before they discovered they could make tequilla out of the agave plant (which looks the same).



The plant leaves can also be torn apart to reveal a needle and thread, writing paper, and soap...insane!

My Stalker

This is the only picture that I have of my stalker but now that I look closer he is a little crazy eyes. I met him through a friend of a boyfriend of a friend's friend. So obviously six degrees of separation is not always the best way to expand your social circle. I went out with him once to have dinner and he's been emailing, texting, and calling and leaving messages ever since. I made the mistake of telling him when we were going to Lucha Libre and he showed up. I think he might just not have any friends...but he's mexican and has lived here his whole life...maybe its because he acts like a stalker!

Lucha Libre

Lucha Libre is like WWF in the states. I think it was inspired by the one in the states but it is HUGE here (apparently). They all wear masks which is somehow symbolic of the faceless mexican that works to fight for his country. But they've risen above that symbolism enough to bring midgets into the ring to throw around. Unfortunately they didn't allow photos inside the stadium but here's some good ones from outside. All in all, I think you need to be pretty drunk or dumb to enjoy it for more than an hour (tops). I wonder if that says something about the general population of mexico...hmmmm?

Bull Fights

Ole! I went to the Plaza Mexico a few weeks ago for one of the most sought after tickets in Bull Fighting. This guy Jose Tomas is apparently a world renowed matador or 'torredor' and rarely comes to Mexico so everyone was psyc'd. Apparently we paid 3x or 4x the ticket price but it was still cheap. Someone apparently slept on the sidewalk like it was a damn U2 concert or something...I don't know...I don't really believe it but that's the story.




Apparently, they mame the animal with spears to keep it from having a heart attack, then they play with it a little and get real close and ultimately stab it in brain and pull it away on a stretcher. There's a whole bunch of traditional stuff in between too.


So other than the fact that this Spanard is crazy and got super close to the bull and got bucked twice, I think he's most famous b/c he was the first matador to come out of the closet...very progressive (he's the one in the pretty blue outfit with hot pink socks waving the bull's ear at the crowd...then he threw it at someone...awesome)


So a less famous but equally crazy matador was bucked 3 times by his bull and looked like he was dead. You can see the picture of them carrying him out of the ring. ooofff! insane. He was fine though and most of the blood on him is from the poor bull (sad). But I have to admit that it was amazing and I wasn't nearly as disturbed by the spectacle as I thought I would be.

A must see in my book...