Getting some closure (with a little help from Moctezuma)
Well, I suppose this blog wouldn't be complete if it didn't include at least one last entry having to do with the status of my health--i.e. I'm leaving Mexico in a few days and yes, diarrhea has struck once again. And I thought I was in the clear. Oh, no. Moctezuma had other plans. So where was I this time when that awful, all-too-familiar rumbly feeling struck my tummy? Why, in San Miguel de Allende, of course.
Here's what happened: my new-found friend Sue, a girl about my age from England who I met staying at the same hostel as me in Guanajuato, invited me to go to San Miguel with her on Saturday. I had mentioned that San Miguel de Allende was on my list of must-sees before I leave the country and that I was planning on heading there after Guanajuato, but she was making a day trip on Saturday with a couple other people from her university where she's taking Spanish classes, so I of course I was excited to have the chance to go for the day and check it out. Well, as everyone had said it would be, San Miguel was absolutely picturesque with all of its colorful buildings, gardens, plazas, and I can see why so many gringos come here to retire--San Miguel is known for its large ex-pat community. However, my stomach was feeling a little funny from the minute I had woken up that morning, and as the day progressed, it wasn't getting any better.
The group--there were five of us altogether--decided to stop at a Chinese restaurant for a late afternoon lunch. Torston, our German tour guide who's been living in Mexico for 5 years and teaches Spanish at Sue's school, had recommended it. You might be thinking,
Why on earth would anyone opt for Chinese food when traveling in Mexico?? But believe me, after 3 months of eating Mexican food, which basically consists of tortillas, meat, beans, rice, and more beans, Chinese was sounding pretty good. Or so I thought. As soon as the food arrived at the table, I took one look at it, took a bite, and booked it to the bathroom. When I made it back to the table, I tried another bite, but even just the site of the food was making my stomach rumble, and not in the hungry appetite sort of way. I had to spend the rest of the meal sipping my 7up and averting my eyes from everyone's food.
After our late lunch, while everyone else browsed the crafts market, Maura, another one of the students also from England, stayed back with me to hang out close to the public pay toilets. And though one might think that since you have to pay to use these toilets, your 2 pesos would be going towards helping keep them clean, but obviously you've never used a public restroom in Mexico. There is never a toilet seat, the garbage can is always full of dirty TP (since you can't flush it here), and just the mere sight of one of these bathrooms would make someone who is otherwise perfectly healthy feel a little ill. Needless to say, this wasn't exactly one of the sites I wanted to be spending my time seeing in San Miguel. Maura was absolutely lovely and happy to wait outside the restrooms and people watch while I took my needed time in the bathroom. Apparently, she had just gone through a bad spell of traveler's diarrhea a couple days earlier, so that left her with a bit of a soft spot and felt sympathy for me.
Fortunately, it was close to the end of the day and I knew the trip back to Guanajuato would only be an hour, and I felt like I could make it. So after being given automatic shotgun once we got back to the car, I was feeling pretty relieved, until I remembered all the cobblestone streets we had driven on our way into town. Bumping up and down in the car, my stomach was feeling about twice as bad as it had before, and I was beginning to miss the quality time I had spent with the pay toilets. Finally, Torston dropped us off back in Guanjuato and I made it to the hostel, thanking God that I had payed the few extra pesos a night to have my own private bathroom.
I ended up staying almost the entire next day in the hostel, only making it out to see a couple sights and getting to mass on Easter Sunday. As I was out and about, I realized that when you've got a serious case of Moctezuma's Revenge, that's all you think about. Everywhere I went, it was,
OK, where's the closest bathroom? Any street vendor who approached me, I thought,
Not now, can't you see I've got diarrhea? And especially whenever I heard the usual cat call or whistle from a guy, especially when one tried to stop me to take a picture with him as a "souvenire," I felt like decking him. My original plan was to head on to my next city on Sunday after spending 3 nights in Guanajuato, but the thought of spending 3 or 4 hours on a bus was enough to keep me another night.
On Monday, I was feeling a little better but decided to make my way back to San Juan to re-coup for a day or so. Between the way I had been feeling and the lack of clean laundry, I wasn't feeling adventurous enough to make my way to another new city. But it turned out OK, because by Tuesday, I was already feeling a lot better, and my friend Emmanuel happened to stop by the house and took me to see La Peña de Bernal, this huge rock form-type monolith that's not too far from where I've been living. This was another place that I had heard about and been wanting to see, so it worked out perfectly that I was back in town for the right day when he could go.
Yesterday morning, Wednesday, I packed up my backpack once again and decided to head to Pátzcuaro, this little picturesque town located a couple states over from Querétaro. A few people had recommended it to me on individual occasions, so after transferring buses 3 times, I finally made it hear yesterday late afternoon. This town is very quaint with all of its white-washed adobe buildings with red-tiled roofs (rooves?) and it's also right by a lake. Yesterday, I checked out a couple museums and today I took a boat trip to one of the islands on the lake. This is definitely a very relaxed, peaceful town which has been a nice change from all the crowds of La Semana Santa craziness that I experienced in Guanajuato.
Tomorrow I'm heading back to San Juan for one more night. The group of friends I've made want to take me out for some drinking and dancing in form of my "despedida," or send-off. I'm excited at the chance to go out with everyone one last night before I leave Mexico, because I really will miss the people I've met here. Saturday morning, I'm going to hop on my last bus-ride and head to Mexico City, where I'll stay with Lorraine for 2 nights before I fly out on Monday.
Overall, despite the diarrhea spell that put a little dent into my travels this week, this has been a great last week or so of getting around Mexico on my own. I'm really looking forward to my last weekend here and feel like I'm going out on a high note, which is amazing to say considering how after the start I got off too, this experience has really turned around. Right now, I'm going to see if there's any live music that I can stumble across like I did last night, so I suppose here is where I'm ending the blog. Thanks for reading, everyone, and I'm sure there will be more to come--I'm definitely feeling inspired to get back to Mexico again soon!
Saludos,
Rachel F. Wenzke
On the road again
It's been a while since my last blog, so I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm doing just fine. The trip with Mom and Dad was great--sort of a whirlwind, too. We spent time in Guadalajara, Mexico's second largest and a very cool city, stopped through Tequila (yes, there's actually a town in Mexico called Tequila and we did visit the Tequila museum), and spent the week in Nuevo Vallarta, a beautiful resort-type place on the Pacific coast. We made it to Puerto Vallarta several times, which is a really cool city just south of where we were staying. After a week of soaking in the sun, we made our way back east and stopped in Morelia for a night, which is this really interesting colonial city that made it feel like we had traveled back in time. Finally, we made the last stretch of the trip back to Mexico City, went to Teotihuacán for the day to see the Aztec pyramids, and finally after that I saw Mom and Dad off to the airport and made my way back up to San Juan. Whew! So that's the really abridged version of our trip, but there are pictures. And one more thing, my advice to anyone who rents a car in Mexico--please know that you're gonna get lost, you might have to bribe a cop or two along the way, and more importantly, don't ever, EVER attempt to drive in Mexico City.
Some of you already know this, but I am officially on my way back to the US at the end of my 90 days. I'll be flying back in less than two weeks, April 24th, and I'm really excited. But, before I go, I decided I needed to take the initiative, hop on a bus, and do some traveling on my own before leaving Mexico. Right now, I'm writing from Guanajuato, which is this amazing colonial city with all these crooked cobblestone streets surrounded by a setting of mountains. I had heard from numerous people that this was a place I needed to check out before leaving, so here I am, and I'm so glad I did. I have to admit, I was a little nervous about the idea of traveling on my own. This is something I've never really done before, especially not in a foreign country. But the family-run hostel I found is really great, and I've already met a couple other foreigners. I think tomorrow I'm going to be making a day trip to San Miguel de Allende with a British girl I met also staying at the hostel.
Anyway, so this is what I plan on doing until I come home, so stay tuned because I'm sure I'll come across some pretty interesting things along the way. And I promise, I will have pictures. You just have to see my in person in order to look at them! I'm off to check out what's happening in the centro--have a wonderful Easter weekend, everyone!
Goodbyes and new beginnings
I'm writing this blog entry today with a lot of stuff on my mind with what this week has been leading up to. My parents are flying into Mexico City today (in fact, they should have already landed and are now probably smack in the middle of the sort of traffic you'd expect to find in the 2nd largest city in the world only to Tokyo), and they are going to meet me here in San Juan this afternoon/evening. I am so excited for them to get here. Tomorrow we're going to head to Guadalajara, the 2nd largest city in Mexico and also the birthplace of Mariachi. And on Saturday, we're on our way to Puerto Vallarta for the week. I can't wait! I feel like I've been cooped up in one place for too long and I'm dying to break out.. and seeing the ocean is always the perfect remedy for this.
Anyway, this week has been strange because I'm starting to say my goodbyes and I always have so many mixed emotions when it comes to transition time and moving onto the next step in my life... especially when I'm not entirely sure what that next step is. But I also feel like I have done my time here, even though it has been shorter than what I had expected, but I guess that's part of the freedom that goes along with buying a one-way plane ticket.
Yesterday and today I have been thinking a lot about my lasts here, and last night I had to say goodbye to Carlos and Fernando, the 2 brothers from Tequisquiapan (a neighboring town to San Juan) that I've been working with since January. They were the first class Carlos gave me when I first arrived here, and I feel like I've learned so much from them. I decided we had to do something fun for our last class, so yesterday I printed up the lyrics to the Alan Jackson song "Where I Come From" and brought in the music for them to hear it. We did a unit on music a month or so back, I had told them that before I left, they would learn something about country music, and they seemed to like it! (Though maybe they were just humoring me.)
I will definitely miss the students I have been working with. It has been a challenging experience not only being my first time really teaching in a classroom, but also because the attitude towards school and the importance of education is just different here than it is in the States. It took a lot out of me to get used to the fact that my students hardly ever showed up on time, if they showed up at all, and that they rarely came to class prepared. But I know they all have so much potential and I'd like to think that by being the first foreigner they've really known, I gave them an experience that they won't soon forget, becuase I know I definitely won't forget them.
Aside from teaching, I'm also beginning to think more about the friends I have made here and that I know I'm not going to have too much more time left with them. Shannon, René, Frederique and Chantal have all been great people to know and I feel like each one of them has come into my life for a reason. Maybe this makes me sound a bit too much of an idealist, but I really do believe that everyone you meet you can learn something from, even though many times you don't realize this until after they've already come and gone. But I began thinking about this last night when René and a friend of his picked me and the Frenchies up just to hang out by the river and look at the stars. As we drank Pulque, they began to play the guitar and sing, perfectly comfortable in our company. There are so many beautiful things about the Mexican culture, and despite how difficult this experience has been and at times all I wanted was an out, I'm so thankful that I have seen an intimate side to these people and a look into their lives.
And of course there's Carlos, Mariela, and Desi. If it weren't for them, I would not have lasted here for longer than a week. And unlike my stay in Ecuador, I feel like through knowing them, this is the first time I've really held a deeper understanding into the lives of another family, another culture, another way of life. They truly are amazing people and have done so much for me since I've been here, that I feel like I have experienced first hand the kindness of Mexican hospitality that many only read about. I know that leaving here, I can only hope to ever be able to return a favor to show the amount of gratitude I feel towards them.
It might sound like my experience is ending here, but I know I have so much left to do before I think about getting on a plane and heading back home. So as in the words of a good friend of mine, I plan to leave here and move on with my head up, eyes wide open, and conscience clear.
Enough about the serious self-reflection stuff. I get to see my parents today and soon we'll be beach-bound! Peace out.
There's a light at the end of every tunnel
Last weekend was a blast. It didn't start out too exciting because I stayed in Friday night, but it was nice to relax and have a movie night with well, myself. When it comes to getting quality me-time, I've definitely had my fair share of it since I've been here, which is OK by me because I think I make pretty good company. But by Saturday, I know I would be going crazy if I didn't get out of the house, so I made plans to meet up with Fred and Chantal. The Frenchies and I spent the day in San Juan, which was nice because they are living with a family really central to the city, so I got to see a few things that I didn't already know about this small town. We walked around, went to the market, ate some really good Mexican food at a restaurant they had heard about, and took some coffee at a local café. All it took was a couple hours, and I feel like I know this place inside out now... which is a good feeling because I'm getting ready to move on.
After going back to the house to relax for a bit, René and a friend of his picked up the Frenchies and me and we went to this dance club. I hadn't heard of it before and was surprised to see how large and nice it was, and it's really close to where I teach in the center of town. It seems that everyone had stayed in the night before, so we were all feeling pretty ready to go out and get our dance on. The Frenchies and I stuck out like a sore thumb of course, but it was a great time. I love dancing and it's something I hardly ever do, so I always forget how much I like it until I go out and experience a dance scene like that. I think dancing is one thing that I love so much about Latino culture... practically everyone you meet learned how to dance from an early age and it plays such a big role in family and social gatherings here. So needless to say, I definitely got showed a move or two Saturday night, and it was great being out and really just feeling totally carefree for the first time since I've been here (but to those who this might concern, don't worry... I didn't get TOO crazy.) :)
I have a feeling this week is going to be a total whirlwind. Mom and Dad are flying in on Thursday and driving up to San Juan and then we're off to Puerto Vallarta. After not going to Acapulco the other weekend (LONG story that involves lots of car trouble and hours spent in the car) I cannot express how excited I am at the idea of spending a week on the coast. Mexican beaches, here I come! (And please take it easy on my white, white skin.) This is also my last week of working for Carlos' school. There are no classes the first 2 weeks of April anyway, so this felt like a natural time for me to leave. I've finally come to the decision that the best thing for me to do right now is explore some other options of what I want to do with the rest of my time down here. So for now, I'm going to be traveling with Mom and Dad and possibly my group of friends when I get back from Puerto Vallarta, but most importantly, I'm going to do some traveling on my own. I think it's important for me to do this, so enough talking about it--it's time to make some plans and do it.
One more thing before I go... thanks to everyone who has been so supportive of me and what I'm doing down here. Your phone calls and e-mails have meant so much to me, and even just the occassional blog posting has really helped me keep myself in check. I'll keep you all posted on what I get myself into this next month, once I find out for myself!
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Just some thoughts
OK, whoa, well... where to begin? Lately all these thoughts have been circling around my head and yesterday I actually found myself tearing up on the bus ride back home to Carlos and Mariela's house while listening to my iPod. "Fix You" by Coldplay came on, and that song always gets me. Anyway, between being here in Mexico on my own and having a lot of idle time, I have been doing so much self-reflecting and taking personal inventory, which I know is healthy, but to an extent. As in the words of Jon Stewart, sometimes when you go for that long car ride by yourself, at some point along the way on the open road, you begin to feel like you've wronged every person who's ever come into contact with you. It sounded much funnier when he said it, but I think there's an element of truth to this.
So I guess I've been feeling pretty down lately and closing myself off from people and in turn, have been shutting out the experience of being here. I even called Erika the other weekend in tears telling her that I'm coming home. I remember before leaving to study abroad in Ecuador, we were told that we would experience really high highs and low lows. Here I feel like it's mostly been low lows. But I also know that these moods can be tricky and it's usually best to get a good night's sleep and clear your head before making any drastic decisions.
What I guess all this rambling is leading up to is the fact that I don't know that I am going to make it for the 6 months I originally planned on staying here. Now as I said, this is not some drastic decision that I've made and I don't have a plane ticket home to guarantee that I will be back in Ohio next month. But I have been doing a lot of thinking about what has led me up to this point in my life and what brought me here to San Juan del Rio. I guess the fact that the family I was supposed to live with bailed on me once I got here is something that I have not gotten over, and maybe I won't until I leave this place behind me. Living with my boss's family has not been the most comfortable situation for me, and I can't help but feel like I owe them so much for taking me in. Honestly, Carlos and Mariela have been sharing their room with Desi, 7 year old daughter, so that I can have a bedroom of my own. And I also feel like I've exhausted every other option I can possibly think of for another place to live. The fact of the matter is that San Juan is a small town and I can't help but feel like it simply does not have the opportunities that I'm looking for.
I hate to feel like I'm writing off this place like it has nothing to offer. But it has been two months now and I think I'm just now beginning to realize that maybe I've been looking at everything with tunnel vision... if I'm not happy where I am right now, why do I have to limit myself to this one particular town in this one particular state in this one particular part of Mexico? The fact that I had a contact in college who had lived here and that he knew a family here that wanted to take me in is what brought me here. Since that didn't exactly work out, why do I need to limit myself and not look elsewhere? A lot of it has to do with fear of the unknown. Maybe the problem isn't the place; it's me. After all, I've always believed in the saying "Wherever you go, there you are." Another fear has to do with pride. I'm really scared of the thought of coming home and feeling like a failure, that I had talked up these plans of coming to Mexico for so long, and I couldn't even make it for more than a few months. However, I'm also beginning to realize that I need to make more of an effort to spread myself around and really get to know different parts of this country while I'm here. Otherwise, I know that if I just pack up and leave and call it a quits next month, I'm going to look back on this all with a lot of regrets.
I've been talking to my Mom and Dad a lot lately, which has been doing a world of good for me. I'm really looking forward to their visit here and getting to show them around the few places I do know and travel to new places together. I've also let them know that I really am considering coming home next month at the end of my 3 month tourist stay, instead of extended it for an extra 90 days. And part of me was really tempted to buy a ticket to fly back with them. They'd be on their way to the airport anyway, right? But I know that this is not what I want and that I really need to do some traveling first. My Dad said something to me the other night that really stuck with me. When he was in school, he really struggled with the feeling of always being "behind" everyone else. He found himself feeling like there was some arbitrary timeline that he just couldn't keep up with. I can't even put into words how much truth this rang to me. I have always measured myself by how I compare to others, and being the youngest in a family of 6 very smart and successful siblings, this hasn't exactly been good for my self-esteem. But now I'm beginning to look around with open eyes and realize that the opportunities out there are endless. I just need to step up, take some initiative, and go find them because they aren't going to come looking for me. I feel like I'm here for a reason and I'm not going to be ready to leave until I figure out what that reason is.
So where do I leave off from here... I may be home next month because I have decided that I can't go on doing what I've been doing since I got here. But, once my parents have come and gone, I'm going to map out a route of places that I want to see before I leave here and who knows what I may find. There's a lot to see out there and I feel like I'm just getting started.
Feeling a little Irish today...
Happy St. Patty's, everyone! It feels a little strange not really being able to celebrate today (er.. ok, by celebrate I mean drink green beer) but this morning at the pre-school we did talk about St. Patrick, leprechauns, and rainbows with pots of gold at the end of them. Definitely got some mixed reviews from the kids. Anyway, I just thought I'd send out the ol' Irish blessing your way...
May the road rise up to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
And the rain fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.
Drink a green one for me, people! Meanwhile, I might try to find a 3 leaf clover and explain the Holy Trinity to some Mexicans. Peace out!
Americans should seriously reconsider the concept of vacation time...
OK, so I've been a bit of a slacker on the blog front lately. Nothing much has happened since the last time I wrote, but I've got some exciting news... I'm having my first visitors come in 2 weeks! If all goes as planned, Mom and Dad are going to be flying into Mexico City the last weekend of March and staying through the first week of April. I have 2 weeks of vacation coming up because La Semana Santa (Holy Week) and the week before that, there are no classes. Mexicans sure now how to celebrate Easter! Sometimes it's a kinda crazy because I feel like I'm not working too much doing the week to begin with, and then when you add in all the vacation time, well, I can't help but feeling like a bum. But hey, I've always been told that you're going to spend the rest of your life working, and that while you're young, why not travel and do the things you can't as easily do once you're settled, right? At least that's how I've learned to rationalize it. :)
Anyway, we're in the process of planning the trip right now, and I'm totally excited just thinking about all the different places we could visit. Part of me is a little nervous too, because I definitely don't know my way around this country as much as I'd like to, and I keep picturing us being somewhere in BFE Mexico, in the rental car, totally lost. But between my ability to speak Spanish and my parents' sense of direction, being the roadsters they are, I'm sure we'll be able to get by just fine... fingers crossed. Once I have a better idea of what exactly we're going to be doing, I'll be sure to let write more about it. But for right now, I'm really excited for their arrival and think that this will be a great time.
Other exciting news... I'm going to experience the Mexican beaches for the first time this weekend! Carlos and the family are going to Acapulco for a long weekend, and they've invited me to go with them. You know how I've consistently mentioned Mexicans enjoying their holidays? Well, I really wasn't kidding. Tuesday is a holiday because it's the first day of spring. So no work/classes on Tuesday means, well, we might as well take off Monday too while we're at it, right? That's the Mexican mentality I've grown to know and love. So the fam and I are going to be leaving San Juan del Río tomorrow evening and stay in Acapulco until Tuesday. Carlos has a friend who owns a vacation house there, so that's where we'll be staying. I just found out about these plans yesterday, so I really don't know too much about what we're going to be doing, but I'm just excited to get out of San Juan and see another part of Mexico. Should be a good time.
Yesterday we had the first thunderstorm here since I've been in Mexico. I was really excited about it, because although I love the weather here, it was nice to see something different from bright sunshine for a change. I think growing up in Ohio has made me so used to weather extremes from season to season, and I would be lying if I said I did't miss the occasional thunderstorm. Anyway, time to go write some lesson plans!
