me and Mexico Part Dos

After a few gorgeous & hot days in Acapulco, Belen and I set off east for Puebla, where she lives now. It was a lovely drive, with the exception of getting splashed directly in the eyeball with water from a puddle by a passing car in one of the towns. At least, I really hope it was water.

On the way we stopped off at a little city called Taxco.

It's a very charming place with houses covering the hillside.



The people are also very friendly and somewhat pushy with the merchandise they're trying to sell. I saw one tourist, a middle-aged blonde woman looking upset & confused as she swatted away a sombrero that one of the tiny, smiling local women was putting on her head.
Also, random fact: In Mexico, you tip everyone. Including the guy who helps you back out of your parking spot at the Walmart (yes they have several there). Even these men, who hang out in the parking lot and guard your car without you having asked them to do it, get a tip.

This country is full of Beetles, just ask that guy in the photo, not the crunchy when you step on them kind but the cars. Mexicans call them "vochos." I loved seeing them everywhere.



Puebla

We made it to Puebla in the evening and immediately I met Belen's younger sister and also a friend from her job. And we were off again. We went out to eat. In my head I was thinking "please God let it be somewhere where I can eat something light, because my stomach is going to kill me." Days worth of tacos, chalupas, enchiladas and MORE make you think these thoughts. We arrived to a pizza place/bar. They immediately ordered 2 pizzas and a round of beer for all of us. I smiled politely but my stomach was shaking its little fist angrily. It doesn't end there, though. Mexicans don't like their food bland, in fact they like it spicy enough to make you bleed from the inside. Spices and chiles go on everything from fresh fruit to chocolate, I mean it. So, of course, when they brought the beer, out came 4 glasses filled with a liquor mixed with chile spices. You pour the beer into the glasses to combine it with the liquor and chiles. Then, drink & wince accordingly. Bottoms up indeed. My stomach and I are still not on speaking terms.

Tlxacala

The next day we traveled a short 30 minute distance to where Belen grew up to meet the rest of her family. Two sweet parents, one fun-size and adorable abuelita, 3 dogs & 1 cat. After we sat and got to know one another a bit more and I charmed the pants off the cat, we left for a birthday party.



Mexicans take certain birthdays very seriously. When a girl turns 15 it's a very special thing. When a boy turns 3 it's also a very special thing. We went to a family friend's son's 3rd birthday party. It was a big to-do. Even Belen's older sister Estrella & her boyfriend Ariel made it down from Mexico City to be there. (Yes, Ariel like from the Little Mermaid, we addressed that fact together the next day) At this huge party they had dancing clowns and games, even a mini-play involving the characters from the Lion King. They sang Hakuna Matata in Spanish and I almost burst into tears thinking about how alike we can all be when you really get down to it. I know, weird, but if you had been there you would've seen it was very touching!



That night we returned to Puebla for a concert - Mexican pop artist Paty Cantu.



She was beautiful, but maybe not quite as gorgeous as Belen and her sisters.



The following day we had a big lunch to celebrate Estrella's birthday. Belen's parents & grandmother came over and the cooking began. We sat down to a delicious meal that started with a bowl full of fresh papaya. Next came a chickpea soup to which you add lime juice and - you guessed it - peppers for extra flavor. Next it was lamb's meat, onions, cilantro & salsa in tortillas. (these detailed descriptions are for you Meagan & Dusty) Finally, if you were still breathing, and I was, there was a huge tiramasu cake.

After they stuffed me silly I answered questions and they chatted away with me. I understood most of it, but there came a time when they didn't understand me. Belen's mother was describing this beautiful low-cut blouse that she saw being sold in Chiapas on a family vacation they recently took. She asked if I'd like that type of shirt. I laughed and tried to tell her in Spanish that I can't wear a blouse like that because of what I lack upstairs on the chest level. Her parents just stared at me in confusion, her sisters were beginning to laugh. They asked me to explain it in English. So I did with hand gestures and everything. When I finished her dad looked like he was going to faint but luckily they all cracked up.

Finally, before I took off with Estrella & Ariel for Mexico City, the family gave me a gift of a beautiful lamb's wool sweater they bought in Tlxacala. I was so touched. What an incredible group of people to take this little dandelion in as their own. I can't express how grateful I am to them for giving me such an amazing time. I almost cried when I drove away from Belen, but I'm sure I'll see her at some point again.

Me and Mexico

..might be in love. What a beautiful & interesting country, with beautiful and interesting people! There's so much to tell. Luckily I brought a little notebook with me in my purse to write down all the random thoughts I had or things I saw. I would love to share that with you now so that you may better know the highlights of my trip to Mexico...:) I give you part one...

Day 1: Travel / Acapulco

- sat next to a man with an authentic Jamaican accent on the plane, was in heaven, took this as a good omen

- flight attendant looked like Anthony from Designing Women, also took this as a good omen

- my friend Belen who lives in Mexico picked me up from the airport! *wipes brow*

- ate some delicious seafood from a place called Treinador

- Belen took me to "La Quedabra" which is a place where the famous cliff divers of Acapulco do their stuff. I was completely aw-struck. Men of all ages that could fit in your pocket climb rocks and then plunge gracefully several stories into rocky water.


- amazed by the beautiful lights on the mountains around Acapulco driving home, also amazed at how incredibly nice Belen is

Day 2: Acapulco

- went to breakfast at "La Granja" a mexican tradition

- ate some delicious oatmeal-type stuff from a traditional handmade basin, also drank interesting papaya juice

- it's called "La Granja" which means Zoo because there is a little zoo behind the restaurant. here live some of the saddest animals i have ever seen, including a little raccoon that i wanted to carry out in my bag were it not for the risk of him mauling me embarrassingly


- went to a lovely beach, rode a 4 wheeler around for a half an hour, felt like a bad ass

- watched a gorgeous sunset with Belen


- later at home, Belen and I gussy up for a night on the town, realized how frumpy I am as she emerged from the bathroom like some ancient Mayan goddess, more on that later

- on the way out of the house to go out we met a couple in Belen's neighborhood who could not get into their daughter's apartment, Belen spent almost 2 hours trying to help them break the lock with everything she could find in her midst. heart. of. GOLD.

- we didn't go out this night as it was very late after we finished with the couple, but we did go out to have a lovely glass of wine at a nice restaurant at the local mall

Day 3: Acapulco

- had a picnic in the backyard of ham & cheese sandwiches

- we to La Capilla de la Paz (Chapel of Peace) to see Acapulco from the top of a huge mountain, amazing view ensues


- went onto a naval ship and walked around deck, heard "Uptown Girl" playing

- went to the oldtown part of Acapulco and took a boat around the peninsula

- ate at Zorritos, a place my old boss suggested to go to for awesome authentic Mexican food, she was totally right

- while there I was enchanted by the servers who were all older men. there was a cute little girl of like 3 or 4 running around to each one and they scooped her up and hugged her each time she came and then let her down to run back to her mom


- went home to find what Belen described as little "takatakas" because they make that takataka sound when they run. turns out the takatakas are little white lizards with black eyes. we found one near my computer cord. i'm proud to say i didn't scream when i saw it, but i did stay frighteningly conscious of it's whereabouts when it scampered away.


- las hormigas - ants!! they're everywhere, houses, walls, sidewalks, everywhere!

- went out to "Paradise" a nice little nightclub on a touristy strip, met 3 European guys from a country i didn't know when they first told me (maybe i had a few daquiris, maybe i didn't, turns out much later it was Slovenia!). they stuck out just as much as I did. white. we made friends with them and belen even offered to take them home to the copa cabana where they were staying (of course). one was especially drunk and kept singing a song he knew in English (mcdonald's, KFC, pizza hut, repeat). he kept referring to American music and other American things and saying to me, YOU know what i'm talking about. yes, i do know kurt cobain. we got home around 4 or 5.

all of this in 3 days! more soon...

viva mexico!

There is so much to tell about the first stop on my trip. I absolutely loved Mexico. Amazing. So much to see and and so much to say about it, but for now here are a few of my favorite photos from Mexico. More to come soon...

what i can take away from 2010

This has been an interesting year. Sometimes strange but mostly very good. The weird thing for me is how clearly my lessons have stood out. I've learned a few things, or rather as my friend says, I've internalized cliches which is a pretty accurate way to describe it.

Lessons:
1. Nothing is ever really black or white.
I can be an extreme person sometimes. Extremely happy, extremely sad, etc. I have also tended to view things in extreme ways, too. Extremely good, extremely bad. But I think this year I've started to realize that so much of where most things fall is in the gray. I've found that the things that I thought were the worst things in the world turn out to eventually be much better than I could've expected. And sometimes good intentions are not as good as they seem. Just as nothing is ever really definite and unchangeable, things not usually completely good or bad.


2. Never doubt that people can do impossible things.
This I learned from my boss. Not that I've done anything impossible yet, I'm lucky if I can wake up and get myself to work on time instead of dicking around with my loungy, adorable cats all morning. What I've pulled from my boss and from amazing friends of mine is that we CAN do things that other people might shoot down. There will always be someone out there who wants to put you in your place and assure you that, no, you really can't do that. They will try to force you back into the average parameters of society so you don't make waves with your big ideas. But I'm not buying it. Whenever I come up with these big ideas one day and really get them into focus, I'm going to fucking do them. Where would we be if we listened to every naysayer out there? Ships wouldn't have been built, journeys would not have been taken, moons would not have been walked on. So here's a seed of confidence planted for the future, for when I need it. :D

2010, I'm sad to see you go, but I learned a lot from you and I think I'm ready for 2011!

dealing with mud

Right now my mind is a little muddy and so is my spirit. Maybe I'm just suffering from after-college-reality blues. Schools fill you up with the most magical beliefs when you're there. First they get you angry when they tell you all the awful truths about past, (and current), American society (i.e. racism, corruption, sexism). Then they pump you full of can-do, optimistic energy. When you graduate you walk down the yellow brick road of idealism in search for that job that's going to help you change the world. But then you turn on the news. And right now I'm at that point where I am starting to feel inundated with negativity in the news. I know sometimes it just depends on what you read...

I read an article online today about Obama and how all of the far left progressives are fools for buying into him. That is because it turns out he was just spewing rhetoric back in 2008 and he now goes the way of passive progressive which never gets anybody anywhere.

At the same time there's another article praising Obama as the next Harry Truman, a president who's now seen as a great one but was heavily criticized during his time in office.

I saw another article about Sarah Palin and all of her haberdashery. First complaining of liberal feminists and their lack of understanding of feminism, then praising the movie "Juno" for showing an American movie where a young girl took the right path, the difficult path instead of "having an abortion and smoking cigarettes afterward for an hour." ... This woman is likely going to run for office in 2012. And in that event I'm likely going to run for my office window and leap from the 7th floor.

I'm starting to feel a little drained from all of these articles and I'm not even in any sort of position of power where I need to defend my beliefs. What the hell am I going to do when I go into that forum and need to step up my game? I'm just weary of all the bullshit. It's hard to really get a good grasp of all of the mud flinging through the air, I don't know what else to do but just sit in the middle and get muddy.

I just keep telling myself it's a long journey and it's not always going to be simple & clear. You run into a few rough patches along the way but that doesn't have to keep you from moving towards where you want to go. I've heard my share of cynics saying young people eventually wise up and abandon these pie-in-the-sky beliefs. Fuck that. Now is not the time to sit down in the middle of this path and abandon the journey.

This is just another storm along the path, this feeling of pessimism and uncertainty. When it's over and I trudge through the mud I'll be closer to where I ultimately want to be. And better prepared for the next storm.


photo by we heart it http://weheartit.com/entry/3396328

don't shave

I realize this inappropriate post is closely trailing a recent post about my boss, but... this is who I am.

Girls, how many times have you jinxed yourself out of a date? You get excited in anticipation of seeing your love interest on a particular night, you hop in the shower and shave everything but your head only to end up not hanging out with them that night. Not only is it a letdown, now you've got razor burn in places you're not really allowed to scratch in public. Son of a bitch!

I'll tell you a surefire way to ensure you don't jinx yourself next time. Let that hair grow, don't shave a thing for a while. I'll tell you why, because you always manage to get lucky when you've let yourself go to the point of lumberjack proportions. I've been there and I'm sure you have, too. Don't let it hinder your enjoyment, though. He'll get over your bush just like you will get over the patch of hair on his lower back that only gets thicker once it reaches his butt crack. You know what I'm talking about.

So let it grow out and long! If it doesn't move with a breeze it's not long enough. In other words, just keep being who you are and don't feel like you need to be something better (or smoother) for a guy. You can get rid of that hair today but it'll still grow back tomorrow. To ensure that the magic will happen, save the shaving for tomorrow, or even the next day...

my heroes

OMG, here they are, all in one picture. I did not see this moment in person, but I'm pretty sure something good happened to me while this was taking place. I just took a sip of a delicious cocoa-coffee combo that I make at work. Or I received a happy email, or I was thinking a happy thought. Life was good in that moment. :)

L to R:

I love Martin O'Malley, governor of Maryland. Not just because he's a muscly-armed dreamboat with a slightly southern twang, (my mom's Harlequin romance novels are to blame for this fixation). Also because he's an enormous champion for the large immigrant community in Maryland and for the organization I teach for CASA de Maryland. But also because he is the first governor to join Share Our Strength in making the proclamation that we will end childhood hunger in America by 2015. The man combines so many of my favorite things - muscly arms (but not too muscly, we don't need to be on the cover of Iron Man magazine), concern for the immigrant community & childhood hunger.

Bill Shore, the founder of Share Our Strength is a terrific speaker, writer, human being. I don't think I could accurately translate the respect I have for him from my head into words. He combines the perfect amount of humility and passion. He has continuously rejuvenated my idealistic views of the world despite everyone else trying to beat it out of me. He has convinced me that it's not irrational to want more for the world, to want better. What's more, better is achievable. It's okay to believe big things can happen, indeed, it's necessary. How else can we make the world a better place? We first have to believe we can do it. He has made me believe.

Jeff Bridges, first of all, reminds me of my dad, which to me is a good thing. He's very relaxed & comfortable in his own skin. He says a lot of random things and has just that little bit of aloofness that I treasure in my own father. But more importantly, despite his incredible success as an actor, he still gives a damn about the rest of society. Instead of retreating to his mansion, counting his money by the stacks and staring at himself in the mirror he seems to do what he believes in. He chooses the roles that matter whether in movies or in charities. I'm so thrilled he has joined Share Our Strength to make No Kid Hungry in America. He's deep enough to identify with the people in this country who have never known the riches he has. I can't say enough about this man. When I grow up I hope I'm just like him, (and/or my dad), charitable, humble, completely comfortable with myself, compassionate, bearded and 6'1".

Just like a masculine group of Charlie's Angels, here is a delightful group of lean, mean childhood hunger fighting machines.