Argentina

Alright, once again a very long time between updates. Let's go for the weekly recap. Sunday: Woke up no feeling so hot and Paulina informed me that we were going for a road trip in 10 minutes. I got myself together and grabbed a stack of crackers and apple juice for breakfeast. We went to the house of one of their friends where two guys were in the midst of eating mushrooms ("champis" or "angus" in Spanish). Apparently the road trip was going to be me and Paulina taking these two Mexicans for a road trip while they tripped. It's funny that Mexicans also call it "un trip" or "un viaje". The plan was just to drive into the country and find a nice tranquil spot for these two guys. Apparently you don't want a lot of commotion when you take "champis". We drove for an hour into the middle of nowhere and found this little lake. We parked the car and walked down to the lake and shot the shit for like 3 hours while these guys enjoyed...

Alright a lot has gone on these past few days, which is why I have not updated the blog. Ok, picking up with Tuesday night or the Independence Day Eve. That night Paulina came back from UDLA (her university) with 5 exchange students (two aussies and three americans). The whole day people had been coming to the house to set up things for the party: a tent, a barbeque, chairs, tables, booze and food. The family had put Mexican memorabilia everywhere in the house. Little flags, baby sombreros, novelty mustaches, horns, banners, and such. Their house wasn't that big but by about 8 o'clock it was in full swing with everyone eating, drinking, and being Mexican (with the exception of the 6 gringos). Of the 5 exchange students 2 spoke very broken Spanish, which was hilarious because they were 6'3 australians who couldn't give a kangaroo's ass whether their Spanish was good or not, two Americans who were decent, and 1 Mexican-American girl who spoke Spanish and English perf...

On Sunday we had a relaxing morning and at around 1 pm we went to Paulina's uncles house. Saturday is for friends and Sunday is for family. It was a nice patio tucked between two buildings with about 20 people who were all related. Uncles, grandmothers, grandchildren, husbands, wives, and one gringo that nobody knew. No it was fun, they all joked around with me and had me try every kind of food and wanted to know my opinion. I had this great soup with beans and cilantro and some sort of delicious meat thing, so I asked what it was and they said "fried pork skin". It was less delicious then but still very good. We left at around 3:30 pm to go to the Estadio Azteca because Pepe (dad) had gotten football tickets after he learned I was a soccer fan. The stadium was absolutely massive (it fits 130,000) people. The stadium was only about 1/3 full because America (the best team) was playing a team that had been struggling all season. The tickets were only 100 pesos and were abou...

Woke up at 3:30 am on Friday to leave for my trip. Made it with no problem to the airport, thru security, to Houston. My flight to Houston was slightly delayed and my lay-over was only 50 minutes, so I bascially had to run from gate to gate to get boarded on time. The flight from Houston to Mexico city was 25% full and I was probably one of the only gringos. We flew into Terminal 2, so it was good that I had printed out my wikitravel of mexico because I knew that in order to catch the subway you have to go to Terminal 1. So I took a bus to terminal 1, took the metro (subway) to Panhillan, then took a different line of the metro to Pino Suarez, then transferred to the Line towards Tasqueña, and then I took the light rail until Registro Federal, and then I walked the remainder. It was a pretty intense journey from home to Mexico city and i think i hit every kind of transportation (car, plane, bus, subway, light rail, and walking). I guess I didnt take any boats... Anyway, Paulinas fami...

I made it to Paulinas house without any problems. it was 3 subway ligns, a light rail line, and a half mile walk though. Ill try to find a computer tomorrow to give more information as I am borrowing this at the moment from Paulinas little brother.

Back-packer essentials: 1 black back-pack (don't expect to get it back) 4 underwear 4 socks 4 t-shirts 1 nice shirt (for the ladies) 1 pair of shorts and swim suit 1 razor Toiletries Bandage and medical tape Sketch book + camera (a good duo) Pocket translator 1 yellow towel (it's been to Argentina and the DR) Pen and paper Food for airplane flight Documents Unlocked pay-as-you go phone 1 light water proof jacket 1 sports jacket And directions... I leave Shelton at 3:30 a.m. and arrive in Mexico City at 4:40 pm. (Only one lay-over in Houston). I have instructions on how to arrive to Paulina's house, but they include two subway rides and a light rail ride, to a long walk. Espero que todo vaya bien. Adios.

One of the girls from Mexico sent me this message (first Spanish, then English): "querido taylor: Karla, gilda y yo empezamos nuestro viaje a la ciudad de mexico hace una semana. Ha sido un viaje muy dificil, primero no querian vendernos un burro por que somos mujeres, así que karla tuvo que disfrazarse de hombre para poderlo comprar. Hace unos dias el burro de Gilda se enfermó así que hemos tenido que gastar nuestro ultimo dinero para comprar otro. Te mantendremos informado. Esperamos llegar a tiempo para cuando estes en la ciudad de méxico. Lo bueno es que hablas español porque aqui nadie habla ingles. Por cierto!!! No olvides cambiar tus dolares en el aeropuerto, recuerda que la moneda que se usa en mexico es: TORTILLAS!! Es un dolar por diez tortillas, no dejes que te engañen. Si alguien te ofrece matrimonio, NO LO ACEPTES, aunque te paguen 1500 tortillas. Bueno... nos vemos en unos dias, NO TRAIGAS TU LAPTOP POR QUE EN MEXICO NO EXISTE EL INTERNET OBVIAMENTE ni tampoco hay el...