I'm back in Mexico! I started getting the feeling that I was ready to go "home" (home being Mexico) towards the end of my trip, so it is awesome to be here again. I never realized how comfortable I have come to be at this house. As I said before, I love this town!
Where did I leave off? Hmmmm...oh yeah, Lucha libre back in Guadalajara. That was one ever so unique evening experience. It was like on TV, a boxing ring with surrounding chairs for an audience, except this seemed amusingly amateur. Backtracking for a second, lucha libre is Mexican wrestling, where men not only curse at those who are about to wrestle, but also cheer for random women in the audience. Sometimes it appeared as though the crowd was more concerned with which part of the arena to battle against than in the fight itself.
Dressed in various costumes, these men wrestled, or rather, put on a show. After the first couple fights I was good to go; too bad there were like 5 fights! Interesting? Yes. Something I would become a fan of? No!
The following morning, I left for Puerto Vallarta. The hostel here was the cosiest I have ever seen, an atmosphere that lent itself to incredible traveler bonding. It was for all the little things that I had such a good time here. The weather wasn't too shabby either...the sun, my comfort- I most enjoy reading on the beach.
Guanajuato, indubitably the most beautiful city I have seen in Mexico, is what came next. Let me paint a picture of countless colonial structures, nestled between surrounding mountains, revealing all colors of the pastel rainbow. I was given the opportunity to see the city from a distance, atop a hill in the wake of a morning, alone. It was then that I knew my day's expectations had already been surpassed.
Even so, I went on to experience another "first". Guanajuato brought my first view of dead bodies. It's amazing how people here are not in the least phased by death, or the sight of it. My God! I walked into an eerily dark museum, lit only by neon green light, to view rows and rows of mummified bodies. To be honest, I was a little scared being in there. Never would I have thought I would ever see a mummy, let alone, see them so graphically displayed.
Most had creepy disfigured faces, hollow eyes and mouths, and mangled bodies seemingly held together by chance. Some "fresher" mummies still had hair remaining throughout their bodies and eye balls that were never removed. Furthermore, there were baby mummies as well (I'm sorry to say a few seriously looked evil), including a fetus which is now the smallest mummy in the world. And to my surprise (hand goes over mouth), some bodies were exhumed from a nearby filled- to- capacity-cemetery and placed in the museum to make room for more recent deaths! And this is apparently okay! Fascinating, just fascinating.
From gorgeous Guanajuato, I took a day trip to San Miguel de Allende (so small, so cute) on my way to Queretaro. Queretaro is the city where the constitution of Mexico was signed, and also, where Maximilian was executed. For this, I was interested.
From here I traveled for an hour to La Peña de Bernal to climb what is said to be the third largest rock in the world. Go figure, on my way there I got off the bus a little too late, and found myself stuck on the side of the road with nothing more than a chiquita store in sight. I had no idea when the next bus or taxi would come around...this sucked! With no choice, I hitched a ride back to town with two middle aged Mexican men- why do I always find myself in such positions?
Yesterday I tortured myself climbing La Peña, and today my body is paying the price. But it was a nice challenge, something I haven't done in a long time. Plus, Mexicans feel that this rock is the site of great energy; if anything, I would imagine this should be true to a certain extent just from the mere size of the rock. The only odd thing was in reaching the top, happy to finally sit in the shade, only to realize I was sitting next to multiple graves. A few weeks ago, I would have jumped...now, I just sat there alone eating my orange.
OH there are SO MANY tomb stories (of tombs in the middle of restaurants as people eat around them, or of museums created to relive the events of a murder), too many to tell.
More Mexico Quirks:
- There is no such thing as pumping your own gas at the gas station; it is always serviced.
- Back to food, I recently learned that there is such a thing as tacos filled with cooked cow eyes. I also learned that ants are placed in certain chocolates; apparently, to some this is a delicacy, whereas to others who are poor (and cannot afford much meat), it is a source of protein.
- If you think Americans work too much, then you haven't been enlightened to the work ethic in Mexico. For every year of work, they only get 6 days of vacation (or at least this is the norm), AND days are many times much longer than 8 hours even for basic admin jobs.
"Funny how when it seems that power is yours, life throws you in an unexpected direction, only to make you realize it was never there to begin with."
-Nutan
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