Día de Independencia

This entry is a bit on the late side, but still very much worth mentioning.

Mexico celebrated its 199th Day of Independence 2 Wednesdays ago. Typically this is a very important holiday here, but since this one kicked off the 200th year of independence, it was to be even more celebrated than usual.

The weekend before the big day Dan, Tom, and I were faced with a very important decision about where to celebrate such a momentous occasion. Recognizing it as a potentially very dangerous time with many Mexicans very intoxicated and worked up into a national fervor we decided to lay low and have a quiet night...in the Zocalo of Mexico City.

With almost 19 million inhabitants, Mexico City is one of the largest cities in the world, by far the largest and most important in Mexico, and not to mention their capital. The Zocalo or city center is regarded as the place to be by the entire country so what you end up with is a city which is the equivalent of their Los Angeles, Washington DC, and NYC combined with the Zocalo being like Times Square for the New Year's ball drop on steroids.



On that Tuesday afternoon the three of us boarded a bus for Mexico City with three other girls, one of which was Paulina who lives in Mexico City and has a family which invited us to stay at their house overnight and also enjoy their unbelievable party they were throwing for their friends and family.

We showed up to the house around 6 just as the fiesta was getting started. I haven't seen a table that full of food nor that many bottles of tequila in quite a while, but let no time waste (after a quick change into some official Mexican attire) in partaking in the food portion of that offering.



The parents could not have been more hospitable and we had a great time with all the friends and family that poured into the house including my new best friend Carlos.



Around 9 we were met with a very pleasant surprise when a mariachi band showed up and graced us with an hour and a half of music and entertainment.



After a dance or two (if you can call what I was doing dancing) with Paulina's sister, mother, and grandmother (three generations is always a good stat), we rounded up our group of 6 (only took $4 worth of pesos and nothing else with me in the event that someone fancied the 6'3 white guy a prime target) and headed for the metro which would take us to the Zocalo.



Fortunately it started pouring rain just as we left the house, bad for the picture turnout, but did not deter the spirits of our crowd.

After taking the metro we had about 20 minute walk to the Zocalo. The brightness of the lights and fire works and the incredible amount of noise intensified with every step and by the time we got to the mass of humanity standing in and around the square, we were pumped.



The way it works is every zocalo in Mexico has the most prominent speaker they can get come and give a little speech called the grito around 11 PM the day before the Independence Day. That night everyone has a massive fiesta and then the next day no one has work or school and there is usually some type of parade.

After some less than reassuring metal detector and police searches we entered the Zocalo and after being completely surrounded by people for as far as the eye could see, heard Felipe Calderon, the president of Mexico come out and give the grito.



Despite some horrific chants aimed at El Presidente (apparently not too popular for his efforts at combating the drug cartels as I was later informed), everyone went crazy for the speech and after about 3 minutes of it, an unbelievable fire work show ensued with traditional mariachi bands all over the place making quite a cacophony of Mexican music.

From that point the party apparently continues for quite a while, but after having received multiple pieces of advice that said clear out as soon as the fire works end, we bolted back for the subway.

Except for a few hate crimes with bottles of foam similar to silly string where Tom, Dan, and I were downright targeted by some locals (though we didn't seem to mind too much), we were fortunate enough to not run into any troubles.



We arrived home and spiced up a bit of the after party then hit the sack.

The next day we got back on the metro and headed down to Avenue Juarez for the annual Independence Day military parade. We saw a lot of soldiers with a lot of guns and a couple phenomenal trombone sections





Next, we cruised over to the Reforma Avenue which is the main stretch of Mexico City and houses some awesome fountains and statues.



Once we had a look around there it was back to Paulina's house for a quick bite to eat and then off to the bus station for the return trip.

It was another great experience in Mexico. Very cool to see so many people so infused with national pride and we were very lucky to have been able to get right to the very center of the entire country for such an important day.

The next couple days will hopefully be a little more on the calm side as Monday brings the first concert of the year for the orchestra in which, as I was informed by the director Thursday, despite my inability to get through the entirety of any one of our 7 songs, I will be playing. God bless the audience...

Turtles and Tall Jumps

Last weekend was the annual Acapulco trip for the international students. Unfortunately this entry may be a little bland as most of the time was occupied by unbloggable things, oh wait that was the 21st birthday Thursday (just joshing mom).

Sorry that was a tangent, back to Acapulco.

After boarding a midnight bus we arrived to the hotel at around 8 in the morning a bit on the tired side but ready to go.



After a day at the beach and pool we headed to some restaurant next door to our hotel which had lots of waitresses dressed like this



Can't say much for the service but the buffalo wings were phenomenal.

Afterwards everyone showered up and we all hopped in the bus.

The first stop was the La Quebrada cliff diver show which was pretty cool. The divers are a group of professionals that have been doing shows since 1934. They take off from a platform that is 148 feet (child's play as we will soon see) above the water. Unbeknownst to us at the time jumping off really tall things would become a very prevalent theme throughout the weekend.

After the show the bus took us to a bar called Paradise. Right on the beach, two outdoor levels with a huge swimming pool, various spring break-esque activities (where some people just flat out dispose of all their dignity), and wouldn't you know it, a bungy tower.

Though it would seem logical to have done the bungy at this point, I was talked out of it by Dan and instead watched as 2 of my other friends went and both survived while I met a 27 year old friend named Claudia (after years of searching finally found a woman who could relate to me on a maturity level).



Though we had fun, the decision not to bungy jump would bother me for the rest of the weekend.

Saturday started off with a great walk down the waterfront of Acapulco. The city is pretty cool in that it is built around a large bay with the mountains less than half a mile from the water. You wind up with a big circle of blue water, good beach, huge hotels, and then beautiful mountains.



Around mid afternoon I was hit with some troubling information. The place we were planning to go to that night called Palladium (apparently a world famous night club) had a no short no tennis shoe policy. Fortunately coming from Chapel Hill and Charleston where I have been taught you can go anywhere and do anything in khaki shorts and a button down I had only packed shorts and tennis shoes for that night.

Refusing to let this get me down I cruised across the street to Wal Mart Supercenter for an early birthday present, 8 dollar George jeans (actually pretty decent looking), and a slick pair of white Miami Vice loafers.

After a beautiful sunset on the beach we got ready and headed out to Palladium.





We arrived about 30 minutes before the doors opened but were delighted to find one of my absolute favorite establishments in the whole world, Señor Frogs, was located next door.




Both Señor Frogs and Palladium are situated on the side of one of the mountains so they overlook the entire Bay of Acapulco which made for an incredible view the whole night.

A great time was had by all and as I laid down that night I thought I was satisfied with the weekend and could go home in peace...wrong.

I woke up Sunday with an ardent desire to bungy jump (at less than 30$ I didn't think I would find a better deal in the world nor a safer set up than Acapulco Mexico) before I left. After grabbing Dominique from Germany as my photographer we hopped in a cab at 12:30 knowing that we needed to be back on the bus for departure by 1:30.



We pulled up at the Paradise bar just in time for the 1:00 opening which fortunately from a time stand point allowed me to go first (I am fairly confident they had been testing the ropes out all morning and being the guinea pig first jumper for the day was a good idea).



After a brief glance at best over the policies and precautions I signed the line that said I assume responsibility for all the horrible things that could happen to me and put down the home address and phone number in the box that read "In the event of an accident who should be contacted" and hopped on the elevator.



At the top I was strapped in and somehow managed to form the sentence "How high am I right now?" despite my clattering teeth. The answer of 161 feet did nothing to help the nerves but time was of the essence so I hopped up out of my seat, hobbled over to the edge with my feet all wrapped up, told the guy to tell the fam I love them, looked over the edge, muttered some choice words, and took the plunge.



Holy mackerel I got from the top of the tower to the end of the bungy cord really really fast.

It was all over in what seemed like a split second, but was awesome feeling both during and after. After being hauled down onto firm ground we got this picture, cleaned out my shorts, and hopped back in a taxi to get on the bus.



After checking the Bengals score in Hooters and consequently wondering why I had ever developed such an unhealthy obsession with such a horrific excuse for a team we drove over to a different beach which was a turtle preservation site.

We spent a relaxing afternoon at the beach and at the end all got to release one of the little guy's into the water. After having read that 1 in 1,000 of them would survive (what an inefficient species that is, what the heck Darwin?), I was a bit discouraged to let mine go, but much like bungy jumping, decided the matter was best left to chance.



After watching them scurry off into the water in what became a very intense race for the observers, we all scurried back on the bus and headed home with another great weekend logged in the books.

Rooting for the Home Team

105,000 people is a lot, especially when every one of them is a screaming, blood thirsty (for Honduran blood this time thank goodness), maniacal (yes this is a word, I looked it up) Mexican soccer fan crammed into Estadio Azteca, Mexico's largest stadium.

Last Wednesday at 1:00 Dan, Tom (Australians), and I headed to Mexico City with another group from school to attend the Mexico vs. Honduras World Cup qualifying game. With only 3 games left (only top three teams advance) and Mexico in 3rd place but only 1 point behind Honduras and the US, it was showtime.

We arrived outside the stadium around 4 and due to Tom's pathetic bladder, the 3 of us hopped out of the bus early. The quarter mile or so to the stadium looked eerily reminiscent of a war zone with more police than I thought possible (just the tip of the ice berg in this shot).



After picking up some sweet jerseys for $8 (holy peso) to compliment our fantastic head bands we were looking sufficiently Mexican (or at least were making a heck of an effort) and were ready to grab the tickets.

After a bit of a dicey walk around the entire perimeter of the complex (policemen every 25 feet on the side walk) we arrived at the barb wire lined with shoulder to shoulder police with really big guns, fenced in, bullet proof glass, cement bomb shelter that was will call.




As soon as we grabbed the tickets a torrential down pour started so with 3 hours until game time we took off down the side walk and darted into the nearest building which just so happened to be the nicest building in Mexico City replete with a gorgeous new bowling alley, arcade, restaurant, and lazer tag arena.



After a meal and a good chat, we strapped on our Kevlar vests and headed back to Estadio Azteca for prime time. After being interviewed by a camera crew and this chica (desperately tried to translate our conversation into Spanish to no avail except for repeated screams of MÉXICO MÉXICO) we headed for the seats.



Getting there an hour early we figured we would get a half way decent spot despite being in the general seating section. Wrong, it seemed like we were about the very last people to arrive and as a result sat in the very top row.



The noise level was absolutely incredible from the time we arrived throughout the game due to the generous free distribution of horns and thunder sticks. The chants were unbelievable and included everyone in the stadium screaming the Spanish equivalent of bi#*% everytime the Honduran goalie punted the ball.

The first half was exciting with Mexico threatening to score on multiple opportunities but the Hondurans held them off much to the chagrin of all our good friends in the stands for a 0 to 0 tie at the half.





In the second half, the story was the same with Honduras packing it back and playing for what looked like a tie until a Mexican player got through the defense and was tripped in the box.

On the ensuing PK, Cuauhtémoc Blanco (my brother will probably name his first son that) netted it and the place absolutely erupted. Anything people were holding in their hand (beer, food, cameras, small children, etc.) was thrown as far as possible and mayhem ensued for about 5 minutes.

Afterwards, Mexico calmly protected the lead and went on to a 1 to 0 win which really really pleased a lot of people.



After the marathon that was getting out of the stadium we hopped back in our short bus, cruised down to the Zocalo to see the Mexican 200th birthday celebrations (stay tuned for that blog), and returned home.



All in all a great trip. Though I enjoyed watching both games here, I would definitely recommend a #17 Giovanni Dos Santos Mexican jersey to the Capitan America flag cape for all your Mexican soccer viewing needs.

Mud and Monkeys

As I mentioned in my last post, a group of 6 of us boarded a bus Saturday afternoon in Vera Cruz with Catemaco, famous for its witches and monkeys as our destination.



We arrived in town at about 10:00 PM and after securing a hotel room (I got my own bed this time) headed out for a quick bite to eat. After dinner, we took a walk down by the Catemaco Lagoon (too dark to see much of anything) and then decided to return to the hotel to get an early night's sleep/there was a James Bond Marathon in English showing.

The next day we got up around 9 and headed through the Zocalo and down to the water in hopes of taking a boat tour around the lagoon.



We were able to find a guide and hopped in a boat with another family (turned out to be the Mexican Power Couple with dad as a lawyer, mom as a doctor, and I assume little Santiago seen here being groomed for a presidential run).



I have a ton of great pictures I want to show so I will try and stick to them and cut down on the yap this time. The lagoon is about 28 square miles with islands dispersed throughout and then completely surrounded by a ring of small mountains all covered in tropical vegetation.



Everything started off fairly normal. We visited a small shrine that was erected when the city was founded, got some background info on the history of Catemaco (translated compliments of one of our girls named Malin), and did some bird watching.




After this, things got crazy and our boat was boarded by a girl who wanted to sell us some therapeutic mud. Using our favorite slogan "Cuando en México" (When in Mexico) we all decided to give it a whirl.



Next up, a strange object from one of the island trees was placed in my hand (Dragon Fruit I believe) and we gave that a shot, not bad, a lot like a big white kiwi.



After snack time we spotted a crocodile cruising in the water and then stopped here where apparently the movie Curandero starring Sean Connery was filmed (has anyone heard of this movie?).

It turned out to be a rain forest and for a couple dollars we hopped out of the boat and were taken along a walking path by a guide. There were an assortment of things along said path
including this sauna where volcanic rocks are cooked in an oven and then placed in this hut and people sit for an hour or two to sweat it out (or at least that is what I think he said, Malin took a break from translating).



Overall I was a bit confused (but very impressed with the beauty and coolness) by this odd conglomeration of things. There were small huts and statues such as this jaguar god of fertility who supposedly was married to a beautiful princess (in this case I was the fertile/constipated jaguar and Malin the beautiful princess) all over the place as well as various other things to see and do.



Unable to wrap my mind around it, I decided it had to serve some bigger purpose and chose that purpose to be a wedding. As a result, I had a quick chat with the guide and he felt the best place to do that would be the theater area so upon arriving there I grabbed the closest human being (not picky based on the sleeping arrangements two nights prior) who happened to be Canada Jess and the group performed a beautiful ceremony.




After the vows, another strange statue was found which called for a macho shot



Then to cap it all off we took a shot out of the mineral water well in a palm frond which the guide guaranteed would offer us health and well being (combined with our newly mud moisturized faces we were just about ready to conquer the world at this point).



We hopped back on the boat for a trip to Monkey Island. This pretty much blew me away because as the Biology major and resident expert on all things scientific in a group of business students I had insisted there were no monkeys in Mexico but apparently a local university had done an experiment years before and they now inhabited two of the lagoon's islands. These creatures were fairly amazing, I mean talk about camouflage this photo appears to be of the monkey's sleeping face but actually is his dairy air (imagine the confusion for the predator).




These guys also had some extraordinary fruit catching abilities including this guy who made a full extension snow cone grab for this piece and still managed not to fall in the drink.



After monkey time we headed back to town for our meeting with professional nature tour man Felix.


He presented us with a menu of nature tours and after selecting the water fall circuit we piled into his jeep cherokee and rocked out to Led Zeppelin during the 30 minute drive.

On the way we picked up Royer and Juan Pablo from Guadalajara and together the 9 of us drove down an unbelievable dirt road into the mountains.




We arrived at our first waterfall and after a quick hike came upon this scene (a bit more charming if you can look beyond Juan Pablo in his skin tight boxer briefs).



There were two pools with the waterfall coming down into the top one then spilling over a series of rocks into a calmer pool. We were able to climb the rocks and swim as close to the cascade as possible, it was unbelievable the water pressure coming down from this thing.

After thoroughly exhausting ourselves (3 minutes of swimming and 15 of sitting and looking around, unbelievably beautiful, looked like something out of Jurassic Park with all the vegetation minus the velociraptors) we got out and headed for our next water fall.



This one was not nearly as impressive but did have a large rock formation with a deep pool below it which allowed for some incredibly coordinated jumps. It was tons of fun and again very beautiful and the perfect recap to an awesome day.



After this swim we hopped back in Felix's truck and headed back to town.

After a few minor/6 hours worth of set backs in the bus travel system we made it home. I was dropped off about 5 minutes from my house and went walking up the street just as my home stay mother was pulling out for work that morning at 7 AM. Though exhausted, I gave her a big smile and a thumbs up to conclude one of the best weekends of my life.