Manzanillo
I find it to be the slightest bit disturbing that the expiration date on my milk isn't until June. Its almost as disconcerting as the Christmas decorations on the outside of the carton.
I don't question it, i just eat my Mexican cornflakes and try not to think about it.
.....
weird.
But moving on, after a month of being here, i finally got the chance to travel a little.
Last weekend was Laura(another volunteer)'s birthday and since Monday was a holiday, we decided as a group to visit the beach in celebration of both her birthday and the 3day weekend.
Saturday morning i woke up late and grabbed a taxi for the bus station and arriving on typical Mexican standard time (aka one hour late). Luckily Holly and Olly (no, not joking) were nice enough to wait for me, though everyone else had taken and earlier bus. I was hugely grateful since 4 hour bus rides are not particularly exciting on your own, even if you do have an Ipod and a view of the highly entertaining Mexican landscape to keep you company.
It turned out to be a really nice trip. Olly and i talked for a good hour about our homes, which was way more interesting than it sounds. The kid is from England (like so many of the volunteers here) so we had a good discussion about the differences between American and European culture/politics/wordchoice. It was actually really cool, because i know so little about England its surrounding bits and I've been learning so much since i got here because 90% or more of the volunteers are from somewhere in Europe. Not what i was expecting from Mexico, but not bad either.
Heres a poorly lit picture of Olly on the bus.
Below him is a poorly lit picture of Holly on the bus.
Holly is superdeduperdecool. She and i spent a good couple hours of the trip talking, she is also from England (surprise) and arrived here shortly after me, she'll also be staying for 3 months so we decided to work out our travel time so that we can travel together at the end. It looks to be a blast and a half.
We arrived at Manzanillo without too many incidents of death or destruction and got a call from the other volunteers giving us the name of a hotel to which they advised us to proceed. We would have really liked to take this advise, unfortunately, and perhaps for the first time since i have entered this country, there was not a taxi to be seen. We meandered out to the main stretch of road as casually as three white tourist with backpacks and bags can, and there continued to be bewildered by the absence of taxi, cab or otherwise yellow-looking vehicle. Eventually, by means of chicken dance in the middle of the road, i managed to attract us a ride.
The amazing thing about that statement, is that it's not much of an exaggeration.
Anyway, leaving that memory behind... we finally got ourselves to the advised motel and found (luckily enough) all the other volunteers within. A fair amount too, i think in total there were about 17 of us altogether, and for some reason the manager wouldn't let us split one room. I was moderately upset by this news, but was appeased when word went out that we were headed to the beach pronto. I use the term “headed to” lightly, it was literally our back yard. We went out the gate, crossed a path, and BOOM, instant beach-age.
It was really nice, even though it was getting to be evening the weather was still quite warm. The beach (though not white) was sandy, and the water was warm. Two things you will never see on Washington beaches. I was having a blast, running back and forth in the sand, chucking rocks in the water, climbing over rocks like a mad sand crab. I think everyone else was off playing volleyball or something, I was completely content for a while to stand in the water and watch the sun set. I was amazed to discover prehistoric beasts still exist in some parts of the world, and i announced shared this with any remaining companions
“Um guys, i think we're about to be bombarded by pterodactyls....”
That caused Holly to freak out a bit, apparently she has a bit of a bird phobia. Oops. As they flew past, we realized they were in fact pelicans and not well preserved dinosaurs. I had no idea birds could be so huge and still fly. Holly hid behind me when they got close.
Night comes. We head back to the hotel for the evening to get a little r&r before the next day.
That was the idea anyway. The next morning, Me and Dave are the only ones awake cuz everyone else has hangovers. Ok, actually Richard was awake too, but thats only because he went to sleep in the downstairs room, and was afraid to go to sleep after he woke up in the room upstairs. Poor kid. Dave and i left him in the room (he didnt want to leave) and went for a walk on the beach. It was quite awsome, great view.
The sad thing was the amount of trash every where. Apparently Manzanillo is a kind of a fishing town, so all the barges just throw their trash over the side and it ends up washing up on the beach. Really sad, but mostly, really disgusting.
We got back around the time when everyone was dragging themselves out of bed, poor Danielle wanted to know why her towel was on the bottom of the pool and we had to tell her that she a specifically left it there. She didn't remember much.
Most people spent the next few hours lounging in or next to the pool. I found this plan to be highly acceptable. I think if you'dve been there, you probably would've too.
It was an experience most people would've called relaxing. I would've agreed but i was too eager to run off to the beach again. Eventually I accumulated followers, and we proceeded forth. Which was good cuz the beach (even a dirty beach) is much nicer experience than your average poolside experience.
For one, beaches are a great place to find superheros.
SuperHolly advises you to wear sunscreen.
Heres some of us lunging.
I realize i am of course the whitest person in the picture... but by the end of the day i was also the least cancer damaged. No one else bothered with sunscreen. By that evening we were calling Richard little lobster cuz he looked like he'd been boiled alive. He didn't believe us. Until he saw a mirror.
I shouldn't take satisfaction from that.... but i do.
Another evening, we walked to a chinese/seafood restaurant for Laura's birthday dinner. I tried to capture the moment, but it didn't work.
Dinner was nice, i had a plate of rice and octopus. Yummy, but i probably would have enjoyed it a lot more if it hadn't made me vomit for the next 18 hours.
I cant even tell you how much fun that was.
I even took pictures.
Actually i didn't. Some moments don't need to photos to be remembered for all eternity.
All in all though, it was a good weekend. Sun, sky, water, friends... i think i should do it again sometime in the not too distant future.
Though this time without the octopus.
I don't question it, i just eat my Mexican cornflakes and try not to think about it.
.....
weird.
But moving on, after a month of being here, i finally got the chance to travel a little.
Last weekend was Laura(another volunteer)'s birthday and since Monday was a holiday, we decided as a group to visit the beach in celebration of both her birthday and the 3day weekend.
Saturday morning i woke up late and grabbed a taxi for the bus station and arriving on typical Mexican standard time (aka one hour late). Luckily Holly and Olly (no, not joking) were nice enough to wait for me, though everyone else had taken and earlier bus. I was hugely grateful since 4 hour bus rides are not particularly exciting on your own, even if you do have an Ipod and a view of the highly entertaining Mexican landscape to keep you company.
It turned out to be a really nice trip. Olly and i talked for a good hour about our homes, which was way more interesting than it sounds. The kid is from England (like so many of the volunteers here) so we had a good discussion about the differences between American and European culture/politics/wordchoice. It was actually really cool, because i know so little about England its surrounding bits and I've been learning so much since i got here because 90% or more of the volunteers are from somewhere in Europe. Not what i was expecting from Mexico, but not bad either.
Heres a poorly lit picture of Olly on the bus.
Below him is a poorly lit picture of Holly on the bus.
Holly is superdeduperdecool. She and i spent a good couple hours of the trip talking, she is also from England (surprise) and arrived here shortly after me, she'll also be staying for 3 months so we decided to work out our travel time so that we can travel together at the end. It looks to be a blast and a half.
We arrived at Manzanillo without too many incidents of death or destruction and got a call from the other volunteers giving us the name of a hotel to which they advised us to proceed. We would have really liked to take this advise, unfortunately, and perhaps for the first time since i have entered this country, there was not a taxi to be seen. We meandered out to the main stretch of road as casually as three white tourist with backpacks and bags can, and there continued to be bewildered by the absence of taxi, cab or otherwise yellow-looking vehicle. Eventually, by means of chicken dance in the middle of the road, i managed to attract us a ride.
The amazing thing about that statement, is that it's not much of an exaggeration.
Anyway, leaving that memory behind... we finally got ourselves to the advised motel and found (luckily enough) all the other volunteers within. A fair amount too, i think in total there were about 17 of us altogether, and for some reason the manager wouldn't let us split one room. I was moderately upset by this news, but was appeased when word went out that we were headed to the beach pronto. I use the term “headed to” lightly, it was literally our back yard. We went out the gate, crossed a path, and BOOM, instant beach-age.
It was really nice, even though it was getting to be evening the weather was still quite warm. The beach (though not white) was sandy, and the water was warm. Two things you will never see on Washington beaches. I was having a blast, running back and forth in the sand, chucking rocks in the water, climbing over rocks like a mad sand crab. I think everyone else was off playing volleyball or something, I was completely content for a while to stand in the water and watch the sun set. I was amazed to discover prehistoric beasts still exist in some parts of the world, and i announced shared this with any remaining companions
“Um guys, i think we're about to be bombarded by pterodactyls....”
That caused Holly to freak out a bit, apparently she has a bit of a bird phobia. Oops. As they flew past, we realized they were in fact pelicans and not well preserved dinosaurs. I had no idea birds could be so huge and still fly. Holly hid behind me when they got close.
Night comes. We head back to the hotel for the evening to get a little r&r before the next day.
That was the idea anyway. The next morning, Me and Dave are the only ones awake cuz everyone else has hangovers. Ok, actually Richard was awake too, but thats only because he went to sleep in the downstairs room, and was afraid to go to sleep after he woke up in the room upstairs. Poor kid. Dave and i left him in the room (he didnt want to leave) and went for a walk on the beach. It was quite awsome, great view.
The sad thing was the amount of trash every where. Apparently Manzanillo is a kind of a fishing town, so all the barges just throw their trash over the side and it ends up washing up on the beach. Really sad, but mostly, really disgusting.
We got back around the time when everyone was dragging themselves out of bed, poor Danielle wanted to know why her towel was on the bottom of the pool and we had to tell her that she a specifically left it there. She didn't remember much.
Most people spent the next few hours lounging in or next to the pool. I found this plan to be highly acceptable. I think if you'dve been there, you probably would've too.
It was an experience most people would've called relaxing. I would've agreed but i was too eager to run off to the beach again. Eventually I accumulated followers, and we proceeded forth. Which was good cuz the beach (even a dirty beach) is much nicer experience than your average poolside experience.
For one, beaches are a great place to find superheros.
SuperHolly advises you to wear sunscreen.
Heres some of us lunging.
I realize i am of course the whitest person in the picture... but by the end of the day i was also the least cancer damaged. No one else bothered with sunscreen. By that evening we were calling Richard little lobster cuz he looked like he'd been boiled alive. He didn't believe us. Until he saw a mirror.
I shouldn't take satisfaction from that.... but i do.
Another evening, we walked to a chinese/seafood restaurant for Laura's birthday dinner. I tried to capture the moment, but it didn't work.
Dinner was nice, i had a plate of rice and octopus. Yummy, but i probably would have enjoyed it a lot more if it hadn't made me vomit for the next 18 hours.
I cant even tell you how much fun that was.
I even took pictures.
Actually i didn't. Some moments don't need to photos to be remembered for all eternity.
All in all though, it was a good weekend. Sun, sky, water, friends... i think i should do it again sometime in the not too distant future.
Though this time without the octopus.