--And it might be the biggest monster post EVER (consider yourself warned!)... It's my second trip to a Spanish speaking country, can you blame me? :D
--Hint: If you make it to the end, I will reward you with pictures of cute animals... :D
--The first weekend of May we went on a very lovely trip to Mexico with our friends Ben and Maria and their little boy Scott.
(Maria is from Mexico and that's where her mom and dad live.)
--We went to Nogales and even though it's not a touristy town and there wasn't a lot to do, we had such a blast!
Day 1:
--We left Provo at about 1:30 pm and drove and drove and drove...
--We talked and slept and I read on my Kindle a little.
--We only stopped like 3 times (little Scott is an excellent traveler) and we arrived at our hotel in Nogales, Arizona at about 1 am there (2 am here).We even saw a jack rabbit! It was huge!
Day 2:
--We only slept until about 6 or 7 am and then we got breakfast at Carl's Jr.
--Then we crossed the border! :D
--Nogales is a really hilly city and the roads are crazy (crisscrossing, no lines, one-ways, few stop signs, etc.), so that made driving really fun. :D
--We arrived at Maria's parents' house and store.
--The plan was for Steven and I to go to the door before Ben and Maria and to say something like, "Hey, we found this baby and we were wondering if you would watch him. We are sure his parents will come soon..." And then when she hesitated, Maria and Ben would come around the corner and say something like, "What? You don't want to tend your own grandson?!"
--Well, Steven and I took Scott and pretended to be friends that Maria sent to see her parents. Her mom didn't even skip a beat and invited us in to talk and asked if we wanted something to drink. So long story short, we didn't really have the chance to say much of anything before Maria and Ben came around the corner and her mom saw them. She rushed to hug and kiss them and was yelling with joy and smiling and almost crying and jumping up and down. It was so cute and really touching to see how she reacted to the surprise.
--Then we spent the majority of the day just sitting and talking and relaxing. It was really nice.
--We ate some tacos de birria and cabeza from a roadside vendor (meat that I couldn't really stomach) and walked to the corner convenience store (called Oxxo).
--Two sets of missionaries came over to have lunch which was fun. Eva (Maria's mom) feed us lunch too (two types of salads, warm corn tortillas, and spicy beans).
--We also walked around a little trying to find an internet cafe. We visited a dollar store and got mango raspados (like a snow cone) from a roadside vendor (Yum!).
--Also, the three boys (Steven, Ben, and Scott) took naps.
--At the end of the day, we all took the bus down to a street close to the border that had a lot of street vendors and shops and we tried all sorts of different things (a creamed corn soup, chip things ("doritos") with spicy sauce and lime, and cebada (a type of aguas frescas drink), and I can't remember what else) and a couple of guys tried to get us to buy jewelry.
--Then we stopped at a panadería (bakery) and bought some pastry breads for breakfast (one with cream cheese and jalapenos inside- crazy icky but Steven liked it!).
--We rode the bus back to the house and car and then we went back to the border and waited from 8 to about 10 pm to cross. It was rather uneventful, but interesting to watch all the people who walk up and down between the cars trying to sell things to you while you wait.
--We got back to our hotel and crashed. We were so tired.
--The bus was my favorite part of this day; it was seriously a roller-coaster!!!
Day 3:
--We slept until about 8 and then ate our panadería bread for breakfast. Then we went to the store to get some things we needed and crossed the border again.
--We arrived at Maria's parents' house and pretty soon after went to a flea market call Tianguis. It was huge! I mean huge! It was outside and inside and I seriously got lost. I loved it!
--We ate tacos de carne asada/desebrada and sopes (my new favorite!).
--We walked around and ate lots of different treats like empanadas de cajeta, marzipan, frozen treats, churros, more spicy doritos, mangoes with spicy stuff and lime on them (why?!?), limonada, and horchata. Yum! Good, good stuff. (This fresh horchata was way better than the machine stuff they have at Costa Vida!)
--I wanted a big sombrero, but the kind I want is not to be found in Nogales so Maria promised to get me one later.
--Then we chilled out at the house, watched some TV, the baby took a nap, and Maria and Ben helped with Eva's store.
--They taught Eva how to listen to things on the computer and then started to make a spreadsheet to keep track of the store sales (I even helped a little with that!).
--Steven and I walked down to the store to check the price of a couple things so Eva would now what to sell them for and I bought a Kinder Sorpresa which reminded me of Spain. :D
--Then a little later we went to two stores (Walmart and Soriana) to find some things (perejil, aceite, pan).
--I bought some chocolate covered corn flake like cereal from a coin machine.
--Then for dinner we got crazy yummy hot dogs from a street vendor. My hot dog had mayo, tomatoes, onions, guacamole, cheese, and a really yummy bun. I was nervous because I usually only like my hot dogs burnt and plain, but these were so so good! (We were also going to eat tacos de perro [which is apparently not really dog meat, but just a mystery meat- which actually does not make me feel better], but there wasn't anyone out selling it near the house so we didn't (phew!).)
--Then Eva made us take a bag full of treats from her little store (cookies, caramels, and all sorts of things including spicy fuego chile gum that Steven liked...weird...). She is very proud of her little store and it's doing very well- she offered to us and we ate lots of treats and soda in glass bottles from the store.
--Then we took pictures, we left, and we got in line to cross the border.
--This night was considerable more eventful and funny for two reasons:
1) The border police noticed we were crossing for a second time and mildly interrogated us about it. ("Why are you coming back over again? What are you doing in Mexico?" etc.). It took us by surprise! They also inspected the trunk. It was rather intimidating.
2) Steven bartered with a man selling a plane made out of beer cans. The guy wanted 70 pesos and Steven only had 50. After a back and forth, they had exchanged the 50 and the plane and the guys still wanted more money. So Steven asked the guy if he wanted the plane back and he just said no and left us the plane and took the 50 pesos and left. We laughed and laughed about it. (Maria said she was expecting the guy to take the plane back and then run away with the money...) Steven said he had to buy it because it reminded him of his grandpa (who used to make planes out of cans). It is a pretty cool plane: the propeller spins and everything, but it is made out of beer cans! And now it is hanging in our backyard!
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| Bag of treats (and this is only like half since we have eaten some). |
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| Including this creepy clown marshmallow/chocolate/gummy sucker! LOL |
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| The beer can plane. Oh my. :) |
--We ate bread for breakfast again and left the hotel at about 11.
--We stopped at the Reid Park Zoo which was really really fun! It is an extremely well-designed zoo (several different angles and spots to view each animal); I was so impressed. I got more sun and got to see some sweet animals (like an anteater! awesome!) I loved loved this zoo!
--Then we drove and drove and drove.
--We stopped a few times including at a Chinese buffet restaurant for lunch/dinner (after like an hour-long ordeal of picking a restaurant in the airport then picking one that we couldn't find a parking spot for... lol).
--Then we drove back into the cold and rain of Provo at about 3 am. :(
--Poor Ben was supposed to go right to work and Steven ended up being late for work the next morning (but it was okay).
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| This rhino's horn is twisted around backwards! Weird! |
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| Adorable Scott! :D |
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| We didn't slow down at all for this picture, I'm just awesome like that! |
My favorite things in Mexico:
Fanta/other pop in glass bottles,
warm weather and sun,
little shops and street vendors all over the place,
sopes,
Tianguis market,
warm fresh corn tortillas,
crazy decked-out hot dogs,
roller-coaster bus,
real horchata,
Spanish!,
and the fact that Maria's parents were so nice.
(Eva kept calling me a precious, beautiful doll and giving us treats and asking if we needed anything. She even called us yesterday (almost a month later) just to talk, ask when we would visit again, tell us to make a list of things that we want her to send next time Ben and Maria visit, and to say thanks for how we help Maria and Ben by tending Scott. )
To sum it all up: Crazy bus, good food, warm weather, friendly people, lots of street vendors, and calm, relaxing atmosphere!
And seriously, what's with the make everything spicy picante chile obsession?!? I can't stand that! ;)
Also, we felt rich rich rich! (5 dollars = about 50 pesos. So at one point we had about 600 pesos and that feels like a dang lot, my friends! :D)
My souvenirs: great memories, Mexican money: one bill and one coin, pictures, a flier from the store (Soriana) and treats. :D
So I guess we really did more than we realized! LOL
It was just really nice to just be immersed in warm weather and Spanish and to be with our friends and hold Scott as much as we wanted.
Also, I got to spend 4 entire days with Steven! :D Can't go wrong there! Super wonderful vacation!
I'm sad that I only took this one picture in Mexico. I think mostly I didn't want to seem/stick out like a tourist. But oh well; it just means we'll have to go back. :D
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| From L to R: Maria's mom, Ben, Scott, Maria, Me, Steven, Maria's Dad. |
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