Tuesday, October 30, 2007

"sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy ..."

It's getting to that time when familiarity is setting in and I need to keep reminding myself how lucky I am to be in mexico. Wow! That's a mexican tree, growing in mexican soil on a whole other land mass.

Well, that's not quite accurate. I love being in mexico. The pace of life is very appealing, things are cheap, people are happy and eager to dance even if they earn little.

It's just am getting restless in Guadalajara, being tied down to a highschool thinly disguised as a university, and having to complete innane, uncritical homework tasks when lazy beaches are close by, and delapidated towns need to be explored, and warm siestas beneath a poncho are calling. I don't know, maybe it's just my recently acquired John Denver: Country Road Box Set Collection talking.

I must admit though, the spanish lessons have been great. my roomate informs me that i've started talking in my sleep in spanish ...

Tomorrow the class is off for a few days to the 'Day of the Dead' celebrations in a neighbouring state, so I hope to return with spooky tales of ancestral stirrings and a sombrero-load of skull-themed lollies !

Thursday, October 25, 2007

El Mercado Libertad

This week I ventured for a second time to the old Mercado Libertad built in 1958. It's a multi-storied, sprawling, dilapidated market place claiming the title of Latin America's largest covered market.

It's a good place to go if you need a snake-skin hat, a snake to turn into a hat, obscure herbal remedy, or just a healthy dose of influenza. It's a bit like the Ekka without the over-priced rides and manure-spattered ground ... actually, i retract that. There was a herd (?) of horses there this time.


Tuesday, October 23, 2007

fancy dress day





Operation Vegemite Drop

After a two month wait, I finally got a super-exciting package in the mail! Some yeast and a tube of vegemite courtesy of Milkana. Ready to devour.


Post-mite. Delicious. Thanks Milkana, now I'll be the most popular guest at our expat Federal Election Bash in November.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

fiesta internacional

At uni this week, there was the obligatory international student fair. the australian contingent was well represented, and for a brief while, the sound system was infiltrated by patriotic strains of Farnsey. The only hiccup was that most people thought the Uluru sticker on my face was an unsightly lesion. In its defence, it's a motif that doesn't translate well to cartoon form.


A proud pav pose. These were the second batch. The first plate met the unfortunate fate of being smashed by the hand of a rogue Frenchman. He wasn't as apologetic as I would have liked, but being the easy-going Australian that I like to think I am, I harbour no ill-feeling towards him or his neighbouring stall despite his inclination for sabotage.

Not a fan of the desert myself, but the attendees seemed to enjoy it. Once I assured them i didn't have an Australian strain of small pox eating my face.

Sunday, October 14, 2007

el otro lado del Océano Pacífico

The little beach I went this weekend con mis amigos was called Sayulita. It's about 4 hours drive from Guadalajara, and for all you 'Love Boat' aficionados, a half hour north of Puerto Vallarta. It's pretty different from most east coast Australian beaches. With the exception of tacky Tijauana-style Puerto Vallarta, most of the coastal beach towns are small, with unsealed roads, thatched roofed huts and lots of rubbish and coconuts.


The sand is pebbly and dark, I suppose from the volcanic soil. There's also terrible erosion problems which is ameliorated with sandbagging and also, judging from the amount of bricks and timber, it would seem construction debris. All in all, it is a nice place to relax. The pace is certainly preferable to Surfers, and you can actually see stars in the sky which I don't think I've seen since I've been in Mexico...

So instead of washing sand and salt water from one's togs in the shower, the beach at Sayulita also coughed up glass, prophylactics and a confusing, decisively non-organic neon green foam ... luckily there were no three eyed fish to be seen. There was, however, a needy three-legged chihuawa loitering hopefully around all weekend.

Yes, I'm drinking a from a coconut. Perhaps my expression does not explicitly convey how revulsively sweet and alcoholic that beverage was. My stomach was forgiving.

You see ? I couldn't resist ...

Monday, October 8, 2007

" ... nine squirrels squirreling. Eight ro-tten a-corns! Seven rabid rodents ..."

I've seen my first squirrels. Gosh, they're fast little animals. In the absence of any more rodent-appropriate treats, I fed them fairy floss. They were climbing up my legs, so I figured the sugary morsels would relax their persistent grip on my jeans. It was a rash decision that in hindsight was probably not so wise. I didn't stick around to see what consequences refined sugar would have on their nervous scampering. Probably just a little more aggitated scampering?




I've decided these little creatures are the ibis of the Mexican public park.