Estamos en Mexico
We've now been in Mexico for over 30 hours, and we're enjoying it so far.
Our journey began when we left Houston on 13 February...on the bus to San Antonio, we were two of only three passengers not fluent in Spanish, and the driver spoke very little English. A good taste of what was to come!
We had two nights in San Antonio and had a great time seeing Ross again, getting 13 hours of sleep one of the nights (a return to form – woo-hoo!!!), and eating some excellent Italian food (including a visit to Mr Gatti's, whose cinnamon sticks with icing were put on this earth to tempt me). Our first night there, would-be USA president Hillary Clinton was speaking at Ross's grad school. He had a class to go to that night, so we went along to St Mary's Uni to see what she had to say. A LOT of other people had the same idea. An hour before the doors were to open, there were thousands of people ahead of us, and by the time the doors opened, there seemed to be thousands of people behind us in line. There were news helicopters overhead and sharpshooters on the roof of the building. It was mental.
Now, I already had in mind to vote for Obama in the primary. I figured this was Hillary's chance to convince me otherwise. Plus I wanted to see her rather than what the media choose to show about her. I also wanted to see her just in case she does become president. In the end, we spent about four hours to hear her speak for 40 minutes (plus some time wasted as people before her went on and on about how great she is). She said some wonderful things, amazing (and very inspiring) goals for her presidency. She did not, however, even once give a CLUE as to how she'll accomplish anything. She didn't take any questions at any point. I was so disappointed, while nearly everyone else there was going mental with applause and cheering for her. Anyway, once the savvy St Mary's security personnel remembered to open the gates of the parking lot (after what felt like an hour of us waiting inside the parking lot), we went and had an excellent Italian meal, so the evening wasn't wasted.
The morning of 15 February, yesterday in fact, we got our bus to Monterrey, Mexico. This time we were two of four passengers not fluent in Spanish. This journey took seven hours, and I spent most of that time relearning Spanish while Iff slept. (In fairness, we only have one Spanish book on us, having ditched the other one to lighten our packs.) We had a wee spot of bother at the Mexico border when we were hassled not by Mexican officials but by an American prat wearing a customs official uniform. He grilled us on our travels, the work that would allow us to travel, our time in the US, our lives in Scotland, even what my parents do. If we weren't so worried about hiding contraband in our backpacks, I'd have taken him out with a sawed-off!!! Only joking. He was a complete prat, though.
We got to Monterrey 15 minutes early! And we were on Greyhound!!! Will wonders never cease? We'd booked a hostel near the bus station, and we found it fine about a 10-minute walk away. Our room is on the fifth floor (good thing we lightened our packs), and at that level there's an amazing view of the mountains around the city, particularly the Cerro de la Silla:
We didn't really fancy roaming around that night, so we stayed in and watched some of the movies Ross put on Iff's ipod. Cheers, Ross!
This morning (well, afternoon by the time we woke up) we slapped on lots of sunblock and walked all over the city. There's plenty to see here, including a giant pigeon:
We found a really cool restaurant for lunch. We were the only tourists in there, and the waiter seemed to enjoy the challenge of finding us vegetarian food. He threw in free stuff, which thrilled us...soup and various drinks he didn't know the English names for. We didn't know the English names either, but we enjoyed the drinks even as we hoped the ice cubes in them were made from purified water! For anyone visiting here, the restaurant is called La Divina, and it's on Diego de Montemayor by the Paseo Santa Lucia riverwalk.
We toyed with the idea of staying here an extra day to get in some hiking in the mountains, but we're too excited about getting to Chihuahua for the Copper Canyon railway. To that end, we're aiming for the 5:40 am bus tomorrow. AM!!! I can hear you laughing maniacally, Mom and Dad...chill out!
Hasta luego!
Our journey began when we left Houston on 13 February...on the bus to San Antonio, we were two of only three passengers not fluent in Spanish, and the driver spoke very little English. A good taste of what was to come!
We had two nights in San Antonio and had a great time seeing Ross again, getting 13 hours of sleep one of the nights (a return to form – woo-hoo!!!), and eating some excellent Italian food (including a visit to Mr Gatti's, whose cinnamon sticks with icing were put on this earth to tempt me). Our first night there, would-be USA president Hillary Clinton was speaking at Ross's grad school. He had a class to go to that night, so we went along to St Mary's Uni to see what she had to say. A LOT of other people had the same idea. An hour before the doors were to open, there were thousands of people ahead of us, and by the time the doors opened, there seemed to be thousands of people behind us in line. There were news helicopters overhead and sharpshooters on the roof of the building. It was mental.
Now, I already had in mind to vote for Obama in the primary. I figured this was Hillary's chance to convince me otherwise. Plus I wanted to see her rather than what the media choose to show about her. I also wanted to see her just in case she does become president. In the end, we spent about four hours to hear her speak for 40 minutes (plus some time wasted as people before her went on and on about how great she is). She said some wonderful things, amazing (and very inspiring) goals for her presidency. She did not, however, even once give a CLUE as to how she'll accomplish anything. She didn't take any questions at any point. I was so disappointed, while nearly everyone else there was going mental with applause and cheering for her. Anyway, once the savvy St Mary's security personnel remembered to open the gates of the parking lot (after what felt like an hour of us waiting inside the parking lot), we went and had an excellent Italian meal, so the evening wasn't wasted.
The morning of 15 February, yesterday in fact, we got our bus to Monterrey, Mexico. This time we were two of four passengers not fluent in Spanish. This journey took seven hours, and I spent most of that time relearning Spanish while Iff slept. (In fairness, we only have one Spanish book on us, having ditched the other one to lighten our packs.) We had a wee spot of bother at the Mexico border when we were hassled not by Mexican officials but by an American prat wearing a customs official uniform. He grilled us on our travels, the work that would allow us to travel, our time in the US, our lives in Scotland, even what my parents do. If we weren't so worried about hiding contraband in our backpacks, I'd have taken him out with a sawed-off!!! Only joking. He was a complete prat, though.
We got to Monterrey 15 minutes early! And we were on Greyhound!!! Will wonders never cease? We'd booked a hostel near the bus station, and we found it fine about a 10-minute walk away. Our room is on the fifth floor (good thing we lightened our packs), and at that level there's an amazing view of the mountains around the city, particularly the Cerro de la Silla:
We didn't really fancy roaming around that night, so we stayed in and watched some of the movies Ross put on Iff's ipod. Cheers, Ross!
This morning (well, afternoon by the time we woke up) we slapped on lots of sunblock and walked all over the city. There's plenty to see here, including a giant pigeon:
We found a really cool restaurant for lunch. We were the only tourists in there, and the waiter seemed to enjoy the challenge of finding us vegetarian food. He threw in free stuff, which thrilled us...soup and various drinks he didn't know the English names for. We didn't know the English names either, but we enjoyed the drinks even as we hoped the ice cubes in them were made from purified water! For anyone visiting here, the restaurant is called La Divina, and it's on Diego de Montemayor by the Paseo Santa Lucia riverwalk.
We toyed with the idea of staying here an extra day to get in some hiking in the mountains, but we're too excited about getting to Chihuahua for the Copper Canyon railway. To that end, we're aiming for the 5:40 am bus tomorrow. AM!!! I can hear you laughing maniacally, Mom and Dad...chill out!
Hasta luego!
posted by Trace at
9:22 pm
2 Comments:
Dear Trace.
I am ever so glad you came to my rally in San Antonio and I am glad that you were inspired by my presidency goals.
To answer your question how will I achieve them? By nuclusing the common energy, integrity and enthusiasm of my fellow Americans I believe we can achieve great things. My manifesto is designed to be a challenge but America thrives on challenges. By following this radical change of diplomatic approach, patriots like ourselves can bring peace and harmony back to the greatest country on earth and spread democracy and humanitarian priciples throughout the world and beyond.
Safe travels, take your responsibility as american ambassadors seriously on your travels and most importantly vote Clinton.
Follow your dreams. You can meet your goals. I am living proof.
Hillary
By
Anonymous, At
3:56 am
Hum. I like the giant peejon.
By
Lib, At
5:19 am
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