Lieke and I left for Monterrey at about 5 in the bus. We met up with Philipp alto (the tall Austrian), Jeremie (France), and Elin (Sweden) and left on the 8 p.m. bus to Ciudad Valles. I was fortunate enough to get some sleep on the bus thanks to Dramamine. We arrived in Ciudad Valles at 4 a.m. and Rotarians took us to the hotel we would be staying at. To my delight we were able to go to our hotel rooms and sleep!!! I was so excited to have four more hours of sleep. I woke up at 8 by Monica (she's a chairperson for Rotary Youth Exchange) and I woke up and had an intense pain in my nose from being hit the Wednesday before. It was a little blue and had a bump.
I went downstairs and saw all my exchange friends. It was awesome to see all of them again. They all seemed happy to see me...maybe it was just a front, but who knows. The breakfast was awesome. It was a buffet and I ate pretty much the same thing every day: quesadillas, pancakes, waffles and then coffee. Yummy.
Our first group picture!
Friday morning we left to go to the Puente de Dios (Bridge of God). It was about an hour's drive from Ciudad Valles. We had to walk down steps (more like termite eaten wooden steps and rocks) for about 10 minutes. It was beautiful, it was surrounded by mountains and lush, green forest. I can't really describe the Puente de Dios. We first saw it from above and the water was bluer than blue with waterfalls pouring into it. They gave us life jackets just in case we wanted to go in the water. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go in because I don't like water and I'm not that great of a swimmer even with a life jacket. So after we left the look out point we went down to the place where we could enter the water. I decided to go in and I'm happy I did. The water was ridiculously cold. We had to walk on rocks and then we had to get all the way in and pull on a rope to go into a cave and then go through a small opening to arrive in the Puente de Dios. It was amazing. Despite the fact that I had a hard time swimming because I think my body just rejects it and the current was against me. Luckily there was a rope to the halfway point of the waterfall, so I only had to swim halfway, but it was a tough halfway. I floated around in the water and just went wherever the current took me or went wherever anyone cared to pull me and that seemed like the best way to go about it. I had a terrible time getting back to the rope though. After I got there, it was really easy to pull myself back to the starting point.
Lieke and me in front of the Puente de Dios
The walk back up was cool; I walked with a girl from Belgium and a girl from Germany, both of whom live in Tampico this year. So while we were walking up the girl from Belgium saw something move in the leaves and then she realized it was a snake. So she freaks out and starts to yell and scream "AHHHH A SNAKE AHHH A SNAKE" and the other girl and I just stand there and looked at her. We didn't quite know what to do. The girl from Belgium expected us to join in on her screaming fit, but we didn't. It was funny.
After the long hike up the hill we went to a different set of waterfalls. They were beautiful, but not quite as breathtaking as the Puente de Dios. We ate lunch there and then had the opportunity to go swimming again. We could swing on a rope and then let go and fall in. We could jump off a diving board type thing. We could climb up a rock and then jump off that. I had no desire to go back in the water. So I didn't, however, it was quite enjoyable to watch everyone else do it and I laughed every time anyone belly flopped.
Jeremie (France) swinging from the rope
At night we went back to the hotel and then went to a Rotarian's house for dinner. We ate tostadas for dinner and banana cake for dessert. Delicious!!! Then they put on some music to dance to and we took advantage of the empty "dance" floor.
Jeremie and me cuttin' a rug!
It was a long day and we all got a good night's sleep.
My roommates for this trip were: Teresa from Germany, Eve Anne from France, and Laura from Finland.
That night before bed, I offered my anti-itching cream (for the mosquito bites) to my roommates. Teresa and Laura gladly took some and then I offered it to Eve Anne and she gave me this blank look and told me she didn't like mosquito bites, so the mosquitoes didn't bother her. I said, "I really love mosquito bites, that's why they bite me. And because I'm so sweet."
I've never heard of that though, not liking mosquito bites, then they don't bite you.
SATURDAY, MARCH 17
We got to sleep in on this trip. I was surprised. They told us to be downstairs for breakfast at 7:45 for breakfast. In Mexican time that means about 8 or 8:15. My room was downstairs a little after 8 and then most everyone else rolled in around 8:30-8:45. The girls in my room and I mutually agreed that the next day we'd sleep for a half-hour longer.
Today we went to Jardín Surrealista de Sir E. James en Xilitla. It was a big and beautiful garden with lots of sculptures, flowers and trees. I really liked this place. You could climb stairs and go to the very top and see for miles, the smell of the flowers were amazing. The mosquitoes, however, I could have done without. We got to see another waterfall and that was awesome as well.
The entrance into the Garden
I love these sculpures. The back of the hand signifies welcome and come on in and the hand with the palm facing outward means "Hasta Luego" or see you soon. The real hand is mine.
Me in front of the waterfall!
We ate lunch at a little restaurant. I ordered the mole. It was spicy and I'm really not supposed to eat spicy things, but it tasted good and didn't bother my stomach.
After lunch we went to Sótano de las Guaguas. Sótano means basement in Spanish. The tour guides told us it would be a 1-kilometer hike. In reality, it was one kilometer of going up and down stairs. It was a beautiful forest with flowers and very hot and humid. In the end it's a big cave that's 231 feet in diameter and 1,577 feet deep. You can repel down to the bottom with guided tours and such. The most interesting part about it were the black birds that were flying in flocks and in circles above the cave and then randomly a group of them would zoom down into the cave and not come back up. It was a shorter walk back (in my mind) and when we got back I enjoyed a nice bottle of water that I had brought with me from the hotel. I was one of the few with a bottle of water because the guy who owned the store near the attraction closed down as the first group got back from the cave. Not the smartest idea. I was really happy to find out that there was a coffee vendor right up the street who was selling good coffee at a cheap price.
Also behind his little shop there was this breath taking view.
Even though we were late getting back to Ciudad Valles for our dinner, we stopped at a little ice cream stand. Very good. I think I had vanilla and strawberry.
Our dinner that night was awesome. It was held at someone's house that I kind of knew by association. My friend Brittany is in Germany this year. Her best friend in Germany is Manuel who is from Ciudad Valles. I was at his house for dinner, pretty sweet. We ate tacos de trompo (pork) and had cake again (no wonder exchange students gain so much weight!) It was a great night; they hired a Mariachi band and another regular band. We danced and it was a lot of fun. Reporters/photographers came from local papers and it just about drove me crazy. They only took posed shots (then when I saw the layout the next day I about died too). I was only in the big group picture this time. In October I was on the front page of the section (also a posed shot) so I wasn't as big of a celebrity this time around.
Kathi from Germany and me
SUNDAY, MARCH 18
Today my roommates and I slept in for an extra full half-hour, went downstairs and enjoyed our buffet breakfast and then we got on the bus to go canoeing! I was very excited, yet very nervous. We drove for a little over an hour and arrived at our "dropping off place" and then we had to walk for about 15 minutes to get to the water. The walk was kind of disgusting. It was a bunch of dirt mixed in with cow manure. Pretty gross. We canoed four kilometers. It was absolutely beautiful, the water was very blue, you could see to the bottom. Little waterfalls came out of this hug mountain. I thought of a great analogy for it while I was there, and now I can't think of it. Figures. We finally got to the big waterfall. It's called the Cascada de Tamul (The Waterfall of Tamul) it's 105 meters tall. Before the waterfall was this big rock protruding out of the water. Everyone in my group climbed up and jumped off.
It was really pretty. I love how blue the water is.
The mountian was just overflowing with water, it had to let it out somehow.
The big waterfall and the highlight of the canoe trip.
I don't just not like water; I have a fear of water.
I have two huge fears, dying in a fire and dying from drowning. When I was 8 years old we had a Norwegian exchange student at our house. We went to the pool and he threw me into the deep end and I couldn't get out, which means they had to come in a get me. Ever since then, I've been terrified of water.
I was very skeptical about jumping off the rock, but I did it. Twice. Now, I wish I could tell you that I have overcome my fear of water and I can swim like a fish now, but it's not true. I still don't like water and I still have my fears. It's just the water felt so nice because it was hot that day.
We got back into the canoe and rowed for 2 kilometers to the Cueva del Agua (Cave of Water) and it was just a big cave with really cold water. I went in, and then I was really cold. So then I came out and then we went back to the canoes and went to eat. After lunch (even though it was 5 p.m.) we all chilled outside.
Chilling after lunch. Caroline (Germany), Lieke, Me, (on my lap) Monica, Kathi (Germany), Laura (Finland), and Simone (Holland)
We drove back to the hotel (like two hours!) and got ready for dinner. Dinner was awesome that night. It was just so simple: meat, guacamole, cheese and tortillas. So good.
MONDAY, MARCH 19
After a most delicious breakfast we went to some Huasteca ruins. They weren't anything too spectacular (Two years ago I saw the ruins at Teotihuacán, they're huge! so that makes me a one-sided.) It was so strange to walk around these ruins (as it would be any ruins). It's almost haunting to think that thousands of years ago a civilization could exist without lights, computers, plumbing, stoves, refrigerators and so on. We saw houses, a church, the human sacrificing area, the stadium.
Me in front of the old civilization.
Kathi (Germany), Eve Anne (France), Me (United States), Ikumi (Japan), Susan (Hungary), and Torben (Germany)
It was pretty cool. It was a two-hour walking tour around the ruins. We were all happy to be able to go back and sit at the restaurant. The food wasn't all that great and the mosquitoes were terrible (I counted 16 bites on my legs and 4 on my right arm) and gross too, they were like blood bites. Gross.
It was hard to say goodbye to everyone again. It's so much fun to hang out with everyone because they are going through the same thing you are and they know how to have fun just like you do.
After all our goodbyes we bought bus tickets back to our respective places. Since Lieke and I didn't have school that week we decided to spend some time in San Luis Potosi, San Luis Potosi so we could see a little bit more of Mexico. The bus ride was almost five hours long and hilly and windy roads. The movies thy played were interesting. The second movie played started out with a scene of a singer in a bar. I thought, "Oh this could be very good" then the credits started and the staring role was played by Mariah Carrey. I was like "oh no, it can't be" but it was. It was the movie "Glitter." I remember watching it about 6 years ago with my mom and thinking it was a terrible movie then. To make matters worse it had been dubbed over in Spanish, which made me think. "Why on Earth would anybody take the time to dub this terrible movie into Spanish?" However, surprisingly, no one asked me...I watched the movie anyways because the battery in my iPod was running low.
We arrived in San Luis at 11:30 and took a taxi to Eve Anne's house; we had a very nice taxi driver. I love it when that happens.
TUESDAY, MARCH 21
We woke up and met Eve Anne's host parents. She calls them host grandparents because they're old, but they were very nice and charming. We had a great breakfast and then Susan from Germany came over and we walked to a cafe for coffee and then to an internet cafe.
For lunch we went to Super Salads. (I'm told this is an American food chain, yet I've never heard of it. It was very good. I would say it's like Panera Bread. The big bonus: fountain Pepsi, one of my favorite things of all time!) We met Carlos (son of Monica, a chairperson), his host sister Melina (she's from Germany and last year Carlos was an exchange student in Germany), Ikumi from Japan, and Teresa from Germany.
Afterwards we went to the Centro. It was awesome. We took a tour of the historic part of the city in a double decker bus. It was a beautiful night. A little chilly, but otherwise perfect. The bus was very tall and the phone and electric lines were right by our heads, so we constantly had to duck and dodge them.
On the tour bus in the historic part of the city. Me, Carlos, Melina, and Lieke.
After the tour we went for ice cream. Despite the fact that I was full I did buy some, but only because of guilt. Ice cream sounded good so I tried all different flavors and I didn't like any of them (ice cream tastes different here) so just because I felt guilty I bought some, just plain vanilla, I guess it was the best I could do.
We walked around the Centro a little more and then we went to a bar with live music. It was very cool, as always. Ana from Brazil joined us as well as two guys who are friends with Ana, Eve Anne and Carlos. After the music we went out to eat and then back to Eve Anne's.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22
Today we woke up for breakfast and today was the best because it included pancakes (my favorite ever!). We went back to the Centro again and went to the internet cafe and then to a cafe for a coffee. It was so awesome. That's something that I wish Sabinas had, cafes. We went back to Eve Anne's for lunch and to meet her host Dad. The food was awesome and her parents are very cool people. They've been all over the world and they shared some stories and pictures with us. They are very interesting people. After lunch Carlos picked us up and took us out to the Presa. It's like a big dam. It was pretty and big.
The big dam. Arturo (friend of Susan and Eve Anne), Eve Anne, Melina, Susan, Me, and Lieke
At night we went out to another bar with live music. To my surprise Euri from Brazil came. He couldn't go on the trip because he had already planned a different trip with his host sister. He had to take a flight to Mexico City separate from her and when he was at the airport looking for her it was his real family from Brazil who came instead of her, as a surprise. So it was nice to see him.
Afte the Sports Bar. Carlos, Melina, Lieke, Me, Ana, and Euri
THURSDAY, MARCH 23
We woke up early today because Eve Anne's host mom invited us out for breakfast at the Westin 5-star hotel. We ate with a woman named Margarita and another woman who came later. While we were eating the women started talking about birthdays and how old they were. Margarita said "I'm lucky that I'm so young 13 or 14 or however old I am, that's the benefit of only having a birthday every four years." Then she asked me "Could you imagine only having a birthday every four years?" I then told her that I don't have to imagine, I only have a birthday every four years. Then the other woman at the table had her twin boys on leap year. I know there's one boy in Galena with the leap year birthday, but I can't remember anyone else I've ever met with the same birthday. So it's always awesome to meet someone with your rare birthday.
Margarita and me. Birthday twins and our clothes kind of match.
Here's one of the coolest parts of my trip. Lieke and I got to take an airplane from San Luis Potosi to Monterrey. A bus ticket is around $40 and about six hours. A plane ticket is$45 and an hour and ten minutes. Carlos, Susan, and Eve Anne dropped us off at the airport. The lift-off was a little scary. Lieke even told me that if she died to tell her parents that she loved them. We took off at 3:15 and arrived in Monterrey at 3:55, which means it was a 40-minute flight.
Liliana picked us up at the airport and we went to her house. We ate as we usually do and then got ready to go out. The real reason why we were in Monterrey was because it was Elin's (from Sweden) birthday. We went out to dinner with her friends and then went for a walk before going back to the house. The weather that night was so perfect I couldn't just go inside.
FRIDAY, MARCH 24
We woke up late and I wrote some letters for Jean and Liliana in English. After lunch Lieke and I went to the movie "Niñas Mal" (Bad Girls) which I thought would be like Mean Girls, but it wasn't it was very good. It was also awesome because it's a Mexican film, therefore in Spanish originally. Movies that are dubbed annoy me and if the movie is in English with Spanish subtitles, I don't read the subtitles. It was a very good movie, I highly recommend it if you are in the Mexico area in the next four weeks.
At night Jeremy came over and we ate dinner and then we left for a disco called UMA. It's supposed to be the best disco in Monterrey. It was a lot of fun it had an Arabic theme. We also saw another exchange student there. It was really bizarre because we had been talking about him earlier that day.
João, Me, Elin (Sweden), Jeremie, and Lieke
SATURDAY, MARCH 25
We woke up and ate and then waited around for a while because Lieke was changing her plane tickets. Jean had made bread so we ate a lot of bread and then right before we left we ate lunch. We got back to Sabinas and it was nice to unpack my bag. Particularly because it was full of dirty clothes. I hadn't expected to go to Monterrey for an extra two days and I didn't pack any extra clothes, so I was impressed with my ability to keep my clothes clean. I was dead tired from running around for the past nine days, but I had things to do at night. Our friend Caroline from Germany, who lives in a little town about six hours away from Sabinas, was here for the weekend because her host grandparents live here. So we ate dinner with her and then I went to a party for my friend Yoanna, she turned 18.
Celebrating Yoana's birthday. These are my first host sister's friends.
It was all great fun. I was happy to get home and sleep that night.
This week turned out to be great. I had to doubt it would be fun, but it went above and beyond everything I had expected. The first great thing that happened was getting to sleep the first thing when I got there. That made the first day all that much more enjoyable. I liked my roommates and the food. I got to see most of the exchange students again and that's always awesome (because we're just so cool :) ) I know a two new parts of Mexico. I got to ride in a plane, even thought I thought I was going to die, it was still awesome. Then spend two days in Monterrey before going home.
It sure made the week of no school go fast! Now, I have less than three months left! It's going so fast!
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