Going down the only road I've ever known....

Fire seen from Guadalajara

So Mexico is on fire! A volcano is erupting, one of the biggest forest fires is still soaring. Not to mention the Earthquakes, one in Mexico city and the other in Michoacan. Oh, I think I forgot to mention that one. Two earthquakes in the two places that I went to, I'm a lucky girl.

One of the things that I do like here are the buses. They are comfy and I have never had to sit next to anyone weird or anyone at all. By the way, this is just a random post about things I saw while on the road.

Lots of room, quite comfy.

Free headphones for the movie

Guadalajara is known for being very Modern, here is the mascot of their best selling pastry. He is a cool hip dude and everyone loves him. By the way "Negro" means black in Spanish.

Once you go black, you get diabetes.

I also got to see the Forest Fire at night time! It was pretty cool and I had no idea what it was until the next morning when I found out it's spread through out five states or so.

Now for random things I saw on the street in Tepic...

Guamuchiles!

Yep, they are now in bloom! It's a weird wild fruit that are delicious! a lot of people make smoothies out of them cause they are super sweet and yummy. I myself can eat about two pounds of them by myself.

Amado Nervo (Poet)

If I ever get famous... I would rather not have a statue of me... I don't want birds sitting and pooping on my head. And now for my favorite!

The little crosswalk guy starts out walking and as the time runs out he starts running! it was pretty funny.I actually was standing in the middle of the street taking a picture of it.... not too smart of me.




What I have learned

... Don't ever eat two pounds of anything by yourself.

Tepic, Huicholes and Frida Kahlo...

Once I got to Tepic, I stayed with at my uncles house, I have three cousins there. They all speak English after living most of their lives in Oregon. It's always nice to talk to members of my family in English. It makes me feel normal.

My cousin Gus works in the center of Tepic. I took this as an awesome opportunity to go around and see all the different shops and sights. I saw a lot of really neat things! I went back the next day with my camera in hand and started taking pictures.

First there is the Cathedral. It has an amazing painting on the roof's entrance.

I found out that there is a tour bus that takes you to where the indigenous people "Huicholes" live. I will be planning that trip in the coming weeks. For now, I asked a Huichol if i could take a picture of the merchandise and him and he said "I might brake your camera", I saw that as a sign that maybe he didn't want me to take a picture so I smiled and then he said "oh go ahead, you can take it". It's always smart to ask for permission first since I am not sure about their cutoms. He was nice though.

They are also known for making peyote  lotions for aches and pains. I asked the Huichol what would happen if I ate some of it, he smiled and said "you will have lotion in your belly, it will give you stomach pain" I started laughing. Then he said "I do sell the peyote by itself in case you want to use it for medicinal purposes" My eyes lit up and I was like "yeah... medicinal...". I was very tempted to buy some but I don't really want to be messing with hallucinegens or be tripping balls at my uncles house.

The next day my cousin asked me if i wanted to go to the "Frida kahlo" cafe, I said sure! This is a house that they have converted into different art rooms and they serve you food and drinks. I decided to sit in a room that has the wall painted in blackboard pain and people can draw on it. It was pretty awesome.

Frida Kahlo on the $500 peso bill

My cousins "Hibiscus" tea

This was a "Nutella" frap!

My mom called me and told me my aunt wasn't feeling to good and for me to go back to my aunts. So, my trip on the tour bus will have to wait for a couple of weeks. I can't wait to learn more about the Huicholes first hand.



What I have learned:

...It's really easy to score peyote in Tepic.

Michoacan

Michoacan is known as a "hot spot", it's where a lot of "mafia" activity has been recorded. Because of that there was only one bus station that had a bus going to Ciudad Hidalgo, michoacan. I guess all the other bus lines stopped their sevices after 30 buses where robbed at gun point. Did that scare me? Not as much as the sun does.

On my way to C. Hidalgo I noticed something familiar... Pines! there was pine trees around and the topography started turning green. There was grass, trees, it was a forest! I pretended I was driving through north california/Oregon... then the mexican houses started showing up and my day dream broke.

I finally got to C. Hidalgo and My friend Mayra and her dad picked me up from the bus station. I was expecting to see "Mafiosos" walking around with guns having intense conversations but all I saw was an old lady asking where the nearest bathroom was. I was quite happy to put a face to the name. Mayra and I share a lot of the same history. We where both little when we where taken to the U.S. She was named after her dad, her last name is the same as my moms... list goes on.

Mayra and I spent our days walking to the plaza and trying different foods. I had a Churro stuffed with chocolate syrup! I also tried brain tacos... they where good. There was something called "Corundas" which is like an inside out tamale. Mayra is also pregnant, so we looked around for baby clothes and maternity clothes for her. I was able to got an ultrasound, I saw her baby moving around it was awesome. Her birthday rolled around while I was there and we got to eat cake! I got to eat a lot during this trip actually...

Other than walking around I spent a good two weeks working on my letter. With help of my headphones blasting white noise and my friend Tom I managed to finish the letter in two weeks. Mayra's husband was due for a visit so I had to leave. His flight got delayed and we ended up staying in Morelia for a day. Morelia is the Capital of Michoacan, They had a nice mall and we where super excited about being there! I even had McDonald's for the first time in months. It was the most delicious thing ever. Who knows when I will be able to have a "big mac" again. I guess that's a good thing for my weight but it has now become a comfort food for me. That's going to be a problem when I get back home.

I loved staying with Mayra, It was like staying with a sister that I actually got along with. We cried, laughed, complained about our situation together. Sadly, I had to come back to my reality. I took a bus to Guadalajara and a new adventure began...

I'm still not home yet... I'm currently in Tepic, Nayarit. Stay tuned for pictures of the Indigenous people and other fun stuff.


What I have learned:

... I will no longer listen to people who say a place is dangerous. It's dangerous everywhere. Be armed with common sense.

Monkeys and Tacos...

Mexico City

On the day of March 20th I started off my day excited about traveling to Mexico City. Then I got a phone call from my cousin saying that I shouldn't go because Mexico City was "Shaking". I quickly called my friend Gleynda and she assured me that everything was fine. She saw the street's electrical wires move and she felt the quake. A 7.6 earthquake had hit 200 miles south of Mexico City.

Twelve hours. That's how long it took me to go from Nayarit to Mexico City. I took the night bus so I could sleep through the trip. I didn't get much sleeping done. I was too amused by how bright the stars where. I even saw a shooting star!! The Next morning I arrived in Mexico City! -first thing I did was fall asleep.

I did feel a lot of the aftershocks but I'm used to feeling those small quakes. It was quite familiar to me. It dawned on me that the houses in Mexico are not built like they are in California though. I heard the house creak and squeak and became concerned. Bricks hurt, dry wall does not.

I was happy to see Gleynda again and meet her precious baby Kyrah. Her family was very welcoming and nice. Her mom shared a story with me about how she had to come to mexico by herself and how lonely it felt leaving her family behind in the U.S. I miss my family so much it tears me inside. It's never the same staying with an aunt or uncle as it is to be with your own parents.

My mom and me

Anywho, Back to the story.

Gleynda and I took a trip to the famous "Sonora Market". It was like being in a giant flea market. There was pretty much anything that you could think of. They are quite popular for their "witchcraft" items. I saw a lot of candles and statues of all sizes of the "holy death" (a Grim reaper saint). A lady asked me if I wanted something to "chain my boyfriend down" I smiled and showed her my wedding band and said "I already did it myself". She gave me a weird look.

We reached the Animal area and it was a horrendous sight. There was thousands of animals. Many of them where stuffed in a single cage. The smell was horrible. There was a lot of breeds of puppies and kittens too. A guy asked me if I was looking for something in particular, I said "Yeah! a Monkey!", A different guy came out from behind the isle and said "I got one, but you have to come back here to get it, we aren't allowed to sell them". I turned to my friend as the smiles wiped from our faces as we saw how serious the conversation had turned. I told him "I was just joking" and quickly left the area.

It was definitely a weird experience....

March 25th rolled up and my friend got us tickets for "Vive Latino". It's a huge rock concert. One of my favorite bands was playing; Gogol Bordello. I didn't really know any of the other bands but I had fun. We got to see fatboy slim before leaving. Oh, and I also got invited to a Gogol bordello after-party. I didn't go.

My friend took me to a small festival at a park. It featured food from Oaxaca mexico. I got to try out some traditional oaxacan food. There was these HUGE tostada looking things. They where yummy! I also got to eat some really really good Tacos. I don't know what kind of meat was in there and I dont care cause... holy shit, They where great.

My deadline for my paperwork was fast approching. I decided to stay in for the rest of my trip in Mexico City and work on the new letter. Maybe next time I'll get to go see the pyramids. I was looking forward to that but, first things first.

"Graceful"

So, everyone kept telling me that it was dangerous in Mexico City and that I should hide my money in my bra. Well, I had never done that before. I stuffed two rolled up bills in my bra. Not on the easily to reach area near my shoulder either. Not me! No one told me to put my money there. I went ahead and stuffed it right by my under-wire! There I am shopping at walmart and I'm in line thinking "how am I supposed to 'inconspicuously' reach and remove the money?"

...Well as my husband has said "your as graceful as a gazelle.... with two broken legs". I tried to pull the bill out with just two fingers. However, I didn't feel the bill, by this point the bill had shifted to the middle of my breast. I had to stuff my right hand and pull the bill out (It was the 500 bill not the 200 I wanted) At this point my friend noticed my hand on my breast and me saying "Oops, wrong one" and started cracking up. Then I started cracking up.

I reached my right breast with just my fingers again but of course the bill shifted as well. So, there goes my left hand looking for the bill. Finally I pull out the right bill and hand it to the cashier. We left the store in tears of laughter.

....Not my proudest moment... but one of the funniest!


My time in Mexico city was up and I was off to Ciudad Hidalgo, Michoacan! Stay tuned!


-Roby

What I've learned:

... I want to buy and train a monkey to wash my clothes.

Here I go again on my own....

It's been a couple of months (again) since my last update. It has been interesting and full of twist and turns. I think I will have to do couple of posts to tell my journey -as it is not over yet.

Oh February 10th I found out that my (immigration) case was "Referred". What this means is that I am now stuck in mexico for up to 12 months before hearing from them again. They told me I needed more evidence and to send it within 84 days.

I was horrified and in shock. I quickly fell into depression and without my husband with me I felt lost and confused. After a couple of weeks we got started on our new plan and started thinking about what other evidence we could send.

We got lucky when Chris (my husband) got offered an internship with Cisco. That meant we could add more evidence as to why he can't move to Mexico to be with me. I am very proud of him and I hope this helps us get me home.

My depression was getting worse and I felt terrible. On march 9th Chris came to visit. We used some of the money we had from this years taxes and got a good deal online. I miss him very much and seeing him again after two months was an amazing relieve.

We got a hotel in Puerto Vallarta and spent the weekend there. Some notable moments where when we went out to eat at this small restaurant. They had the best shrimp ever. It was: big shrimp, stuffed with cheese, wrapped in bacon on a lobster sauce. They also had really good BBQ ribs, they fell off the bone and melted in your mouth.

It was sad saying goodbye again. Exactly two months after we said goodbye in Juarez, I had to say goodbye again. I miss him everyday and I still can't believe we are going through this.

Going back to my aunts without my husband was hard. I quickly became depressed again. After talking to a couple of friends that I met on the Immigration forum I decided it would be a good idea to visit them. Gleynda lives in Mexico City and Mayra lives in Michoacan.

....stay tuned for my next update on how that went!


-Roby

What I've learned:
... Life throws you the weirdest curveballs, some are bound to hit you in the nuts.