Cancún, Oaxaca, Chiapas

Playa de Cancún

Iglesia de la Soletud, Oaxaca de Juarez

La casa de Benito Juarez

Playa del Norte, Isla Mujeres

Paradise, Isla Mujeres

Hola! Long time ago!

Yes, that means I've been very busy and enjoying my time here in Tequila Land!

Besides, I did not spent much time on my blog because I've got the feeling everybody (even my granddad) are following me on FB. And so I decided to put some more attention in the descriptions of the pictures I upload on FB.

Well, meanwhile i've been to Cancún, at the Yucatán Peninsula, Southeast of Mexico, Caribe Sea.

I went on my own, by airplane and spent 5 days there. It was the 1st time I had travelled on my own, but surely not the last one! I really enjoyed, its an incredible felling of freedom and one gets to know many people. I stayed in little youth hostels and so I got to know many other young travelers. First 2 days I spent in the highly touristic Cancun but then escaped to backpacker's Isla Mujeres. The other days I went to Playa del Carmen, a smaller town but with a beautiful beach and fun nightlife. I went out at night with the 3 girls I wa sshearing my room with, we had a great time! I also went to the archeological site of Tulum which s amazing, I did the tour with a mexican girl I met there. I had a great time at the beach site, it really felt like holidays.

After some real life in Mexico city, presentations, essays, etc, I went for a weekend to Oaxaca de Juarez. A colonial city Southwest from Mexico City. It's a beautiful city with typical mexican colors and architecture and we also went to some towns outside the city and to a waterfall and the biggest tree in the world, El Tule.

My next trip was for my bday. I went with Karen, Steph and Timi my airplane to the Southwest part of Mexico, to the jungle. We spent 5 days there in several towns and saw many waterfalls and archeological sites.

We had an amazing town, Mexico has a stunning nature, as you can see on the clip.

Gotta go, I'm going for dinner at Marta's and then to my last :( salsa party!

Hasta luego!

Tradición del Día de Muertos

Hahah here are two clips of some dances from the shows during the first night of Día de Muertos at Pátzcuaro island. It was amazing, the show would never end and the dancers were all ages, from 8 to 80 years old!

Día de Muertos at Michoacán

Holaaaa!

I think most of you have already seen my pics on FB. This time I put some extra attention in describing each of them to give you an idea about the fantastic long weekend in Michoacán. So, I do not have much left to say here on my blog. I've posted some silly clips to show you how it was :) I had a super great time, got to know new people, because I mainly only knew ITAM's bachelor exchange students, not the masters who study ate the other campus. Great people and a lot of fun! We stayed 3 nights on a beautiful ranch in the middle of nowhere, so we could get a rest from the hectic capital! Then the last night we stayed at bungallows by the lake of Patzcuaro. Pázcuaro is a magic town where the whole tradition of Día de Muertos was born in pre-hispanic times. Día de Muertos was incredible, we went to this island where many traditional dancing shows were given and the ceremonies of this special day where shown.

Back in Mexico City on Wednesday, time to get to work again. I've got some little works and quiz for next week and then in Wednesday afternoon: Cancun! I'm really looking forward to spent some days in the sun and at the beach. I'm gonna do my best to find a diving school, as diving is a must in the Gulf of Mexico!

This weeken I took it easy. Went to the cinema with some friends and to a Halloween party.

I also went (finally) to the Museo de Antropologia, Mexico's most famous museum. Wow, it's giant and Steph and me needed more than 2 hours to see less than than half, so we'll go back another day!

Yesterday I had a big surprise, I received a package from my parents! :) totally unexpected! It included a lovely card, dutch cookies and sweets (drop!), some spices to make my favorite food, Nassi, tea grown in my parent's garden and a lot of love! I really needed something like this as I'm really starting to miss you guys! But only have got one and a half months to go and time continues flying by!

Ok, gotta go and do some shopping and tonight Timi is going to make a Hungarian dinner for me and Steph :D mmmm

Bye!

x x x

Two months to go

Puebla's colorful streets

At the main square in Puebla, decorations for Mexico's 20' years of Independency

Zócalo of Mexico City

Aztec stone at Templo Mayor

Me and Marta in Bosque de Chapultepec

Ah Dios! Can't believe it that I've got less than 2 months left in Mexico! Time truly flies by! but i'm also starting to miss Portugal and my family and friends more and more...

Since I have not been writing to you guys, I have been busy, busy, busy with exams and presentation. It was worth it to be that busy as I had great results. Now that I finished my mid-terms, I've got some time to enjoy again! I've been to the Templo Mayor and its museum in Mexico City's centre with Spanish class. It are ruins f the Aztecs and all its statues and culture, very interesting and a Mexican pride! I've also been to a few parks in the city, to one of UNAM, Mexico's biggest public uni and to Chapultepec, a huge park in the middle of the city.

Last weekend I went to Puebla, a city about 2 hours from Mexico City. I went by bus with three friends: Marta (Italy), Marianne (NL) and Anni (Austria) and we stayed in a lovely 8euros hotel one block from the main square. It's a really cute city, not too small, but surely more calm than Mexico City! Sometimes I really need to leave Mexico City for a few days. I love living here but sometimes all the noise, pollution and stress is just too much. In Puebla, known for its typical food, we eat, a lot, wandered around its nice and colorful streets, went to a flee market and at night went out to Cholula, its students nieghborhood, which was a lot of fun!

In the almost three months I've been here I've noted several funny or interesting differences with Europe (Portugal and Holland):

-In terms of food, the Mexicans eat a lot: when they wake up they drink some milk and eat a piece of fruit, at about 11/12h they eat "desayuno", which may include eggs, beans, cheese, nachos, etc. Then comes lunch, in between 14 and 16h, they eat a 4 course meal: soup (many times chicken bouillon), rice or pasta (served on a small plate a part), main course (enchiladas, meat, fish, etc with veggies or salad) and a desert. For dinner, the mexicans eat something lighter, like a salad or some quesadillas.

- Public transport is a caos in Mexico City, especially the busses as they do not have fixed bus stops, you can basically get on and off anytime you want. However, the bus I take to uni does have a sort of "paradas", but they are very badly indicated. As there have been quite some problems with women's safety in public transportation, there are now buses for "solo damas" and the first wagons of the metro are also only for the ladies and kids. There is even a project of "ladies only taxis" due to the criminality related with taxis where woman are extra vulnerable.

- What I also found notable is that there are "talleres de autos" everywhere, car garages. They are very small and dirty and do basically everything for any brand, without any specialization. Besides, because labor is so cheap here, car wash machines and drive-throughs do not exist. There are special places where you can let your car be washed or you wash it by yourself, by hand with a bucket. Every morning I pass by parking place, where a man every day is cleaning a few cars, always the same ones, some big Audi's, so they look perfect to their rich owners, I guess!

- In terms of Portuguese pride, I had three moments: first I went crazy when I heard Buraka Som Sistema in a clothes shop; second, I loved it to see a Portuguese wine, Casal Garcia, served in a "Typical" Mexican restaurant; and of course, Cristiano Ronaldo is everywhere, on the TV, on the radio, on publicity in the streets... (but he's not really what I'm proud of eheh). Dutch pride is Dj Tiesto and Armin van Buren who everybody knows (my roomy has got a poster of Tiesto in his room!), the ING bank is very well known here and Gouda cheese is worldwide known, so also in Mexico!

- What I found interesting in the classes at ITAM is that you can get in and out the class whenever you want, to go to the toilet or to buy a coffee (there's a huge "walk coffee" culture here from Starbucks or Seven Eleven, etc.) or even get late or leave earlier. Also, you may eat and drink in classes and when someone sneezes, several persons will say "salut", sometimes even the teacher, interrupting his speech! This also happens in public places. Whenever someone sneezes, even though you don't know that person, say "salut"!

- I love the old school cars here, there are uncountable "vochos", VW beetles, also taxis. But also VW golfs and even VW Caribe and Brasilia, which I had never seen before. I just love them! If i have the chance, I'll definitely buy a "vocho" in Portugal, just to remember the good times in Mexico. Also VW surfer vans are common, in all colors! On the other hand, you also have a lot of Hummers and other huge and shiny jeeps which are said to belong to "narcos", drug dealers.

-Another shocking thing is that on the road signs, there are huge notes saying things like " drive carefully, your family is waiting on you!", I don't know why, but this seems quite weird to me! haha

Well, As you see, everything is ok here in Mexico. Still enjoying and loving every moment. In terms of plans, next weekend is a long weekend, monday and tuesday off due to "Dia de los muertos", the day of the death. To live this tradition, I'm going on a four day excursion to Morelia with uni. We're gonna stay at a ranch with horses, so I'm really looking forward to it. In November, I'm going to Cancun, the famous "malibu beaches" of Mexico with Marta, it's very far away, so we're going by plane. Furthermore I still want to do to San Miguel de Allende where my roomy is from, to Teothuacan, (the aztec pyramids near Mexico City) and to the jungle in Chiapas. I hope I'll have time to do all this in less than 2 months and with a wallet that seems to have a hole in it!

Now I'm going to have dinner with my roomies and the mom of one of them who made typical food from Oaxaca, where she's from, which includes grasshoppers! OMG! Well, I will give it a try because I cannot leave Mexico without having tried this typical gourmet!

Talk to ya guys soon!

Un abrazo de quien vos extraña!

PS. I'm seriously worried about my portuguese, when I speak to friends on Skype, the continuously laugh about my "Portuñol"!!!

Taxco pics

Cuevas de Cacahualmilpa, 40 min from Taxco

"Strangle tree"

Taxco's pink church, Marta and me

Taxco's city center

View from our hotel

Taxco and Mexico City

Hou van jullie, heel erg bedankt dat jullie mij dit avontuur gunnen. Mis jullie! Hzvvj!

Hey everybody, that's ages ago!

I'm sorry, but yes, I was busy with uni, I'm not in Mexico only for holidays! :p

I had an important exam of International Economics, one quiz, one presentation and one essay to give in tomorrow. I’ve just finished the essay so decided to write to you guys what I’ve been up to, besides working for uni.

The last trip I did was to Taxco, as I said before, Mexico’s silver capital. We went with a group of 8 exchange students, 1^st time with no Mexicans!!! We left Friday the 24, we went by bus. The bus ride is a story itself. First the tickets are really cheap, about 8euros for a 3hour drive! To get into the bus, first you receive a drink, water or soda, and then you are checked, your bag and your body and you have to look into a camera. Then, as soon as everybody is in the bus, you are filmed once again, to know where you sit. It’s almost stricter than to get in an airplane! At least it was worth it, the buses are the most comfy I’ve ever seen, with nice big chairs and tv’s. As soon as we arrived at Taxco we went to check-in in the hotel, a beautiful small hotel in the city center, typical Mexican architecture with a private roof terrace, 7 euros per night! Me gusta! The town is super cute, white small houses and tiny streets, all still decorated for the independence celebration. The first day we went to the grottoes, or caves, 40 min away from Taxco, as the taxi driver recommended us. It was, in fact, amazing! A stunning natural park with a river etc., the cave tour took 2 hours, it was a 4km walk (2km in and 2km back). It was impressing with very interesting rock formations. The area were these caves are located is very isolated and people still live of creating livestock, real cowboys on beautiful horses were riding along the street. The next day we went to get some fresh fruit and yogurt to have breakfast on our private sunny terrace and we went to the silver market! It was huge, all kind of jewelry and other things made out of silver were for sale at minimal prices. All girls went crazy and bought a lot of rings, earrings and necklaces! After the market we had some nice typical “Pozole” for lunch and went back to Mexico City.

At night we were invited to a party in a disco, we went with o small group. The music was great! I could not drink because I was on antibiotics, but I danced until 7am! Besides the club was full over too hot to be true Argentinean mega tall models!!!

Sunday I went to Marta’s house to study, we did not study much but as she’s Italian, she made a delicious calabash, tomato pasta with fresh tuna filet and soya sause! Mmmm The healthiest food I’ve eaten so far in Mexico!

Then I had a quite hard week because I had a little flu but had a lot to do for uni. The group presentation went very well; we had a 9/10! J

On Thursday it was my roomies bday and me and my other roomy, Iván, made him a vodka gelatin, thought it ended up to be way too strong and we still did not finish it! Saturday I went with Karen and two Mexicans to the Frida Kahlo museum, it’s really cool, because it is actually the house she and Diego Rivera lived in, and the same as the one in the film! I really like her art and we had a nice day in Coyoacán, we also did a little tour around this part of the city. We passed by the house where Trotsky was hidden and later killed, the Diego Museum and other places of interest. For lunch we met Linda, the Italian girl I met in the airplane, but did not meet in Mexico City until then. So, that was very nice, we went to a typical Mexican Saturday restaurant, were the specialty is “Barbacoa”, oven baked lam rack, delicious, served in between banana leaves. Sunday was study day, once again at Marta’s. We did indeed study a lot (I think I never studied so much in one day!) for the next morning’s exam. This time Marta made a lovely tuna potato salad, what a healthy girl!

This week I finally went to salsa class again (I used to be a little ill on past Tuesdays, so did not go), I was a little behind with some new paces, but I’m not doing too bad. I just love it!

Basically, after 2 months, I’m still loving and enjoying Mexico. Though, so now and then I just feel like I wanna cry because I miss u guys… As now, when I’m writing this… :’)

I am at the uni at the moment so don’t have any pics with me. I’ll post some another day. I only got one pic on my usb, which I will post.

Miss you, speak to you soon.

Love,

Puerto Escondido

Playa del Amor, Zipolite, the view out of our hotel room

Surfer's paradise, no other words possible

Puerto Escondido, Zicatela

Ready for the "Bicentenario"!

Playa de Zicatela

Hola gente, qué tal? Ya me extañan mucho?

It's blogging time again, I just got a sms with the news, I receive it every day, and the most interesting was that Mexico is the nr 1 country of obesity (OCDE). Well, no wonder! Soda is cheaper than water, everything is twice as sweet as in Europe (even natural yoghurt with "no sugar") and the food is just too delicious and too cheap! I don't have a scale, but a surely should be careful on my weight, if not in December the plain won't be able to take off!!!

Well, I'm gonna tell u about my "puente del Bicentenario" - long weekend of the independence anniversary.

As I said before, I went to Puerto Escondido, a surfer's paradise on the southwest coast of Mexico. We went in a van with a group of 20 ITAM students, only 4 were mexicans. The trip took in total 14 hours, but as we travelled at night it was ok and it is definitely worth it! The first three days and nights we stayed at Playa de Zicatela, Puerto Escondido's main beach with HUGE waves! The waves seemed really good but nobody was surfing because they were just too big and there was a strong current. We spend the independence party there and we had a surf lesson. To surf we went to another beach, perfect waves, warm water, beautiful nature, yes, I was in paradise. The surf instructors lend me a short board so I could go and surf on my own, I loved it. The mexican surfers were very nice, not like in Portugal were they are worried you "steel" their waves! It was a good time and to get some extra energy, nothing better than a fresh coconut :) Puerto Escondido is amazing, I've never seen so many "hot", but really "hot", surf dudes and no chicks! :p

The other 2 days we spend at Playa del Amor, Zipolite, which was like in the middle of nowhere, a little less touristic and our hotel was right on the beach. I'm so in love with that beach, probably that's why it's called like that because I did not see much "amor" hahaha A stunning very quite beach with a lot of hammocks and (almost falling a part) beach huts for rent. It was the place to eat seafood and fresh fish mmm we went on a boat tour to see turtles, which are very common there, but the sea was very wavy and we only saw 4 and some dolphins, but it was a great adventure! Basically what we did those days was beach and eating ahahah I only went out one night, a very cool alternative bar next to our hotel, it was fun because it was the bday of a mexican friend, Nayeli.

We arrived back in Mexico City on monday 2am, so I stayed the night at Karen's (she lives 5min walking from ITAM) as I had classes at 8.30am. This week was quite tough, as I don't study and work for uni during the weekends, everything needs to be done during the week. And I also (finally) got some problems with my intestines that did not like the fish tacos as much as my mouth did... But I'm already feeling better now. Though the doctor gave me antibiotics, they do that for all little pains here... Next week I've got one presentation and one quizz and the week after another test and a delivery of a 5page essay, so yes, I got quite some thing to do. But...

Tomorrow I'm going to Taxco, Mexico's silver city, it's about 3 hours from Mexico City. I'm going with a group of 8 exchange students and maybe my roomies are coming too. We're gonna stay only one night so on sunday I'll have a study day. This country is way too beautiful and interesting to spend my time studying! It's so tempting to go traveling also because it's so cheap. Tomorrow the hotel will cost 7 euros for one night! But next weekend I'm definitely staying in the City.

Mmm amo México, the only problem is that's a little far away from you guys... Come and visit me!

Bueno, I'm going to try the imitation of my tuna pasta recipe my roomy made, let's see!

Bye bye

Valle de Bravo

The jacuzzi

Valle de Bravo town

Breakfast

The view from our room

Outside lounge

Buenas! Cómo están?

Last weekend I went to Valle de Bravo. In the beginning of the semester I met 2 mexican guys from ITAM, David and Fernando, and we became friends, also with some other exchange girls, and they invited us to come to Valle de Bravo for a weekend. It's a small village, located about 2hours from Mexico City with a huge lake, its a place where the "rich" of Mexico City own villas to spent the weekend and holidays. Sounded good to us, so yes, we went. The meeting point was at ITAM and we went with 2 cars, 4 mexican boys and 6 foreign girlies. We were gonna stay at a "rancho", sounded great. in fact, when we arrived, it appeared to be a 1500 hectare land with mountains, forests, lakes, but nicest were the 200 beautiful horses. It is a rancho owned by a big rich family from Mexico City. One of the members of this family, is "el Gordo", a friend of our friends, who we met there. We stayed at one of the villas on the land. It was the most beautiful house I've ever seen. A not too big (four bedrooms) typical rustic mexican "hacienda". It is orange, with a very cool style, a lot of wood and natural rocks, beautiful indoor garden, outdoor lounge with fireplace, jacuzzi, pool, stunning view and 3 permanent housewives who made us food whenever we wanted! Wow, I was in heaven!! The first night we had a delicious typical mexican dinner and drank some beers in the jacuzzi. The next morning unfortunately it was raining and I did not bring any appropriate clothes, so could not go horse riding... but we had a great breakfast (picture) and went to check out the cute village and enormous lake and went for a ride with the jeeps over the land, its endless and soooo beautiful with a very diverse nature.

I had a great weekend, and learned that there is in fact a (too) big difference between rich and poor here in Mexico. the middle class is relatively small and if you are rich, you are veeeeeery rich. Another incredible thing is that due to the macho culture here, gils, many times, cannot pay. And so, I we were not alowed to pay anything for this unforgettable weekend!

Now I gotta go, because at 23h Im going, bu bus, to Puerto Escondido, a surfer's paradise (a dream becoming true) at the south west coast of Mexico. It will be a 12hour drive, but we can sleep. I'm going with a group of about 20 exchange students and 2 organizing mexicans.

I'll be gone untill sunday night, but mnday I'll let ya guys know how it was!

Hasta luego!

Cuernavaca

A church in Cuernavaca, Mexican wedding

Kitchen in our house in Cuernavaca

Twister!

When I'm older I want this VW pickup!

Coyoacan, Mexico City's hippie place

Coyoacan with Timi from Hungary

Coyoacan

Last week's Mexican BBQ: meat, nopal (cactus) and quesadillas mmmmmm

Hola chicos, qué onda?

Back to reality again, my monday's feeling, after a short wekend holiday :)

But it's lovely getting home and have your house and room cleaned! mmmm

As I said, this time I went to Cuernavaca. We ended up going with a group of about 30, 50/50 exchange students and mexicans. We satyes at a huga villa and believe it or not, but there were beds for everybody! The boys who organized it had been grocery shopping before, so we all just pay a bit and had enough food and drinks for about 2 weeks! Not just one wekend!! There were about 20 bottles of tequila and a lot of other drinks like vodka, jagermeister, absint (!!!), malibu, etc. So, we ended up partying at drinking at home for 2 night, chilling by the pool and eating (hamburgers, hotdogs and quesadillas, and for breakfast kilos of fruit :)). We only left to go and check out the city centre, which was very nice and cozy with a fabulous architecture. Though it was raining madly, so we just ran into a cafe. On sunday we had to wake up early (11am), to go to the parachute place. 10 of us were going to jump, not me! It was very nice to see, and eventually I'll also do it once, I did not do it on that day anyway because it was raining and i think it must be much nicer when it's sunny... Everything went fine and they really enjoyed it. I rellay enjoyed the part that at the mini airport they were playing Armin van Buren!! (dutch pride)

It's amazing how it can rain here! At the moment there's a sort of storm/huricane going on i guatemala and we can feel it here in Mexico as well. In the south of the country there are many floods and here in Mexico City it also rained a lot. Though, in the raining months, June, July, August and September, it usually rains here every afternoon, at about 19h but then stops again...

This year is a very special year for the mexicans, they call it the "Bicentenario" because on September 15th it will be 200 years ago that Mexico gained its independence. Its a very inportant festival for the mexican people, they are already getting ready for it by decorating their houses with flags and other national symbols, also public buildings, schools and cars are decorated. On that dat we'll have a long weekend, as its a national holiday the 15th and they extend it to the 16th and 17th. So I'll have 5 days off and everybody is organizing trips and thing to do. I'm still not sure what to do... Iván, my roomie invited me, Marta and Timi to go to his hometown, San Miguel de Allende. But as that's quite nearby I might go there an other weekend and use this long one to go further away, to Oaxaca for instance. Several groups od exchange students of ITAM are going there, it's a region in the south and at the moment there's the storm over-there, thus we could not go to its famous beaches to swim and surf (Puerto Escondido, my dream beach has perfect waves!). And so, I'm still not sure where I'm going, we'll see.

I'm gonna stop writing useless stuff on the internet and focus on my presentation for next week about the Danish Economy. It's quite interesting actually :)

Hasta pronto, mis amores!

Saludos

1st month feedback

Hey everybody!

Here I am again. I just realized I've ben here for a month now! Have had 4 weeks of school.

Had a nice week, on monday I only have 1 class in the morning so after I went to Coyoacan with Timi, to have lunch and wander around. We got a little bit lost but of course the loving and helpful people in the street helped us out.

On tuesday I had salsa lesson at uni, it was great again, I'm getting better and better :) This time there were more guys than girls, could not believe it! After classes Timi and I wanted to go shopping, so we went to the "shopping centre" in front of my house and also had some dinner there.

Classes are going fine, I actually like going to uni and I really enjoy the courses I choose. But it's quite harsh, I've got tons of reading to do and presentations to prepair... The spanish course for foreigners is now finally divided in 2 different levels, I'm in the "Intensivo", the higher one and so it's quite hard. But at least I learn a lot, I had never learned other verb tenses than the "presente del indcativo", so when I have a conversation I just make up hahah but now Im actually learning them. I really note my Spanish getting quite good and have learned a lot of new vocab by just chatting spanish all day long. though, I've also noticed my portuguese is getting worse, as it's so similar to Spanish. I think my accent has changed and I say "una" instead of "uma" hahah

Yesterday night, after "pregaming" with a drinking game at one f the students houses, we wanted to go to a salsa club but we ended up in a electro club. One of my mexican friends was not feeling well and had to go to the hospital by ambulance. Me and my fiends followed him in his car to see what was wrong. At the hospital his dad was awaiting him, and so we wanted to go home as it was 5am. Though, we were too many to fit in one taxi and so the ambulance driver offered to bring us home! I cannot believe it, he even let us put the sirens on on showed us how everything worked! It was so funny, I think this is only possible in Mexico!

Today I spend my day resting a bit, I also spoke for about one hour with my parents, my dogs and cat in Portugal via skype :) I feel good and happy here in Mexico, and I think I'm too busy meeting new people, places, trying new things, getting to know this wonderful culture, so I do actually not really miss Portugal. Though, I would love you guys t be here so i could show you this amazing city and country, and you'll love the food, it's delicious and sooo cheap! Also the fruit here is amazing, I eat papaya and mango everyday, you can buy them ready to eat on the street as well, one mango, 1€. I also got to know fruit I did not know before, as carambola and tuna, yummie!

Well, I gotta go and get my stuff together, this weekend I'm going to Cuernavaca, a city 1h south from MC. They call it "ciudad de la eterna primavera" because the weather is very pleasant all year round. We're going in cars, in total about 15 students from ITAM and we're gonna stay in the house of one of them. Some people are gonna go skydiving on sunday, but not me. I rather go under the sealevel than above it. haha

Hasta luego y buen fin de semana!

PS. I fell in love with this pic, it's relative to the "Fiesta de los Muertos", mexican tradition.

Xochimilco

Hola chicos!

The weekend is over, an I am getting ready for another hard “studyfull” week again! haha

Well, Friday night I went with a group f exchange students and Mario to a club called Bulldog, first we had some dinner and “pregame” at H26, like always J

Bulldog is a really cool place, beautiful building, though the music was not really my thing, like a mix f everything. We went there by taxi and there was a HUGE queue, though Mario knew someone and surrounded by 5 foreign girls, we could enter directly :p we did not have to pay anything for “open bar”, so we had free drinks all night without paying 1 peso. Was a cool cheap night, but we went back home early to be fit for the “Trajineras” the next day.

We went to the trajineras with a group of about 45 people, all in cars, it was about 1 hour drive from ITAM, the meeting point. We got there and had a delicious Mexican lunch, “enchiladas de pollo” and then went on the trajineras, we took 3 as we were a big group. Basically it’s all about getting druk and having fun on those typical Mexican boats (see video). But I did not drink any tequila because I wanted to be super in form to dance at night as we were going to see Paul Kalkbrenner, a world famous german dj. In fact, he was super mega good and the club was gorgeous, we danced until 5am. The club had a few bad things, it was too hot, which is not acceptable if you pay 250pesos entry and the drinks were not cheap either and the beer and water finished at about 3am! Bienvenidos a Mexico jejej

In between the Trajineras and the club we all went home to get changed, but I did not because it was raining tremendously, I’ve never seen anything like that, it was like a shower and the streets were not functional on some places due to floods! To reach my house after parking the car need to walk about 400m because it’s in a sort of park and as we had no umbrella (it would not hold anyway) I could not go home and so Marta lend me a top and shoes J. And after a quick dinner of some tacos we went to the club.

Today, after sleeping until late I went to a bbq with Marta at her buddy’s house in Coyoacán. It was very nice, meat and quesadillas on the bbq with beans and cactus mmmm there were mainly Mexicans but also some other exchange students. As the boys started playing drinking games Marta and me went home, we’ve ahs enough alcool and just wanted to sleep.

So, buenas noches y hasta mañana!

Weekend!

Today I did two things I really wanted to do: I went in a VW beetle taxi “vocho” and went to Coyoacan, the hippie neighborhood of MC.

Another school week has passed, had done my 1^st exams and presentation. One of the exams was ok, but the there, no comments, and the presentation went quite well although I was more nervous than I usually am with public speaking.

Thursday I had my first ITAM party, it was by the Economic Department, so it was a great success hehehe it ws a beautiful old Mexican style building and it was totally packed. I costes 75pesos (4,50€) and was open bar, so drink whatever you want, though not the greatest quality drinks. First there were some ITAM bands playin and somo Mariachi screeming contests lol and then just some house music. The party finished at about 2AM so we still went for some dink at one of the students houses.

Today I went to Coyoacan, as I said (forgot my camera, but I’ll surely go there again!). I met with Marta at a certain metro station to go there by metro, but apparently the metro line we wanted to take is still under construction, very interesting is that is already on the metro map!!! So, we got a taxi. At Coyoacan we met Roberto, a friend from uni, and we wandered a bit around and went to the market. It’s a hippy neighborhood, very cozy and a very nice and relaxed atmosphere. At the market you can buy anything, beautiful jewelry, Mexican handicraft, clothes, bags, belts and piercings. You can even get a pierced there! I’m thinking about doing another one in my ear, on the upper part. It would cost me 50pesos (3€) with the piercing inclusive!! Crazy! I asked the guy to finally put al my earrings back in that I had to take out for the stupid visa picture and Marta also bought a new piercing, the hygiene conditions actually seemed very good and modern. Then we went for some lunch, pizza, and went to classes. On Fridays I only have one class, Int. Economics.

Now I’m resting a bit because I think tonight I’m going out again, my roomies invited me and also the international students are going to a party.

Tomorrow I’m going to the “Trajineras”, Mexican decorated boats, on which people have a drink and a chat. We’re meeting at uni and apparently there is a real big group of Mexican and international students going J At night we’re going to a concert of Paul Kalkbrenner, a world famous German electro DJ. Yeaaaah!

I'm falling a sleep, hasta luego, wey!

Back to reality

Wow! After a great party/beach weekend in Acapulco, I'm back to reality at ITAM, Mexico City.

Acapulco:

Friday morning we gathered, 12 girls from all over the world and 3 Mexican guys, guides and driver, to head to Acapulco, about a 5 hour drive. Went in a too small van, for 15 people, and the trip was not so pleasant, though, as soon as we arrived, we completely forgot about that. Our apartment was great, a stunning view, swimming pools, palm trees, mango trees, coconuts, and warm weather - Paradise.

We were welcomed with a cold Corona and a dive. We stayed at the pool for the whole afternoon and then went out for some dinner at "Tacos & Beer", and for a dance at one of the many beach bars located on Acapulco's main avenue. Acapulco is like the "Lloret del Mar" of Latin America and so it's quite touristic and the Americans go there for Spring Break to get drunk. The party was quite fun even though I'm not so fond of commercial house. Our private driver brought us home safely and we went for a rest.

The next morning we were woken up for breakfast: scrambled eggs, papaya, mango and melon with sea view, "me gusta"! Then we left to go to the beach, we went to Princess Beach, which is very nice. First time I swam in the warm and wavy Pacific Ocean :) The sand was kind of dark but there were many palm trees, it was very tropical. Though, we could not rest for a minute, there were ladies offering massages, bracelets and other handcraft and even horse rides. So, me and Julia went for a ride along the beach. The Mexican horses are very small and skinny, though not too thin. It was nice, very calm and the special Mexican saddles are so comfy that is was no problem riding a horse in my summer dress! haha After the beach we went home for some lunch (5pm = hungry!) and our cooks had prepared some "pescado empanizado", delicious. Before leaving for dinner and party we had a nap and went to see the "clavadistas". They are guys who jump of the cliffs as a spectacular show. It was fun to see, it was already dark, which gave a nice effect, besides, it was raining (warm rain). Then it was finally time for "Paladium" which is one of the most known discos of Latin America. Well, it was impressive, life acts, panoramic view of the whole bay, open bar for 20euros and great music. Hence, we danced a lot and had a great time :) The next day everybody was hangover and after the yummy breakfast we headed back to the Capital.

Now I'm in the computer room of ITAM, but I gotta go coz I'm having Spanish class at 15.30.

Anyway, this week is quite heavy; I've got an oral presentation about "Why not invest in Mexico", 2 quizzes and a lot of readings to do.

So, I'm off. Hasta luego!

PS. many more pics on FB, also of the "Arctic Bar".

Weekend Acapulco

Hey peeps, happy friday!

It's not friday here yes though.

Yesterday I had classes until 22.00 and Timi and Stephanie convinced me to go out for a bit, I could not say no this time, even-though I was wearing casual clothes, no makeup, had no money on me and had my schoolbag with books with me. We were starving so we had something to eat at "Arbolitos", on the street, near uni, delicious quesadillas and tacos and Corona, of course. Then we were picked up by Rafa (the guy who's organizing the trip to Acapulco this weekend, he's also from ITAM) and went to "Condesa", a sort of equivalent to Bairro Alto in Lisbon. We went to a pub where it was ladies night and all drinks for girls were 15pesos, like 1euro, so we had some Margharitas and tequilas. Rafa and his friends wanted to take us to another place and so we got into one of those ice bars, like the ones you see on TV, where everything is made out of ice, chairs, statues, tables and even the shot glasses :) We had to wear special huge coats and gloves, it was real "cool" and we took lots of pics (but Steph has got them...). Outside the "iceroom" a band was playing, we danced for a bit and it was "muy buena onda", they played like "Sublimeish" music. After we still went to A.M., the club where I had already been b4. Once again the music was really good and we danced a lot, a sort of minimal electro. It was like one of the best night I had here until now, and under those conditions! It was not expected at all, but real fun! We went back by taxi, had a few hours sleep and woke up at 7.30 to go to classes. I can't believe it but I survived 4 lectures without falling a sleep in the too comfortable ITAM chairs.

Well, now I'm going to sleep because tomorrow early in the morning, I'm going to Acapulco. Acapulco is a very touristic party place on the west coast (about 4 hour drive), so it's Pacific Ocean, it's ment to be a sort of paradise with great weather, nice beaches and me and 10 other exchange girls are staying in 2 villas with pools and private beach, so let's see! :D I'll only come back on sunday night, so I won't speak to yas until then.

So, que tengan un buen fin de semana, chavos!

Vos extraño!

A new week

Hola muchachos, qué tal?

Can't believe I've already started my 2nd week of classes!

Sunday was great, I went to the city center with Iván and Joshe, my roomies, and Marta and Timi. First we went to the Bellas Artes museum, it was very nice, a beautiful building and we saw paintings of Diego Rivera among other mexican artists. Did not take any pics coz I had to pay for that. Then we went to the market, where we ate some fresh mango and "nieves" homemade icecream. It was very nice wandering around there and the weather was great. After, we went into the Torre LatinoAmerica, were you may go untill it's top (44floors) to appreciate the stunning view of the endless Mexican Capital. For luch we went to a restaurant named Girasoles, located on the square of "Caballito", a famous horse statue. Iván had told me about this place before so I already knew what I was gonna have: chille en nogada, it is like filled chille with a delicious kind of sweet sause. I really enjoyed the meal, very special tastes, and it's has the colors of the Mexican flag, not to forget! :p It was a very nice day, but after luch we went home because, as almost always, it started to rain...

On mondays, I only have one class, from 8.30 to 10.00, Econ Int, so after I spent some time studying in the library (yes, I have to start studying, apparently ITAM is VERY demanding!) and had a nice lunch with some friend on the uni terrace :)

Today I also had classes from 8.30, thus I woke up at 7.30, so after catching the bus and buying a coffee I'm in time. Had classes untill 13.00, time at which the salsa class starts, it was great, like always, and I really enjoy seeing that we (foreigners) are progressing! The last 15 min of the class were like non stop dancing in a circle in which like every 3 min you change partner ("cambia pareja"), it's so cool!!! :D And i just love the salsa music! After the salsa had some luch and finished the day with the most boring class ever: Spanish.

On my way home, by bus, I almost had a hart-attack: to get into the bus there were quite a few people so it took a while and thus a truck behind the bus had to wait a bit. But, apparently the truck was in a hurry and started stressing and horning. The bus started going almost before I was actually in the bus, but anyway, the truck continued horning and the bus-driver was going nuts and drove very fast. When we reached a traffic jam, both, the bus and truck had to wait. Someone got out of the truck yelling at the bus driver and I really thought this mad guy was gonna get into the bus and hit the driver and eventually do something to me, as I was sitting behind him! Luckily, it ended up to be only yelling and I safely got home. Iván told me this "traffic stress" is quite common, so I guess I'll have to get use to it!

Anyway, I'm going to sleep, am verrrrrry tired and tomorrow gotta be at uni at 8.30 again.

Take care!

Besito

Jungle Time!

Today we had a trip to Tepoztlán, “a magical town full of mysticism and tradition, is located 21 km East of Cuernavaca, the state capital of Morelos, and 71 km South of Mexico City. It lies along the foothills of the Sierra del Chichinautzin”. We went by bus and then climbed the Tepozteco Hill, and after crossing several cute calles of the village, where many thing as fruit are sold on the street, we had a hike of about one hour (2km) through a beautiful “jungle” until we reached the top where there is a Pre-Hispanic construction, a sort old pyramid. It is said that this site has a positive energy force, but I think it is just to the stunning nature and the incredible hike until the top of the mountain. It was great, but also quite heavy and everybody was sweating. When we got down again, we had a very nice Mexican style lunch in a very pretty “Frida Kahlo like” patio. Then we still had some time for shopping at the Mercado and did not leave the village before eating it’s famous ice cream. In fact is was great and the “heladeria” is really cute, of course my fav flavor is coconut!

For tonight Ivan has invited me to a bday party of a friend and just received another message for a party, but I guess I’m just going to bed and take a rest. Karen also called me for a party, but I'm a good girl and going to bed because I'm gonna wake up early! This morning I woke up at 6h30, well actually at 4h00 because Joshe, my other roomie, decided to do an afterparty in my apartment!!! So, they put on some music and drank some beers, while Ivan and I were sleeping, I hope this is not a Mexican tradition.

Well, see ya guys later! Tomorrow I’m going to Centro Histórico, Joshe and Ivan are taking me :) x Bo