Dia 56: Las Ultimas Horas.

Well the last few days have been rather busy. School ended with a bang. We had 2 papers, a test, and a presentation. That's like the entire semesters worth of work shoved into one week. I'm pretty glad that's over, I really needed a vacation. Then right after school ended we went to Nuevo Vallarta for 5 days which was composed of unlimited beach, drinks, and food. It was probably the best vacation of my life.

I'll throw some warnings though. 1: The maids at our hotel stole money from our rooms. 2: there are some super jerk vendors in Puerto Vallarta. One man got mad at me for not spending 70 bucks on a wooden box so he followed me out of the store all but harassing me. He kept saying that money wasn't a big deal it was just paper. I responded by saying that my money wasn't paper and I needed it for school and what not. He then got angry and said, well I'm not the one on vacation. I work 10 hours a day and I have a wife and 4 kids to put through school. And he just kept blabbing away and following me out of his shop and into the road. He just kept giving me junk. I just said nope, no thanks and kept walking until he stopped.That is definitely how you sell things to tourists. Mind you he said all of this in English so I wasn't having a communication issue. oh and 3: the ocean is really really dirty in July and August because it's rainy season so don't plan a snorkeling trip.

Anyways, this trip has been outrageously awesome and I'm sad it's ending. Every week was composed of huge amounts of delicious food, trips around Mexico, hanging out with friends, and just tons and tons of fun. OH and I spoke some Spanish I guess. I'm really grateful for this experience and it was honestly one of the best decisions I have ever made. Now it's time to go back to reality where I have to pay bills, eat college food, and work. But I get to speak English again so I dare say I'm pretty content. Estoy Satisfecha.

Dia 46:Near Death in 27

I just have to share the worst bus ride I've yet to have. Today on the way back from service 5 of us took the bus back to our houses. We got the ghetto 27 bus. This one was really ghetto, bullet holes in the windows and all. In addition to the ghetto appearance, we also got the nuttiest bus driver in Guadalajara. He initially refused to give our friend change for her 50. He said he had none, but after a few minutes of discussing he finally gave her change. After we got our tickets, we sat in the very back of the bus so we could be close to the door and so we could chat with each other. Everyone knows the back of the bus is the most bumpy and we honestly get a kick out of it so we decided to sit there. However, this bus was really really bumpy, like I was having trouble holding a conversation and I felt like my organs were being tossed around. The driver just kept getting faster and faster. Every curve made me fear for my life and my roomie watched the driver run 2 red lights. Well we were just chatting and laughing and then all of a sudden we were 2 feet off of our seats with shock plastered on our faces. The driver must have run over a large speed bump, curve, or a person because we FLEW out of our seats. My heart was in my throat. It scared me to death, I thought we were getting into a wreck, but instead it was just our bus driver being a maniac. Our friends got off shortly after that. We had to ride the bus for another 5 minutes and he just continued cutting in front of cars, taking corners too fast, and speeding like no one's business. Then when it came to drop us off he decided to stay in the middle lane to let us out and as I was getting out of the bus a stupid car almost hit me and my roomies in the lane we walked into!

Nothing like a good ol' bus ride in Mexico.

Dia 43: Too fast.

I cannot believe how fast the time is going. I knew it would happen but it's like a smack to the face. Tomorrow we sing our final church program, classes end Friday, and Saturday we head to Puerto Vallarta. Then... back to the good ol' U.S. of A. Soo crazy. I'm not sure if I'm ready for this to end yet.

Anyways, the picture today is a fruit. Mexcian lee chi. It's about 100 times better fresh and it looks like an alien. Who wouldn't want to eat that?

Well I'll share the silly stories first today. I asked for the state ofTexas instead of asking for a pair of scissors, that was hilarious. I dropped my Oreo in my milk and all but got my hand stuck in the cup. I think my host-mother thought I was a barbarian for shoving my hand into my glass to save the cookie. And my class discovered that I flutter my eyelashes/twitter my eyes when I'm concentrating and it's now the joke amongst my roomies. Oh and it's REALLY REALLY rude to snap at someone. It's as if you're calling them your slave... oops.

Weekly updates. I ate my weight in food today at the buffet in some hotel in Chapala. The food was AMAZING, but I'm pretty sure the cake had alcohol in it and no one noticed because I'm sure they're not familiar with that taste. OH, but I'm not either... I also swam, visited Chapala, Ajijic, and Tonala again. I ate the best tortilla I've ever had in my life. Oh and I bought my plant (Bernini) a sweet new pot.

Anyways, I've been sleeping for like 5 hours a night for the past bit because I've been trying to do everything and anything. Soooo I think it's about time I get on that sleeping thing. Hasta Luego.

Dia 38

So a lot happens in 2 weeks. Last weekend we went to Zacatecas which is one of the most beautiful towns I have ever been to. There were small cobblestoned roads, bright-colored buildings, and cathedral/churches everywhere. I LOVED it. There's also a sweet mine which strangely enough had a store and an elevator in it. We also went around town during the first night and listened to legends. I actually understood what was going on, finally getting the hang of things. Unless a person speaks in a microphone, then I can't understand anything and it's just comical.

I also almost got hit by a car. I was walking across a rather large street and the light turned green while I was halfway across. In the states you just run across and people just deal. Out here... not the case. They just start going and you better pray you're not in front of their car. So I start to run across the street and cars were honking and this one white car wasn't stopped at the light so he didn't see me running and let's just say I was very VERY close to being paste. That was hands down the scariest moment of this entire trip. I somehow managed to live :).

Embarrassing moment numero million. We went to do laundry again, this time it was a dollar less, so I spent 8 bucks on laundry, yay on my super saving skills. We went like 4 miles away to do our laundry, we at least met a really nice cab driver. Anyways, I decided it was a better idea to wash my clothes by hand (this is prior to my laundry trip). We had some detergent from earlier in the trip and I spent a very long time washing some clothes in our little sink. Well after a few days of sitting out and drying I took the clothes down to fold them and they didn't seem very clean. They were stiff and awkward, but they smelled nice soo i just folded them up. But as I pulled them out to wear them I just couldn't bring myself to do it because they just didn't seem clean enough, so we went to the lavanderia. As I was talking to the wash-lady she told me that we didn't have soap, but instead we had fabric softener. Yeah, proves to you that my Spanish skills are only the best.

Okay food: had filled churros, probably the best thing in the world. If you ever get a filled churro get either chocolate or cajeta (caramel deliciousness).

This weekend was insane. We went to some town. I don't remember the name nor would I be able to pronounce it. But we went to some ruins. The only circular pyramids in the world actually. We also got to practice singing our program for BYU in El Centro. It was really fun believe it or not. And today I get to play soccer and eat lots of cake for my roomies birthday. Awesome.

Dia 32: Half Way

Brief Summary of trip thus far:

How many seat belts I've worn since I've been here : 1

How many dead bodies I've seen: 1

How many times a day I see a man without a limb: 1-3

How many Fantas I've had: 3

How many times I've been ill: 1

How many times I've almost died: 2

How many times I've done laundry: 2

How many times I've had anything remotely American: 4

How many super embarrassing things have I done: too many to count

How many butts have I touched on the bus on accident: A LOT

How many times have I been almost kidnapped: 1

How many times have I gone legit-not running-from-the rain-running... 2 (I walk 8 miles a day, that's like running 3 miles right?)

How many beans have I eaten: about 1/2 a cup a day for a month, so a lot

How many outrageously disgusting things have I eaten: 4

How much money spent: far far too much

So far really really good. :) Kind of never want to leave.

Things checked off of the Mexico Bucket List

• Eat delicious Mexican ice cream: CHECK
• Drink Mexican soda such as Fanta: CHECK (Coca Cola is just as terrible here)
• Eat some scrumptious Mexican Cake and Churros; CHECK!!!!!!
• Authentic Mexican hot chocolate: Check (best thing in the world)
• Tacos: Check
• Freaky Fruits: Check (The apple-pear, pretty awesome)
• Learn salsa: check
• Ride in back of a truck through Mexico: check (did NOT think that one was going to happen)
• Use payphone: check
• Ride a donkey while wearing a sombrero.... not yet

Who knows what will happen now, all the normal stuff is out of the way. :)

Dia 25: Lucha Libre

Well... I went to a Lucha Libre and all I can say is once is good enough. It was hilarious and disturbing all at the same time. Lucha libres are essentially like WWE. There are massive men wearing spandex and masks wrestling in a ring in the middle of the room. It's obviously planned and dramatized.They were smacking each other, doing flips, begging for mercy then attacking their opponents as they turn at the right moment. Super stupid. Anyways, as a group we went to one of the lucha libres for the weekly cultural activity. The beginning of the event I laughed and was pretty entertained. I made up nicknames for the wrestlers and they did silly little tricks around the ring. But then it got weird. They started t-bagging each other, ripping off pants, girls in little clothing came out with "round two" signs and jumped around for the crowd. Everyone started yelling SUPER interesting things at each other and to the wrestlers. Let's just say I learned a lot of colorful swear words. I was laughing the whole time but it was just awkward after an hour or so. Some things just should NOT be seen. And I felt bad for the poor skinny guy who got jumped on by a 350 lb monster! Oh and everyone who sat in the front row will have bruises tomorrow from the men falling out of the ring. Pretty insane night.

Day 23

So sooo much has happened... so instead of writing a detailed account of everything I'll go over the basics. Wednesday I went to two soccer games. One was between the Chivas (from Guadalajara) and Estudiantes (Guadalajara/Our University) and the other was between Atlas (also from Guadalajara) and America (Mexico City). I have to say they were pretty intense. I've never seen so many people at a sporting event singing/jumping for a solid 2 hours. Men were just ripping off their shirts and screaming like maniacs. I loved whenever there was a goal. It was a great excuse to jump out of your seat, scream things in Spanish, and hug the person next to you. From down below beer was flying through the air and up top in the rafters everyone's lungs were shriveling from severe exposure to second hand smoke. Great exposure to Mexican culture.

After the Chiva game two of my friends and I got attacked by a large crowd of Chiva fans. They were about high school age and they heard us speak English and they freaked out. They grabbed us and pulled us into their group and they just started taking pictures. So so strange. We finally broke loose after a few butt pinches and some yelling in Spanglish. Crazy crazy times.
My roomies and I also had to stop into an Applebees and grab something because we were craving American, more specifically American sweets. What else but a lava cake to satisfy a craving?

We went to Tlaquepaque and Tonala yesterday. Probably the coolest places to buy things in the world. There are a bunch of tents and shops set up with outrageously cheap pottery, art, food, clothing, the works. I had the opportunity to bargain in Spanish and it worked! I got 5 bowls and 2 mugs for $4 bucks. Pretty fantastic if you ask me, I wanted to buy a full set but I don't have room in my stupid suit case... dumb airlines. Anyways, the only downside to the trip was I was a little ill when I went. I felt disgusting, my stomach was doing flips, my head was aching, and I was really weak. After a mile walk home after the bus I slept for 14 hours straight.

And to end this post, my roomies and I had the most attractive taxi cab driver I have ever seen. Straight out of a magazine. Honey eyes, brown curly hair, lean... mmmh. He even gave us a discount. :) Speaking of honey eyes, here is the best thing that has ever been said to me as a pick up line (he wasn't actually trying to use it as a pickup line but it sounded like one). "Algunas veces cuando te veo tengo ganas de un pan calientito y tomar un poquito del color de tus ojos para endulzarlo como si fuera miel". (Sometimes when I look at you I want to take a piece of warm bread and put a little of the color of your eyes and spread it as if it were honey.")