September saw another speedy
month pass in Vallarta, however this month was marked with many different events
and visitors strolling by. I caught up with friends from home, headed to
Guadalajara to see my man, had Mexican birthday parties and trips to remote fishing
villages, more fabulous food experiences and shaked things up on the project
front! The weather continues with the ridiculously hot days however the
afternoon rains have subsided a bit. The assurances from all are frequent that
it’s only a few more weeks of this before some reprieve will arrive along with
the tourists! So where we left off will bring us to early September when
Claire and her boyfriend Miguel visited from Leon!
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| View from drinks with Claire and Miguel |
Claire, a work friend from RMH was my first injection of
seeing friends and loved ones after three months in Mexico. It was bizarre to
hear an Australian accent again, and once settled back into my mother tongue l realised l had forgotten how much l love to natter! We met on a rainy evening on the Malacon
and had a fabulous night with her and her awesome Mexican boyfriend Miguel. We
accidently found ourselves in the middle of a closing party for one of the
restaurant/ bars and what started as a quiet bucket of beers led to tequilas and
vodkas and bizarre dancers. However, we moved on from this frivolity and found some
salsa dancing at a Cuban bar with graffiti filled walls, a live band,
professional dancers and mojitos. I bowed out a little early as l had proceeded
this frivolity with a long day at the project, however it was a fabulous night
catching up with another expat in this crazy country we find ourselves in!
One of the stand out events of this month was ‘Dia de Proyecto
Pitillal’ which saw us on a sunny Saturday afternoon parade through Puerto
Vallarta with around forty bikies in tow and five or six fancy ‘ute-esque’ cars
which carried us, horns blaring, through the town chanting ‘Proyecto, Proyecto, Proyecto
Pitillal!’ . Waving at the many bemused locals and tourists who were wondering what was
happening in this normally quiet seaside town. One of the bikies even wore a werewolf ('lobo') mask for the entire day, even until the end having to sip his bears through a straw. We finished our tour in Pitillal Central Plaza where BMX trick riders, the pit bull club and rappers were awaiting us
to help raise funds and awareness for the organisation. A long day in the sun
however it was a great day, with much fun and good work done for the project.
This fabulous day was followed by my first experience of
Tacos de Cabeza (only the meat of the head of the cow....) DELICIOUS! Thanks to
Adriana who took me to a small place in Pitillal with a lovely lady cooking
and her three 7-10 year old sons serving as waiters. Absolutely delicious,
especially as l was pretty trepidacious after hearing of other’s experiences of
this particular Mexican dish.
Then on a Thursday afternoon in the middle of September l left CAM21 at the usual time and didn’t head to the project as l normally would have. Instead l hiked across town, hauling ass to the bus station, adament to get the earlier bus for the five hour journey to Guadalajara. After days of the staff debating over which bus line is the best, l was sent off with well wishes and high fives as everyone knew where l was going. I was off to see my man for the first time in three months! I thought l would be nervous on the bus however the amazing scenery and the luxurious cruise liner-esque style l travelled in quelled any nerves.
I arrived at the beautiful Casa Villa Santa, a great hostel with amazing and friendly staff that house us again the next trip I made to Guadalajara in October, and is one that l would recommend to everyone heading to Guadalajara. I arrived before Mark so went up to the room and stood there a little lost not really knowing what to do, having expected Mark to arrive there before me. Then less than 2-3 minutes later, a tall, dirty, hairy, lanky man walked up the stairs. It had been three months, it was an awesome weekend.
It also happened to be Mexico Independence
Day (which it seems is not often celebrated solely for one day). So the city
was bustling, a very busy change to the low season in Vallarta. We ate lunch on Independence day with the
owner, his family and the staff of the hostel. We had a picnic in the
park and strolled through the streets, explored the markets downtown and negotiated the throngs of
people. Then Mark’s band of merry motorcycling men rode into town on the
Saturday night and we trundled over to their hostel for a celebration
with much tequila, singing and shouting. As some have heard there was a small
encounter with the Guadalajara police force on the way home from the festivities, where they requested our attention for drinking a beer in
the street (this is common place in Vallarta l would just like to add!).
However, after pretending to not understand Spanish for five minutes l decided
to wind up the conversation by donating 200 pesos to their cause and we continued safely home to our warm and safe haven of Casa VillaSanta.
The weekend had to come to an end as l needed to return to
Vallarta for Ivan’s pre-birthday celebration of a trip to Chimo with the whole
family, including Ivan’s partner who had flown in from the USA for the event.
On the Monday afternoon we piled into a car and made the bumpy 4 hour journey south to
the small fishing village of Chimo where Ivan’s family comes from.
This
beautiful ranch which is home to no more than 100 or so people is amazing. The
main trade of Chimo is fishing and diving for other forms of seafood. Those
that don’t work in this industry generally head to Vallarta for university or to work
in the high season. We arrived at night time and the fireflies were
surrounding us as we stretched ourselves from the car. On the first night l
went down to the beach with Ivan’s sister to meet some of her friends and drink
ricea (pure homemade tequila). We returned late and everyone had gone to sleep
and l found a bed made up for me outside on the upstairs veranda with the others. At about
four in the morning a heavy rain and lightening storm began and we all hurried
inside hauling mattresses and pillows with us. Comically at this point, Ivan's uncle broke the bed and we struggled to smother the hysterics that ensued.
I woke early with
the sounds of the ranch, chickens and children, donkeys and cicadas, men and women working. I stepped outside onto the verandah that was still
drying out from the early morning storm and it was
already hot and humid, more so than in Vallarta. It was beautiful. In front of the
house was a small river that ran to the ocean, this is used by the locals to
wade, find reprieve from the heat and bathe in. Surrounding and above us
was luscious full mountains filled with rainforest, insects and heat.
In the morning, l stayed close to the house due
to a slightly sore head and a rough stomach which had been a bit of a problem
for a while. I ‘made’ tortillas with Ivan’s mum and grandmother, albeit mine
tended to be not entirely flat and of peculiar shape. However, they kindly put
them in the pile with the rest and during breakfast cries of ‘l got an
Australian tortilla’ rang loud. Everyone was tired from the drive so we spent the first half of the day playing card games, dominos and chatting. In the afternoon, after everyone took a nap, we walked down the river
for about 30-40 minutes. We leapt over rocks, through shrubs and crossed the
river numerous times to get to easier paths. I did my best to daintily pass
from stone to log, jump over shrubs and miss mossy rocks, however no....yet
another gringo falling left, right and centre, with nothing hurt bar my pride. We emerged, sweaty and red faced at a little
waterfall, there was an abundance of orange coconuts which we tore into (some
more than others!) and waded in the water, chatting and relishing in the cool
change we found being only slightly up from sea level.
We walked back just before the sun began to dip, l was shown
different plants and fruits, we took photos and gathered more orange coconuts for those back at the house. As the sun went down the colours grew more and
more in the sky, the river calm, everyone stopped and admired the sunset,
amazed at the colours against the rainforest. I stood as well in awe, taken by
the sunset, the hospitality, the friendliness of Ivan’s family, the concern shown
for my uncoordinated river crossings and bad bowels, the beauty in the lifestyle
of knowing your land and how to sustain yourself from it. It was yet another
moment where l stopped and wondered how l was so fortunate to get here.
That night, there was thankfully no more ricea for me. However, we
consumed beers and games and chatted into the night. At around midnight l resigned to
bed, weary, content and still confused at the rules of a Mexican card game l
had supposedly been 'playing' for a few hours. In the morning we had to wake
early as l needed to catch the early pancha (one of two) from Chimo to
Vallarta. We waded out to a little canoe that then took us to the boat. We then
sat and enjoyed an hour following the coast and the small communities back to
Vallarta. It was something out of a film, with the communities closer to Vallarta
becoming covered with mansions and hotels, but the beautiful green rainforest covered coast still contrasting with the two blues of sea and sky.
Mark
came down to Vallarta the next weekend, where to get to the bus station l had to pass through a
gianormous thunder rain storm which turned the streets of Pitillal into rivers
and then endure a slow moving religious parade down a one way street... However we finally met at the bus stop, returned home and had
some delicious tacos and bevereges!
On the Saturday l took Mark for a trip down to Bucerius to
meet my good friends Mariana and German. Mariana taught us how to drink true
Micheladeas (giant beers with ice, clamato, lime and chilli...) which l did not
succeed in mastering. Mark tried out his
newly learnt Spanish (with great success), and we had a beautiful seafood lunch
and swam in the far less crowded ocean as the sun set.
After returning Mexican style to Mariana and German’s house we endeavoured to share in the best of Australian music (Jimmy Barnes, Johnny Farnham, Bernard Fanning, Paul Kelly and many others). They were bemused at our efforts to also show them how people dance in Australia (l don’t think we did a very good job at this stage) and then we retired to our double massage table bed for the night.
That same weekend we celebrated Ivan’s birthday a few days late on a rainy
Sunday night at his mum’s house. Which was adorned with three different types of
cerviche (fish salads cooked in lime juice) and posole (Mexican corn and bean
soup that came with a pigs nose floating in it – quite to my surprise when l ladled
it from beneath the surface). There were drag queens and good tunes, and of course
a storm to accompany the fiesta. A quiet affair and lovely to be a part of,
however Mark and I retired early as l had the project the next day and Mark the 5 hour bus journey back to Guadalajara.
That leaves us only with news of the projects. So after only a month at the school CAM 21, where days were filled with tortilla making, cleaning the garden, selling clothes and knitting ‘fondas’/ scarves l decided to make the hard decision to finish up and solely focus on Proyecto Pitillal. This decision came from a few directions. Firstly this project was very different from that of Proyecto Pitillal and l was finding it a bit hard and tiring to mentally be in two very different places at once. Also the opportunity to focus on occupational therapy was a lot more achievable at the Proyecto and l didn't feel the contribution at CAM 21 had the opportunity to be quite as sustainable as that at the Project. At times at CAM21 l also felt like another body in the room to occupy instead of helping or contributing something positive. In all of this the decision was made especially hard by the kids. With their quirky fabulous and generous personalities and it was sad to say goodbye. However, the decision had to be made, and Greta helped to make it a smooth process of returning to full time volunteering at the project.
So that is September. l finish writing this post from my great friend Bella’s
swanky hotel ‘Fiesta Americana’ in Vallarta (experiencing the other side of life
Vallarta has to offer!). However you will have to wait for news of October, the
second trip to Guadalajara, the Adventures of Bella and Wendy, the coming of
the Moto-bi-cycle Boys in Vallarta , the mega truck rally and more until next time. As now l need to go enjoy hanging with my great friend, the fountain enriched swimming pool and of
course the swim up bar! Take care, with lots of love and hugs from Mexico xo
