the start of a love affair.

I went to a town 3 hours away from Guadalajara called Guanajuato to visit a sweet couple I became friends with in Sayulita.

Guanajuato is: magical. Painfully beautiful. Romantic. Wonderful. Enchanting. Everyone I talked to described Guanajuato this way before I came, and I was like, yah okay, cool. But it's true.

The picture doesn't show this, but this square, it's enclosed by these trees where their branches and leaves are growing into each other and they are cut in such a way where they make this really beautiful massive box for you to sit in and under. It's so nice.

From the mummy museum. Some of the bodies in there startled me more then I thought they would. There was this one in there where the woman had this disease where her heart would stop every once in awhile, and at one point her heart stopped for an entire day so her family thought she was dead. And so she was buried alive and the way her body was displayed in the museum, it was terrifying. 

It was also weird/fascinating to see hair, eyelashes, and fingernails on a corpse and how real but not real it looks and how it stands the test of time. They looked so delicate and fragile. And of course you're confronted with and think about death and that was disconcerting as well. 

On the other hand, I realized that one of my favorite photos was taken here at one point! (ps - the bodies are now behind glass, they clued in and realized that hey, maybe we should protect these bodies a bit more)

Seeing Guanajuato, it just made me realize that Mexico has so many different regions with their own characteristics. And how it can differ in a small distance like 3 hours. It made me fall in love with Mexico more, showing me its complexities and nuances in vibrant, warm, and bright ways that just make me burst at the seams, coming undone (happily so) and wanting more.

Guadalajara

I was in Guadalajara for a few days and here's some snaps:

A small exhibit commenting on huaraches at Museo Art de Zapopan. It was a comment on (I think) how increasingly handmade, real leather shoes are being replaced by crappy, cheap, synthetic materials. I wanted them all. 

Especially these ones.

This is Soda. A sweet black labrador that was at m

I was walking around this giant market called San Juan de Dios, completely overwhelmed by the amount of stuff that was crammed into one space. It had everything, Mexican souvenirs, candy, illegal dvds, Michael Kors bags (this really stuck out to me haha), shoes (Vans upon Vans upon Vans), fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, tons of stuff to eat. And then I was in the spot where they had I guess all the mystical, herbal, magical stuff and that's when I began to feel a little less overwhelmed and wanted to look at every tiny thing they had to offer and to buy it all. But I settled on this box of soap. 

This plate of food killed me, it was so good. It's chilaquiles (Chips smothered in sauce with cheese on top), eggs with chorizo and refried beans. 

I went to Guadalajara kind of on a whim. Things were getting kind of weird in Sayulita and I figured since I was so close to Guadalajara, it would be a bit silly not to go. I didn't plan anything. I had no concept of what it would be like other than that it would be huge and possibly cool. And once I was on the bus, driving in at night (by the way, I realize now that I really dislike coming into new places at night. Someone told me this before and I kind of agreed but had never given it much thought, but I wish he didn't tell me because it was the only thing running through my mind when getting into Guadalajara and it just kept stressing me out more and more as we got closer to the center.) I was like, man what the heck am I doing here. After living 2 months in Sayulita, I knew it was small, but I didn't realize how manageable it was until I got to Guadalajara. I was so used to knowing where everything was, seeing familiar faces constantly, having a routine, that I just instantly got overwhelmed and a bit scared by how big everything was. I was completely unprepared. I tried to find familiarity in the city, things that I've known in Sayulita or in other cities and couldn't come up with anything. And it's funny because I had complained a bit in Sayulita that a lot of the times when you're there, it feels like you're in some weird part of Vancouver that happens to be really hot and tropical. It didn't feel like I was in Mexico, when I wanted to feel like I was. 

Guadalajara is definitely its own place. On my first day, I had left the apartment without eating (I figured I'd find something right away), forgot to bring a map, forgot to bring my list of things to do, got completely lost right away (god Sayulita made me so stupid), and I was so frustrated and almost regretting my decision to come (because I really didn't need to). But then I eventually ended up where I wanted to be and ate something (oh it's funny how things are better on a full stomach) and just sat in a plaza and began just watching all the different people going about their day in different ways and that just calmed me down and made me feel so much better. And I began to let Guadalajara be what it is and things were better after that. Orange trees everywhere. Old buildings with beautiful details. Delicious food. Kind people. Also it felt good to wear pants in the sun comfortably for the first time in 2 months haha. 

I know that I didn't even scratch the surface of what it has to offer. But I think I'll be back again and hopefully a little more ready. Because I can tell it's a great city and I'd love to get to know it more.  

San Pancho

Hi. I'm in small town over called San Pancho for the weekend housesitting. 

And dog sitting. They're adorable. The big one is Bullwinkle and the small one is Maggie.

The women that I am housesitting for are from my Spanish class and they are so incredibly nice and their home is absolutely beautiful. They each have their own floor and each has a distinct style that is specific to them, that shows a life that has been lived and has shaped their tastes into what you see now. I hope I end up a tenth like them. 

So many nice oddities around the house.  

San Pancho is a lot more sleepier and chill then Sayulita. It's nice, I feel like I can definitely be more anonymous here (in Sayulita, everywhere you look there are people, ones that you know and it feels like you have to be more on when you're there) and there's not much to do here, but amazingly the day goes by incredibly and satisfactorily fast. 

The beach is nice because there's not nearly as many people and virtually no vendors selling you stuff. It gets to be a bummer to keep saying, "No Gracias" over and over. The waves are bigger and I loved going against them and diving in and touching the sandy bottom. 

Sayulita

Hi. So I'm travelling for a year (I think) and I am in Mexico right now. In Sayulita. It's an hour outside of Puerto Vallarta and ugh man, it's nice here.  

My neighbor. Okay, I am about to unromanticize this horse. So until now, I have never seen a real horse dick in my life. And oh my god, the other day, this horse, it's dick was out and it was crazyyyyy. I was like, holy that's what they look like? Honestly it was like an elephant trunk, it was nuts.

Ugh these tacos killed me. 

Great novelty: drinking Palomas in a can on the beach. They're not great, but they're cheap and who cares.

This dog. I was like, aw this is a cute sleeping Mexican dog and I want to take a picture of it. The instant I did it freaked out at me and completely spazzed and now I don't want to take pictures of dogs again in Mexico.

Although this dog was nice and followed us around (because we had food) and her name is Tootise and apparently she follows anyone with food around.

Everyone I talk to asks me why I came here. And I say that I came here because I wanted to learn how to surf and I've always liked Mexico and I've heard that this is a nice little town to be and surf in. And it's been good so far. I take Spanish classes every few days (but still can barely understand the basic things people ask/tell me), go to yoga in this open air space, and try to surf (I've caught like 5 waves out of 100 so far).

But it's all about the small victories here. Like going to the laundry place where this cute old lady doesn't speak any English and kind of understanding what she says and coming out with clean laundry the next day (and you feel so fresh, cause god, it is hot and humid here, so clothes are constantly sticky - they even get...mouldy. CRAZY! Clothes get moldy?!) Or having a small conversation with the caretaker of the apartment and then him leaving the most giant avocado for you on your steps (aw he likes me!) Or going to the next town over via the local bus to go to the bigger grocery store and running across the highway and back and not dying. And catching a wave after missing so many of them and riding it till the very end. Or being able to buy tamales for 15 pesos each. And huge slices of cake for 15 pesos each. 

Ugh and time, time moves fast and slow here and I used to wake up in panics back in Vancouver, panic over what I had to do or just feeling a constant sense of that I needed to do something or that I haven't done enough. And I'm glad and lucky that I haven't felt that much since coming here. I guess that's a given and will only last so long, but I'm glad I am able to feel it.

Talk soon friends, hope all is well with you.