Ticking off the to-do list

Not having written for another almost 2 months unsurprisingly a LOT has happenedā€¦again. When I last wrote I was feeling pretty down about Mexico, but after that tough period Iā€™m starting to feel more positive and enjoy it (with only 2 and a half months to goā€¦). Iā€™ve done a lot more travelling to all the (ever-increasing) list of places I want to go to thatā€™s pinned on my wall. I guess my new-found positivity is partly due to this ā€“ getting to see new and completely different places is one of the best things about the year abroad. But actually I think itā€™s more down to changes Iā€™ve made. So here are the best tips I have for dealing with homesicknessā€¦

1. Join a group. I always intended to do this but never found anything I fancied. But recently while running in the park I saw a group doing circuits, and when I asked it turned out to be a group of mums from the local school who train there every day practising for a 6k run they were doing the week after. Despite not having children or ever having done that kind of exercises I decided to go along and see. A few weeks ago I even ran the race with them and finished 3rd in my category (admittedly there werenā€™t many 20-something year olds at a school run for parents and childrenā€¦). Theyā€™re all lovely and we sometimes go for breakfast together which improves my normally boring Tuesday and Thursday mornings before going to work! IMG-20150301-WA0002

With my medal! And some fruit

IMG-20150320-WA00192. Learn a new skill ā€“ last weekend I also went to learn to knit from one of the teachers at the Anglo ā€“ my attempts are fairly poor so far (see below) and I canā€™t remember how to start it off. But it reminded me again how important it is to feel part of something.. especially when youā€™re away from the university atmosphere of societies and being surrounded by a lot of people you know. The other new thing Iā€™ve started doing is cycling to work with the Boris-bike style system they have here. It saves me the stress of taking the metrobus though admittedly is a bit of an adrenaline rush ā€“ Mexico City not being the most bicycle or pedestrian-friendly city to say the least!

My knitting so far...

3. Find a new workplace ā€“ I used to always work on my project on my own in my room until it was time to go to work, or when Arturo finished working. Now I normally go to a cafĆ© ā€“ I may be spending more on coffee but it definitely helps to be in an atmosphere with more people!

4. Plan things ā€“ I also made a list of everything I wanted to do in Mexico and have been working my way through it and working out when I will have time to do it all. Sometimes it feels strange to know I probably wonā€™t have time to do everything though!

5. And not just in Mexicoā€¦. Iā€™ve also been planning some things for when I get home, like what I want to do for my birthday. Even though itā€™s still a long way off it feels a lot closer when people at home start to get excited to do stuff too!

6. Make time to talk to family and friends ā€“ Iā€™ve been very bad at this at times because to be honest talking to home often makes me feel sad and very far away. And theyā€™re all falling asleep cos itā€™s normally about 10 at night thereā€¦ While I donā€™t want to be thinking about England all the time, and make sure Iā€™m enjoying being here too, it does help to talk things over with someone familiar. Sometimes it feels like you have a lot of big decisions and things to cope with on your own, but itā€™s important to remember all the people you normally talk to are actually still there!

7. Be proud ā€“ this is the thing Iā€™m still working on. Moving abroad is really hardā€¦and yet Iā€™m constantly thinking what I could have done better or comparing myself with other people and their experiences. But as my dad reminded me the other day, Iā€™ve already moved halfway across the world, started a new job, written (well, some of) a uni project, met my boyfriend, moved and settled into a new place twice (soon to be 3 times as Iā€™ll move in with Arturo for the last couple of monthsā€¦), visited a lot of new and completely different places and also learnt to navigate one of the biggest cities in the worldā€¦and spoken a lot of Spanish which after all is the whole point of this year. I still have to go to Chiapas, and learn to surfā€¦but thereā€™s still time!

I guess everyoneā€™s bound to have struggles during this year but thatā€™s some ways Iā€™ve learned to cope! Onto happier thingsā€¦

Just after my last blog my parents came to visit. Seeing them arrive in Mexico City was a fairly surreal experience but they settled in quickly! They stayed in an amazing hotel right next to my house, which was air-conditioned and double-glazed so unlike me they didnā€™t have to deal with the noise and heat 24 hours a dayā€¦ šŸ˜‰. Having never travelled much further than Europe like me it was interesting to see what they thought of the city, and I think it was very different to what theyā€™d expected! Although itā€™s huge and at times overwhelming, in fact thereā€™s tons to do, itā€™s pretty green and feels way less dangerous than I imagined it would. They mostly seemed impressed by how cheap the taxis wereā€¦.

We did a lot of things and the week went far too quickly! But Iā€™m pleased to say Iā€™ve now finally visited Puebla, where I was originally going for my year abroad. Although it was beautiful, Iā€™m glad I went at the end of the year to be able to compare it with other places Iā€™ve been. I found it pretty similar to a lot of other colonial towns Iā€™ve visited, and actually although Iā€™m happy I managed to visit it I donā€™t regret coming to Mexico City. Being in the capital and centre of everything definitely has advantages!IMG_4928 IMG_4939 IMG_4944 IMG_4956

We also went to TeotihuacĆ”n (one of the first places people told me to go..it only took 6 months!) Itā€™s one of the oldest pyramids and the biggest in Mexico (3rd tallest in the world!). It was really impressive but also very very hot and a lot of walking, so while Dad explored the entire thing we ended up going for lunch after the Pyramid of the Sunā€¦IMG_4994

The impressive Piramide del Sol at TeotihuacƔn

IMG_5015 During the week I worked but the school really kindly let me only come in for my classes so I could spend a lot of time with Mum and Dad too. We went to the Museo de Antropologia ā€“ after scanning all the rooms and having a coffee, me and Mum went to find Dad, assuming heā€™d have finished. He was in room 2. So he went back another day (and still didnā€™t manage to finish) while we went to the Castillo de Chapultepec. We also went to Templo Mayor, on a bus tour and to Xochimilco, the ā€˜floating gardensā€™ right in the south of the city. I was very proud of myself for haggling the price down from 800 pesos, and also accidentally got the number of our guide, who said heā€™ll give me a discount next time I come. He told me to save him as Jesus ā€˜Xochimilcoā€™ or ā€˜trajineraā€™, ā€˜so I donā€™t get confusedā€™..because I have so many Jesuses in my phone obviouslyā€¦ I tried to persuade him to put my name on the front of one of the boats but unfortunately he doesnā€™t have that authority.IMG_5032 IMG_5048

On the Friday I got the day off so we went to TepoztlƔn. Though it was pretty hot and tiring we all managed to get to the top and I enjoyed it even more than last time since there was far fewer people and we had more time. We saw a lot of eagles (or maybe vultures), went for lunch in a lovely restaurant surrounded by trees and had the best Tepoznieve (ice cream) ever!IMG_5114 IMG_5119 IMG_5136 IMG_5157 IMG_5163

The weekend after they left I went to the Mariposas Monarcas, another long-held ambition since arriving! Theyā€™re butterflies which fly every year from Canada to Mexico, to the exact same area. We went on a suspiciously cheap tour which cost Ā£20 and took us to 3 different places and included transportation. As Arturo put it, we went with the ā€˜lowest expectations possibleā€™ but were pleasantly surprised! It left at 7 so we got up at half 5 (hideous) to get the bus, which took about 2 hours. When we arrived we decided to hire horses to take us to the top ā€“ although this was a really cool experience and something I wanted to do, I also spent the whole time so tense and scared Iā€™d fall off that every muscle in my body ached by the time I did finally get downā€¦

A very deceitful photo where it looks like I know how to ride a horse...

IMG_5200 IMG-20150309-WA0005

One of the more successful photos

IMG_5207

My friend Amaliposa

The butterflies were even better than I had imagined ā€“ there were so many you could pick them up and some were really tame, I made friends with one and held it for about 20 minutes until I took pity on a woman who couldnā€™t find any to pick up (and cruelly cut our friendship short). Whenever anyone made a loud noise hundreds of butterflies flew up into the air at the same time which was incredible to see. Arturoā€™s main complaint was that it was very hard to take photosā€¦so we really had nothing to complain about šŸ˜‰ Except that on the way down the guide led the horse too close to the fence, and I scraped my leg on a nail and had to have first aid (more sadly, I broke one of the only two pairs of leggings I have in Mexico)

After that the tour went on to some waterfalls ā€“ I initially thought they were this very rubbish weir everyone was taking photos ofā€¦ IMG_5220

But luckily the real thing was actually quite impressive! IMG_5233Finally we went to Valle de Bravo, a posh town on a lake where PeƱa Nieto has his holiday house (those from Devon, think the Dartmouth of Mexicoā€¦). To give you an idea, there were yachts and golf carts for saleā€¦ Although itā€™s actually a pretend artificial lake, so doesnā€™t really count.

Valle de Bravo

Then the weekend after that it was a bank holiday so Laura and I went to Taxco, about 3 hours from Mexico City. Iā€™ve been wanting to go for a while ā€“ everyone says itā€™s the place to buy silver. Not that I ever buy silver so I donā€™t really know why that seemed like an attraction. In fact my Dadā€™s advice to check the value of jewellery I can bring back to England made me laugh, since I bought 1 pair of earrings for the equivalent of Ā£2ā€¦

When we arrived it was pouring with rain and the curvy mountain journey made both of us feel very sick, so not a great start. Our hostel was pretty hilarious, with the most unnecessarily giant bed Iā€™ve ever seen, and a strange extension in the bathroom. The guy talked to us incredibly slowly like we were idiots, and accidentally forgot to charge us until we were leaving (then overcharged usā€¦)

But Taxco was absolutely beautiful, like a Swiss mountain town in the middle of Mexico. It was built during the silver rush and you can definitely see the European influence! On the first day we took a bus from Taxco to the Grutas de Cacahuamilpa, some amazing natural caves which reach up to 80 metres in height and are 4km long. We couldnā€™t even go in the last 2km because there isnā€™t enough oxygen! We opted to do a zip-wire trip across to the caves even though it was about 10 seconds long ā€“ unfortunately there are no photos of me because Laura wasnā€™t quick enough with her phone, so hereā€™s one of her doing it instead: IMG_5279 IMG_5274

The caves were absolutely incredible with ridiculously impressive stalagmites and stalactites. The only problem was we were with a tour of about 100 people in which the guide told us nothing about the history of the caves and just pointed out how ā€˜hey, look! This rock looks like a couple kissing! And this oneā€™s like Santa Clausā€™ā€¦IMG_5307 IMG_5312 IMG_5317

After that we went back to Taxco and looked around the town, market and church. IMG_5341 IMG_5349 IMG_5368

We walked up a very very steep hill, which turned out to be worth it when we got this viewā€¦IMG_5355

On Sunday we came back to Mexico City and in the evening I went to Vive Latino, one of the biggest music festivals in Mexico, with Arturo. I didnā€™t know many of the people playing, except for Molotov who I actually studied in one of my content modules in first year ā€“ so it was pretty surreal to see them in real life, like living one of my lectures!

Maybe Molotov...hard to be sure

Anyway Iā€™ll leave it there since yet again Iā€™ve rambled on for a very very long time! Next time I write Iā€™ll be on the final stretch and already have come back from my holidays in the Yucatan peninsula ā€“ including spring break in Cancunā€¦Iā€™ll let you know how that goesā€¦

Ticking off the to-do list

Post navigation


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *