My trip to Mexico came to an end a couple of days ago and I am already back in the US. Looking back at this trip I must say it exceeded my expectations in every way possible, I really did enjoy the trip and the people I met especially my host family. They were very open and welcoming and made me feel totally at home, honestly I felt like we had known each other for such a long time. I guess sometimes you just meet people that you click with and at times you don't get so lucky. In this case I got lucky. Although my stay wasn't that long, there are certain things I will miss or think back to fondly. Without further ado I will share some of them here.
I will miss Ana's mum's attitude, she is hilarious! she could care less about saying things that would make others uncomfortable and she doesn't do it intentionally, I think it's just in her nature. I was telling Ana how her mum makes me laugh with her attitude and she just shook her head laughing before proceeding to share with me some of her mum's antics.
When Ana was at work or school I would hang out with her mum and she would show me around the neighborhood, take me to the local mercado to buy what I needed or accompany me wharever I was going. She was really good company.
I will miss Ana and her daughter Valentina (Vale) they have such a beautiful relationship and Valentina is one of the happiest and most energetic kid I have ever met. The three of us hang out together and went on many outings which were always fun. Ana actually travelled through South America with her daughter and she had some very interesting stories about their adventures.
Every time we picked up Valentina from school to go somewhere she would get so excited and start singing "que no pare la fiesta" (don't stop the party) it was the cutest thing ever! she has this little purse that she loved carrying around and in it was her little lipstick, a toy phone, monopoly money and a mirror. You should have seen her acting all grown up putting on her lipstick and counting her monopoly money, this kid is just too adorable. One day when I grow up I want my own little Valentina!
I will miss walking around the lively colorful neighborhood where I stayed with Ana's family, its a very pretty and family friendly neighborhood. The local park was always full of kids playing after school, senior citizens taking Tai Chi classes in the morning, adults taking zumba classes in the evening or playing soccer at an adjacent court. Over the weekend a small artisan market is set up and of course food stands are present all over. I would not mind living in that neighborhood at all.
The ever present colorful buildings and houses, so pretty!
Speaking of color, Ana's family house had these really cute paintings that she had done on some of the walls, this was one of my favorites.
Ana's mum really wanted to show me the church she goes to so I accompanied her to church one morning. It is a small and very pretty church both inside and outside, the picture below doesn't do it justice.
I will miss the local mercado full of all the goodies imaginable. Every time I saw food that wasn't familiar to me I would ask Ana's mum what it was and she would explain then walk over to the vendor and tell them, "this is my friend visiting Mexico and she is from Kenya, she has never eaten this type of food before. Can you let her taste it?" I swear I would get so embarrassed but everyone was always friendly and would gladly give me little samples to taste. I told you Ana's mum is quite the character.
That's it folks! I am glad I picked Mexico to celebrate my 36th birthday, I had a good time and will definitely be back to explore more of the country as it has so much to offer and I barely scratched the surface but I am glad I got a taste of it.
Random Thoughts of The Day:
Ana was telling me that when she was traveling through Peru with Valentina, she got stopped a lot by cops while boarding buses and she had to provide paperwork indicating that Valentina was indeed her daughter. Apparently kids are abducted a lot in Peru and used as drug mules, very scary to think about.
The day of the dead is a big celebration in Mexico and skulls are featured everywhere so it's common to see porcelain skulls being sold at markets. You would think they would look morbid but these skulls are painted so brightly and beautifully that you don't even associate them with death. I actually ended up buying one, a tiny cute one that so happens to be a fridge magnet.
I finally had a dream in Spanish!!!!!! I was so excited when this happened because I remember talking to a couple of people who told me that the day they dreamt in English is the day they realized that the language was fully ingrained in their brain (both were Spanish and French native speakers). I kept waiting to dream in Spanish (silly as it may sound) but it never happened........until that one glorious morning when I woke up and I remembered that I had just had a dream where I was having a full blown conversation in Spanish. You should have seen me all excited and waking up my poor husband only to tell him, "I finally dreamt in Spanish!" poor guy thought it was an urgent matter.
What can I say? I always wanted to learn Spanish and I am very glad to say that I sure did. Now when I converse in Spanish I don't even stop to think and translate words in my mind, they just come out without effort. I have come a long way! all thanks to the classes I took while in South America and of course my husband who continues to play a big role.
I will miss Ana's mum's attitude, she is hilarious! she could care less about saying things that would make others uncomfortable and she doesn't do it intentionally, I think it's just in her nature. I was telling Ana how her mum makes me laugh with her attitude and she just shook her head laughing before proceeding to share with me some of her mum's antics.
When Ana was at work or school I would hang out with her mum and she would show me around the neighborhood, take me to the local mercado to buy what I needed or accompany me wharever I was going. She was really good company.
I will miss Ana and her daughter Valentina (Vale) they have such a beautiful relationship and Valentina is one of the happiest and most energetic kid I have ever met. The three of us hang out together and went on many outings which were always fun. Ana actually travelled through South America with her daughter and she had some very interesting stories about their adventures.
Every time we picked up Valentina from school to go somewhere she would get so excited and start singing "que no pare la fiesta" (don't stop the party) it was the cutest thing ever! she has this little purse that she loved carrying around and in it was her little lipstick, a toy phone, monopoly money and a mirror. You should have seen her acting all grown up putting on her lipstick and counting her monopoly money, this kid is just too adorable. One day when I grow up I want my own little Valentina!
I will miss walking around the lively colorful neighborhood where I stayed with Ana's family, its a very pretty and family friendly neighborhood. The local park was always full of kids playing after school, senior citizens taking Tai Chi classes in the morning, adults taking zumba classes in the evening or playing soccer at an adjacent court. Over the weekend a small artisan market is set up and of course food stands are present all over. I would not mind living in that neighborhood at all.
The ever present colorful buildings and houses, so pretty!
Speaking of color, Ana's family house had these really cute paintings that she had done on some of the walls, this was one of my favorites.
That's it folks! I am glad I picked Mexico to celebrate my 36th birthday, I had a good time and will definitely be back to explore more of the country as it has so much to offer and I barely scratched the surface but I am glad I got a taste of it.
Random Thoughts of The Day:
Ana was telling me that when she was traveling through Peru with Valentina, she got stopped a lot by cops while boarding buses and she had to provide paperwork indicating that Valentina was indeed her daughter. Apparently kids are abducted a lot in Peru and used as drug mules, very scary to think about.
The day of the dead is a big celebration in Mexico and skulls are featured everywhere so it's common to see porcelain skulls being sold at markets. You would think they would look morbid but these skulls are painted so brightly and beautifully that you don't even associate them with death. I actually ended up buying one, a tiny cute one that so happens to be a fridge magnet.
I finally had a dream in Spanish!!!!!! I was so excited when this happened because I remember talking to a couple of people who told me that the day they dreamt in English is the day they realized that the language was fully ingrained in their brain (both were Spanish and French native speakers). I kept waiting to dream in Spanish (silly as it may sound) but it never happened........until that one glorious morning when I woke up and I remembered that I had just had a dream where I was having a full blown conversation in Spanish. You should have seen me all excited and waking up my poor husband only to tell him, "I finally dreamt in Spanish!" poor guy thought it was an urgent matter.
What can I say? I always wanted to learn Spanish and I am very glad to say that I sure did. Now when I converse in Spanish I don't even stop to think and translate words in my mind, they just come out without effort. I have come a long way! all thanks to the classes I took while in South America and of course my husband who continues to play a big role.