Vallarta, Guanajuato, and other October-y shenanigans

I keep promising that I'm going to write more frequently...and it never happens. Sorry about that. So there is a lot to catch up on, of course. Let's start at the beginning (a very good place to start).


I took another trip to Puerto Vallarta with Edgar, Eva, Jessi, and two of her friends from home who were visiting. It was kind of rainy the whole weekend, but we still got in some good beaching and going out. If you remember from last time, we went to this place where there was gloriously white sand and such, and this time we went to a rocky place with rather uncomfortable sand. On the plus side, there was a sweet waterfall that we got to play in. Here's Eva, Edgar, Ali (Jessi's friend) and I in front of it:
Here's my girlies and I hanging out at the apartment we stayed in:


Later on was Jessi's 21st birthday, which we celebrated with some pay de queso (cheesecake), the birthday song called Las Mañanitas that I still don't know, dinner, a bar one night, and an antro another night. Classic...and a lot of fun. Here's me, Christie, Eva, Jessi, Tere, Flor, and some creeper:


Ah, this was a fun one...Edgar and I went to see lucha libre. Quite entertaining. The crowd actually put on more of a show than the luchadores, including chanted insults between the people in the cheapie seats and the normal seats, lots of bad words, etc. They wouldn't let me take my camera in, but I did get this picture of Mystery. This is for my 306 ladeez:


I also went to "Las fiestas de octubre"-- i.e. a fair here in Zapopan. It included a concert with some people that nobody knew but Teo with the exception of a couple radio songs. We also rode some rides (juegos mechanicos, which I think is a silly name), and just wandered around. We were going to see a cockfight, which I've always wanted to see despite how gross they surely are, but that didn't happen. Speaking of which, my Gamecocks are doing quite well, and I shall take a moment to congratulate them. Anyways, here's Trevor (another Tec kid), Jessi, Christie, Teo, and Edgar about to start a classic fair game...


The next event of the month was that I finally got to hang out with Emma, a friend from USC. She's studying in Guanajuato and she and a friend took a long weekend and came to visit Guadalajara. We went out for tacos at this place called Los Tarascos-- get excited, Mom and Dad, cuz we're going there. It was really exciting to see her, especially because she was in Argentina last semester, and it was also exciting to be able to talk with somebody about USC stuff, complain about our advisor, etc. :)


Then that weekend, a bunch of Tec kids and I went to Guanajuato for the Festival Cervantino, a huge arts festival there. The city is little and completely adorable--very colonial. I'm kind of wondering why I didn't decide to study there... Anyways the place was PACKED with vendors and people of all varieties, including lots of hippies which was a fun change from GDL and made me think of Julie. But we got to traipse around the city (aka elbow our way through the crowds), go to a church, mine, some ex-convent (???) that included mummies and various instruments of torture that were used during the inquisition, and a huge statue of Jesus on top of a huge mountain out in the boonies that is supposedly in the geographic center of Mexico, and a dance performance. To start, here is what the crowds looked like:
And this is the city. Adorable or adorable?


Other random occurrences of the month included my conquering the absentee ballot system at the last minute and having my wallet was stolen at a club. I never bring my purse in and I'm not sure why I did that time, but that's what I got. I lost my keys, money, license (why??) and debit/credit cards. Everything is fine, technically, but at first it was quite traumatizing, and now it's quite the hassle not having functioning cards, etc. However, Mom is going to send me my new debit card with some clothes...yay!


I'm sure you've been waiting on pins and needles for this post's Mexicanism. Let's go for something basic, shall we? Que onda = what's up. That was kind of anticlimactic, actually. Anyways...


Tonight I think I'm gonna go to Jessi's to eat some mac and cheese that her dad brought and potentially do homework. :) Yay! Ah, y un dia de estos, there's another post coming about what I did last weekend, which was go to Michoacan for the dia de los muertos celebration...get excited. Hasta luego!