Needless to say I was really looking forward to coming home, I always do! Sadly there are always things in Mexico that always remind you of why you don't want to live here. The worst part is that I was greeted by one of those such things the moment I arrived!
I must be honest, I can be pretty ridiculous when it comes to certain things, and travelling here with three laptops might seem excessive to some, but it felt quite necessary to me. However, I didn't realise (because noone ever reads it) that in the customs declaration it says you're only allowed to bring in ONE laptop, netbook, or ultraportable device. And because all they care about here in Mexico is squeezing every penny out of you, they scan all your bags as you go through customs (EVERYONE'S!). So not only were my bags one of the last ones off the plane (typical) but also I had to pay VAT on the two additional laptops!! I was not at all happy.
These weeks have shot by so fast, that I can hardly recall what I've done!
My only travels in my 5 weeks here have been very quick, but very worth it. I travelled to a city called Guanajuato which is a fantastic place a few hours drive north of Mexico City. It's a very small city with only a few inhabitants and which relies much on tourism. Much of it is pedestrianised and it has an amazing road network built from old silver mines that run under the city for which it's quite famous. It's so impressive, and it is also famous for it's narrow alleyways through all the residential areas, much of which are only accessible through them!
I stayed in quite a mediocre hotel (it looked very tacky!) but at least it was very (VERY) clean, so much so that my parents didn't mind staying there, so it wasn't all bad. The local food is very good and the "Callejoneada" tour around the city at night is an absolute must!
The next day we set off for San Miguel de Allende, which to be completely honest I don't recommend much. It's a small town that doesn't really have much to see except a cathedral and a few very nice gardens. It's one of the most expensive residential areas in the whole of Mexico (which I found kinda weird). It's famed for it's furniture and decorations, all hand made, which are very expensive but very nice. It seems to cater a bit more for rich Mexican tourists, though it's not entirely unwelcoming to the rest. I can recommend a fantastic (moderately priced) restaurant close to the Cathedral if you ask nicely!
Further proof that there isn't that much to do in San Miguel, we didn't stay the night there. We quickly went off to Queretaro (a large city that is rapidly approaching 1 million inhabitants). We found this absolutely amazing hotel (top of the mid-range price) that was so nice! It was made from an old Hacienda (as all the best ones are) and the architecture looked very Mexican and authentic, with some nice modern touches in just the right places. The rooms were very luxurious for the price, and it was just such a fantastic place.
The city itself was charming; there has been a lot of recent investment and redevelopment by the government in it and it's ended up looking very nice. On the weekend a lot of streets are pedestrianised, and there are several plazas and gardens which are nice to sit in and just "people watch". The regional Museum is an absolute must. It's in a really nice ex-Hacienda (there are a lot of these around, but they're not all nice) and it has such a fascinating history dating back to the first arrival of the Spanish in the settlement. It was also where the Mexican Revolution was planned (1908) and started (1910) and so played a pivotal role in the shaping of modern Mexico (especially apt since Mexico celebrates it bicentenary of it's Independence and centenary of it's Revolution this year 2010).
It's these sorts of fascinating trips that remind me why I love Mexico.
Two more things of note, my cousin is an (hopefully) up and coming composer and co-wrote the score to a small Mexican-Argentine production called "Marea de Arena" set in Argentina. It's a really good film, slow to begin with but about half way (or maybe a little more) you're hit with something completely unexpected! And the film becomes like a tense chess game that's soon to end. I found myself to have enjoyed it quite a lot by the end, and I was impressed with the music.
And call me weird but I love cars, especially my cars. We've had an old 2002 VW Jetta for, well 8 years now. It's been such a good car, so faithful and reliable. So today we celebrated something special, it's 100,000 km. I don't quite know what to say about it, but I'm very emotional, I've had some really good times in that car, and can't wait for the next 100,000 ;)
