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| Luisa and her horse |
Today I am writing from the remotest forest hills in the state of Michoacan, the nearest village a tiny one called Patzcuaro which reminds me of a 'kampong' in the Malaysian countryside. I am staying at an eco village here called the Bosque Village, a magical place from first impressions, for the next month or so. I am currently in one of the cabanas here which is where the internet computer and electricity to power phone, camera batteries etc is located. This particular cabana is called The View. This is because it is at the top of one of the forest's hills and it over looks the Patzcuaro lake. Absolutely stunning! More on this later...
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| A Mexican family of lovely, strong women |
So Friday I was still in Mexico city. In the morning I visited Luisa's horse with her at the stables and then after we all went around to her Grandmother's apartment in the south of the city for lunch. It was so delicious! Zucchini soup, Tinga con pollo (which is a kind of enchilada but more tasty!) and a tasty pastel for dessert, a Mexican recipe but I cannot remember the name. What I enjoyed most about this lunch was seeing a Mexican family together. Mariana and Luisa's auntie was also there, together with two of their cousins. And from the minute we walked in there was an extreme warmth about the place. Everyone was so happy to see each other and did not stop laughing right up until we left. There was no reluctance or sense of obligation as there is, ashamedly, with my family and I think with many other Western families.
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| Girls night out in Mexico City |
That night, I hit Mexico City's nightlife with the girls and a bunch of Luisa's girlfriends. She is leaving (today I think) to study a semester in Madrid so it was her leaving party. We pre-drank at one of Luisa's friends' places. Her girlfriends are all gorgeously stunning! This was extremely handy for getting in to the club as I later found out. So we pulled up to the club, Classico in a taxi and I noticed about 100people crowded around outside. Wow, I thought, that looks like the most disorganised queue I've ever seen, really couldn't be bothered to queue in the cold! However, as the girls explained to me, in clubs here there is no queue. Instead everyone gathers around the ropes outside the club and the bouncers take their time to hand-pick only the prettiest people or the sons-and-daughters-of kids. It was hysterical! So we pushed the prettier girls amongst us to the front so the bouncers saw them and let us all in within minutes. I couldn't believe it and felt so bad just walking past some of the people who had been waiting there for ages (many of whom were significantly more attractive than myself) simply because I was with hotter people! I can imagine this process can be quite humiliating, demeaning and painful for one's ego...
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| Mariana & cousin Diana |
So once we were inside I was confronted by the largest collective of beautiful people I have ever witnessed under one roof. Mexicans are very aesthetically pleasing! It was a really fun night, nineties Mexican pop music was the theme. However I really enjoyed myself dancing to this somewhat niche genre of music. And they threw in a couple of Fat Man Scoop and Bon Jovi type tracks here and there (the best of English-language music of course) so I didn't feel completely lost! We all got very drunk on tequila and reached home around 6am...
Only to awake again at 8am to catch my bus! Mariana was wonderful and despite feeling horrifically hungover herself, she helped me wake up, made me a packed lunch for my journey AND drove me to the bus station! The biggest sweetheart I've met in a long time! I got on my luxury bus and slept for the next 7 hours until I reached Patzcuaro. Here I enlisted the help of an elderly gentleman who could speak some English to help me get a taxi to drive me to the Bosque village. The driver was the sweetest man, he looked about ninety-five and he insisted that his rickety little taxi would be able to handle the bumpy dirt road and the forest hills of the journey, despite me protesting that I'd need a Servicio Mixto (a van) on the advice of the village. So I ended up believing him and then proceeded to spend the next two hours driving around and around dirt tracks and through trees for a 5km journey! And despite his lack of English and my lack of Spanish, the driver and myself were able to form quite the bond in this time! I actually quite enjoyed the journey and even the occasional stroke of fear that would grasp me when I'd realise that we had passed the same bunch of cows for the fifth time in the last half hour and were circling upon ourselves.
With a bit of faith and a lot of giggling later amongst my new friend and I, we finally made it to the Bosque! The relief I felt was incalculable! Here I was greeted by some of the other volunteers, Jenny and Crystal, two friends from Minnesota who are travelling across Latin America together and separately. They showed me to my cabana which I am sharing with two other girls, Genevieve from the state of Oregon and Alejandra from Mexico City. I then got a brief tour and met some of the other volunteers and then at 7.30pm we sat down for a communal dinner on the main lodge terrace. We ate a deliciously healthy dinner of black bean soup, homemade humuous and fresh bread! Here I met Marie and Brian, the owners/organisers of the Bosque. They are so lovely and friendly and also surprisingly young to be running such an efficient and wonderful project.
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| Casita |
After dinner we all hung out in the Casita, a small cabana lodge with a large fireplace where everyone chills and I got to know everybody a little better. They are all very lovely, quite worldly people. Most are travelling around Mexico, Central America or through the whole of Central and South America. Some have been here for a month or so, some for only a few days. Most stay for about a month before moving on and so some are leaving in the next week. Apparently volunteers come and go fairly often. Whilst during the daytime it is warm and sunny, at night it is MIND-NUMBINGLY FREEZING!!!!!!!!!! This is because of the altitude at which the village is based in the hills. I have also found myself to be a bit short of breath because of the altitude but everyone has told me that this will subside within three days. The cabanas are not insulated but as it is so cold I had to sleep wearing most of the clothes I brought with me all at once and with five blankets over me!! I slept early as I was tired from my trip, a little overwhelmed by my new environment and embarrassingly enough... I could feel myself growing very crabby and irritable from my first day of no smoking. The village is completely smoke-free. I am happy about this as it will be exceedingly healthy for me, but I can't say that it has been easy!
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| Cactus |
Today I woke up early but found it difficult to clamber out of bed as I felt so cold! It warmed up rapidly though and so I made my way to the Casita where people were having breakfast and ate a warm bowl of oatmeal. And then Alejandra cooked some delicious eggs with mexican beans for everyone. The craving to smoke after breakfast was intense! However I didn't bring ANY cigarettes with me and also I think I'd be kicked out if I did ever smoke here so it just wasn't going to happen. A place like this is probably the best place for addiction. I say we ship out all the heroin addicts to the remote hills of Mexico for rehab. I found out my working hours, 8.30am-2pm from Wed-Sun. Monday is a day off for everyone and Tuesday is my own day off. Everyone I've spoken to has said that the work is so varied so I'm surprisingly looking forward to Wednesday! So this means from today to Tuesday I am free to adjust to my surroundings, familiarise myself with nature and just chill out...
It is so peaceful here that I know I am going to enjoy the next couple of days immensely! I have spent the last hour doing some writing amongst the trees. Such an inspirational place, I know it's only my first day but I feel I could stay here forever! Also, they have such an extensive library that I'm looking forward to spending my days reading in one of the numerous hammocks they have here. Estoy contenta!
Anetta x
And finally here I am in Nicaragua, I have been here for the past two weeks now and have absolutely loved it! For many years I had dreamed of coming to the exotic and rarely mentioned country and so far it has been everything and more than I expected it to be! I began my exploration in the colonial city of Granada. I had been told in Antigua, Guatemala to expect a similar city. Although I knew this meant it would be very beautiful, I also feared that it might mean the city would be overrun with Westerners speaking English everywhere and tourist shops, tour operators, tourist prices as is Antigua. However I was delighted to discover a very different kind of colonial city. One that is more authentically Nicaraguan.
