The start of the Travel Bug!

(November, 2010)

About a month ago the cold nights started to kick in, in Valle de Bravo and gave me a sudden urge to start travelling to warmer places in this beautiful country. As in Shawshank Redemption, Zihuatanejo was my first point of call.

After an eight hour bus journey one Thursday night, four assistants and arrived in Zihuatanejo in our winter coats, boots and scarves. It was 7am and we were already gasping to put on our swim wear and flip flops. The first day was unexpectedly split between two beaches- La Ropa and Las Gatas. After settling down on La Ropa with our fresh coconuts in hand after a spot of snorkeling we were rudely chased out of the sea by a two meter long crocodile which we only noticed when it was five meters away! Apparently a very common incident in Zihuatanejo!!!!

Day two was spent in Ixtapa island, a little island off the coast of Ixtapa, a neighboring town which is much more developed and commercial compared to Zihua. We found ourselves in a beautiful coral cove snorkeling, eating great food and finding beautiful relics of nature on our cool down walks, such as a turtle carcass, shells and choral.

Day three half of the group headed home but I stayed on with Katie and we took our adventure further afield to Bara de Potosí, a little further up the coast towards Acapulco and getting there was an adventure in itself. We walked across half of Zihua to find the correct bus, traveled 40mins up the motorway by bus and got dropped off in las Juntas, a little town in the middle of nowhere where

we were herded in to the back of a pick-up with vendors and taken down a narrow country road to the beach.

It was the biggest stretch of beach that I’ve ever seen, and practically empty. This time there were no waiters hassling us to eat with them or old ladies screaming “massage”, just the sound of the waves and 100% peace. After a hard days rest and a great hammock purchase we resided to a little restaurant and ate the freshest most delicious fish…two whole fish each…yummmm and then rested our sand burnt feet in a hammock in the shade and lost track of time.

Amateur Bike Adventures!

(October, 2010)

One of my biggest investments here so far has been my mountain bike. A friend helped me with the purchase and helped me pimp it up, it’s very different to my hybrid bike that I have at home but there’s no chance that my little silver bullet that’s collecting dust at home would survive the cobbled streets, the steep mountain climbs and the bumpy, unpredictable forest tracks.

My first bike ride was a steep 90 minute climb in the dark, through the forest to La Torre, which is the highest view point in Valle where the Paragliders take off, accompanied by 10 boys, some of which were professionals. Obviously I was a bag of nerves but I gave it my best shot and came out with a great result. I kept at the pace of the boys, only fell off twice and held in every groan and complaint, which were soon washed away with a beer around the bonfire watching the fireworks explode over Valle.

It was a great moment and I was certain that it was to start off a new mountain biking obsession for me. Unfortunately I haven’t been out as much as I would have liked to. It’s hard to get everyone together and make an event out of it and it’s no fun going alone. I smell potential for a new years resolution.

New Home!

After barely a month I decided to move from the little fairy house for a cleaner, more accessible, less damp house in the centre. The only catch was that the house was unfurnished but I soon sorted that one out with a little help from my friends. It is now fully equipped and even has some luxuries like my hammock and tinted light bulbs…whitwhoooo!! Completing my home has been a great little project and I’ve even been able to make some curtains, add a little bit of colour (Mexican Pink and Turquoise have been the colours of choice) and give it my own little touch.
It seems that free body guards came with the house…there’s a pack of 3 dogs that sleep on my patio whenever I’m at home and wait for me to leave the house so that they can accompany me and protect me wherever I go. Whenever another dog comes near me in the street they attack it, thinking that it’s going to harm me…NUTS! They do scare me a little but my friends insist that they mean well.

Although it’s a steep little walk up to the house I believe it was a great move and the free guayabas and avocados that I can pick from the trees outside make it even better.

This is the life!

A fair amount of time has gone by and only now do I find a moment for an update. Although I’m living in a little village where the pace of life is easy and relaxed I seem to be running around form place to place like a maniac unwilling to let anyone down or lower my commitment to work, friends, colleagues and my own maintenance.

Since my last update things have changed drastically and I can happily say that all the changes have been for the best.

She's so high

September 7th, 2010

A good ten days have gone by and my whole life scenario in Mexico has changed entirely and is better than I could have ever expected or hoped for. I am currently living with the fantastic Carranza family in the beautiful town of Valle de Bravo and the list of things that I have done in the last few days is endless. I have met a great bunch of people, eaten a variety of

home cooked traditional mexican dishes, visited the neighboring towns of Colorines and St Thomas de los Platanos; two town that have their own very unique history. According to the locals, electricity was invented in Colorines and at the beginning of last century the old town of St Thomas and all of its fruitful vegetation and crops were flooded by the government and moved to the cliff top where the government provided them with construction and engineering training in the new hydro electricity plant.

Going back to my list of activities; I have been to a great photography exhibition; I am soon to be involved with a Voluntary group that sets up a variety of artistic, cultural and environmental schemes in Valle; I have climbed mountains and

been offered a free paragliding session which I accepted with open arms and have penciled in for a few days time; I have

successfully obtained my Mexican “Non Immigrant Identity Card” which I’m very proud of after hearing the nightmarish six attempts of some assistants last year; I have had incredibly warm welcomes from the schools that I am teaching at and managed to fix my timetable so that I only work Monday-Wednesdays, leaving a long weekend to travel and get involved with more activities. I have also done some good house hunting and despite finding the little house of my Mexican dreams and laying down a small part of the deposit I have been convinced otherwise by the Carranza family who weren't convinced due to it’s poor location, lack of privacy and possibly security. However there’s still hope to find my own place and there’s no rush at all, I am quite happy where I am. I already anticipate that it’s going to be very difficult to leave Valle behind in 10 months time.

According to the British Council and the SEP this is all due to the euphoric stage of the "Culture Shock Theory"...we’ll see about that.

Travellin' Light

August 27th, 2010

After three reasonably heavy days of teaching tactics with the British Council in Mexico City and one day of paper work with the SEP, all 37 ELAs are ready to head in their own directions. Mexico City has left a damp impression. To start off with, Air France lost my luggage for three whole days, but, luckily I had packed enough kit in my hand luggage for five days, so the waiting and hoping for a 24kg package to arrive at the hostel failed to phased me. Secondly, I had completely underestimated the power of jet lag and the effects of the high altitude and spent a good three days in a dizzy daze and out of breath. And finally, I had quickly grown tired of being inside an English Bubble in a foreign country: surrounded by english people in the hostel, in the bus, in the British Council, in the cafes, in the bars etc. I am ready to be let loose and discover Mexico for myself.

And so it is...

August 23rd, 2010

Sat alone in Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris, the enormity of the adventure I’m about to embark on dawns upon me. Tonight i’ll be landing in Mexico, after a week of administration with SEP (Secretaría de Educación Pública) in the capital I’ll head to Valle de Bravo, a town 156km south west of Mexico City where I’ll work as an ELA (English Language Assistant) for the British Council until July 2011. Having said this, I feel it necessary to state that this is what I have pieced together from the information that has been thrown at me from various directions, however, worry you not, after a similar experience in Argentina I am very prepared to witness some major changes in the itinerary.

This time last year, I was traveling home from Argentina for the final year of my bachelors degree and I never would have thought that I’d be off again. Last November I quickly and frantically applied to be an ELA in Mexico hours before the application deadline. Back then it provided me with a “Plan B” if the job hunting didn’t work out...luckily it didn’t and so, “Plan B” turned into “Plan A”! Everything always happens for a reason, and I can’t wait to live what this experience is going to throw at me!