Well - here we are - three months down the line. Heading home tomorrow to I know not what. All objectives fulfilled: speaking, writing, reading and understanding (mas o menos) Spanish. All done: studying; travelling alone, and with company; new places; new foods; new friends, new experiences. And today I went alone for the first time on the Metro and spent most of the day wandering about (without incidence I'm glad to report). Quite proud of myself.
So: to bring you up to date: Monday was Dulce's birthday. To start the day Fausto played the birthday song on his piano and then followed it up with the piece of Bach which was played at our wedding, which of course reduced me to tears: Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring. We went to 'L'Opera' restaurant downtown for lunch. It's an old cantina where Pancho Villa is alleged to have discharged his rifle into the ceiling. Lovely old building with old fashioned service.
I've just realised that I haven't told you about our visit earlier in the week to Xochimilco. The Aztecs, when they received the sign of the Eagle with the snake in its beak, built the city of Tenochtitlan on an island in the lake which covered much of the floor of the Valle de Mexico around 1325. They built it on a grid plan with canals as throughfares and causeways to the lakeshore. They created artifical floating meadows, chinampas, which gave 3 or 4 harvests a year. Some of these still survive at Xochimilco, Nahuatl for 'place where flowers grow', and are now used as nurseries. We took a trajinera for an hour or so. It's a Unesco World Heritage site but, to be honest, I found it very dirty and polluted. Maybe some one needs to come back from UNESCO for a follow up visit.
On the other hand, on Tuesday we went to Polanco - what a contrast. There is a huge, huge gulf in Estados Unidos Mexicanos between the rich and the poor. Polanco is a very affluent district, north of Chapultepec and the Castle, with beautiful California Colonial style houses and very modern restaurants, hotels and bars.
Thursday there was a parade of all of the schools in the district which started under Dulce and Fausto's balcony. How handy! Because I'm quite blond (and other colors) now some of the children couldn't help but stare at the 'Guerrita' taking photos. A wave made them smile :)That night we had Chiles en Nogado prepared by Dulce and watched 'el grito' by the President on TV.
Yesterday, Dia de Independencia - 16/9 - we watched the military parade on TV and then Dulce and I took the Metro to Reforma to watch it for real. The day celebrates the success of the movement, 200 years ago last year, which overthrew Spanish rule.
Today I took the Metro to Auditorio and, from there walked down Reforma to visit the Anthropological Museum, saw the Voladores in the buff (not literally but as opposed to the statue of them in Veracruz), went to Chapultepec Park and walked around one of the lakes, visited the Auditorio (where they have all of the big concerts - Tears for Fears on 24/9. What a pity I'll miss them) and then came back on the Metro via Parque Bicentennial, opened for 2010 and very ecology conscious, which is on the previously polluted site of the old Refinery where Dulce's father worked.
So, I think that's us up to date. No plans as yet for tomorrow during the day - I would like to go into the historic centre for a last look around. My plane hopefully takes off at 21.45 arriving in Amsterdam at 15.00 on Monday. Thence to Dublin with Aer Lingus and home by bus.
Thank you all so much for sticking with me - it's been really lovely receiving your emails and comments. And knowing that you were all there for me. Hand on heart I didn't feel lonely or homesick once due mainly to the fact that I had my Blog, Album and emails to work on in the evenings. And my music from home of course.
So - maybe you'll join me again next time?
xx
Saturday, 17 September 2011
Monday, 12 September 2011
What can I say about Acapulco?
I don't know what exactly I was expecting. A bit of high-end Costa, a bit of Las Vegas and a large dollop of Mexico perhaps. Maybe it was like that in its hey day but no longer.
The weather for the first two days was inclement to say the least. There are 2 or 3 tropical storms and the remnants fo a hurricane about at the minute. Think flooded roads, sidewalks, sand bags - even the beach. So we just bought a larger umbrella to shelter the two of us and continued on regardless. Even went swimming in the rain (sin umbrella of course).
We visited the Zocalo, the Cathedral and the pentagonal Fuerte de San Diego: which was very interesting and a great place to be on a very wet, but warm, day.
OK -a question worthy of Trivial Pursuit (I can see your ears pricking up Rocky): Why were the Philipines so called?
Read on:- Magellan accidentally discovered the islands on St Patrick's Day 1521, the Spanish colonised them in 1565, after Friar Andres de Urdante, leaving from Acapulco, discovered Pacific tradewinds which allowed ships to safely and quickly reach the Orient, and they were given their name in honour of the King of Spain - Philip II. Pie!!
The Fort was built in 1616 to protect the Spanish 'naos' (galleys),which traded between the Philipines and Acapulco for 250 years, from Dutch and English buccaneers. It's home to the Museo Historico de Acapulco, charting the history of the trading between Nueva Espana and Asia. It was very well done - different sections housed in the different rooms of the Fort.
The next day was a bit dryer so we took a local bus - 5 pesos each (6 pesos if the bus was air conditioned!) for a half hour trip all the way to one end of the Bay.
This is the real Acapulco - Caletilla (with its beach packed with local people in the calm waters and boys diving for shells and corals to sell) and Caleta - where well to do Mexicans holidayed after a paved road from DF was built in 1927. By the '50s it was a glitzy jet set resort with American and Mexican film stars building homes there. JFK and Jackie honeymooned in the Hotel Caleta. The Mexican comedian, stage and film star Cantinflas - born 100 years ago this year - had a house (photo in album)at the edge of the sea. John Wayne, Johnny Tarzan Weissmuller and others owned the Hotel Los Flamingos. I think I would have liked to have experienced it in those days.
We then took another bus, or should I say mobile disco without the dancing but with the heart stopping bass speakers, all the way to the other end of the Bay via the centre of the town. Another 5 pesos and one hour later, deafened and with numb bums, we got off at Costa Diamante - the newly developed part of Acapulco. High rise hotels, posh shops, up market restaurants. Such a contrast to the centre of the town which I thought was dirty, run down, uncared for and with crazy traffic and non existent car/pedestrian etiquette.
The local buses were fun though - most decorated and pimped to the hilt,including sound systems and various stuffed toys, balloons and other adornments hanging from the front windows. We even saw one with 'fue nino' painted on both sides. The driver obviously had become a Dad and was broadcasting it to all and sundry.
Our Hotel Emporio was in the middle part of La Costera - the road which runs right around the Bay - with its own private access to the beach, 11 floors, all rooms with an ocean view balcony, 3 swimming pools, 3 restaurants, 1 cockatoo, 1 parakeet, 1 very sad looking toucan and a dozen or so turtles.
On Friday we woke up to the Acapulco in the brochures. The sun had come out. Blue, blue skies and not a cloud in sight.
After our morning stroll along the beach, swim and breakfast in one of two restaurants across the road, we took a bus to the Zocalo and from there walked uphill to la Quebrada and the Clavadistas: the famous cliff divers. One experience I didn't want to miss.
When we got there we saw 6 or 7 boys already in the water of the very narrow cove. The water was so rough and they were trying to hang on to the rocks but the waves kept washing them off. I don't know how they weren't hurt. Then they climbed up onto the rocks on our side to practice their dives. There was one chubby one who stayed on the other side and 'scored' them after they had re surfaced. They were having so much fun.
At 1 o'clock 8 of them climbed the 35 metres of sheer rock. Two separate divers went from maybe 10 metres lower down, 2 jumped together from the same height and then the remaining four did different dives from the top. The last guy came down backwards: into a cove with a really rough sea washing in and out. It was breath taking.
After that we walked back down to the beach and took a glass bottomed launch out for a trip in the bay to an island called Isla de la Roqueta. Saw some Frigate Birds and two different types of pelicans but there weren't that many birds about - same in Huatulco.
We had our own private Clavadista with us who did a dive into the water thrashing aginst the rocks from a sheer cliff face, swam under the boat with food so that we could see the fishes and showed us the la Virgen de las Mares, a submerged bronze statue of the Virgen of Guadalupe.
We also found the Titanic, and there we were thinking it had sunk - another launch which was linked up to one of the kitchen/bar/shop boats servicing the day trippers.
And went we disembarked I actually bought the photograph of me with the Captain's cap on! Must have been the sun.
We enjoyed our wee holiday, and the excellent bus service to and from Mexico DF.
I guess that, if the weather is normal in Acapulco - i.e. warm, hot, hotter - most people don't venture far from their hotels and the beach. We weren't able to go in the sea because the surf and currents are too dangerous at this time of year but it's a beautiful golden beach cleaned every morning.
But, you know what? I'm coming to realise that, as beaches go, nothing I've seen has come close to Culdaff Strand in Donegal on a good sunny day :)
I'm now back in D.F. It was Dulce's birthday today - will tell you how we celebrated in the next post.
xx
PS: I don't know what I would have done on this trip without my birthday present from Peter and Claire - my "bible" : Lonely Planet's "Mexico". Excellent book which has told me everything I could ever have needed to know about everywhere I've gone. Weighs a ton but worth it.
The weather for the first two days was inclement to say the least. There are 2 or 3 tropical storms and the remnants fo a hurricane about at the minute. Think flooded roads, sidewalks, sand bags - even the beach. So we just bought a larger umbrella to shelter the two of us and continued on regardless. Even went swimming in the rain (sin umbrella of course).
We visited the Zocalo, the Cathedral and the pentagonal Fuerte de San Diego: which was very interesting and a great place to be on a very wet, but warm, day.
OK -a question worthy of Trivial Pursuit (I can see your ears pricking up Rocky): Why were the Philipines so called?
Read on:- Magellan accidentally discovered the islands on St Patrick's Day 1521, the Spanish colonised them in 1565, after Friar Andres de Urdante, leaving from Acapulco, discovered Pacific tradewinds which allowed ships to safely and quickly reach the Orient, and they were given their name in honour of the King of Spain - Philip II. Pie!!
The Fort was built in 1616 to protect the Spanish 'naos' (galleys),which traded between the Philipines and Acapulco for 250 years, from Dutch and English buccaneers. It's home to the Museo Historico de Acapulco, charting the history of the trading between Nueva Espana and Asia. It was very well done - different sections housed in the different rooms of the Fort.
The next day was a bit dryer so we took a local bus - 5 pesos each (6 pesos if the bus was air conditioned!) for a half hour trip all the way to one end of the Bay.
This is the real Acapulco - Caletilla (with its beach packed with local people in the calm waters and boys diving for shells and corals to sell) and Caleta - where well to do Mexicans holidayed after a paved road from DF was built in 1927. By the '50s it was a glitzy jet set resort with American and Mexican film stars building homes there. JFK and Jackie honeymooned in the Hotel Caleta. The Mexican comedian, stage and film star Cantinflas - born 100 years ago this year - had a house (photo in album)at the edge of the sea. John Wayne, Johnny Tarzan Weissmuller and others owned the Hotel Los Flamingos. I think I would have liked to have experienced it in those days.
We then took another bus, or should I say mobile disco without the dancing but with the heart stopping bass speakers, all the way to the other end of the Bay via the centre of the town. Another 5 pesos and one hour later, deafened and with numb bums, we got off at Costa Diamante - the newly developed part of Acapulco. High rise hotels, posh shops, up market restaurants. Such a contrast to the centre of the town which I thought was dirty, run down, uncared for and with crazy traffic and non existent car/pedestrian etiquette.
The local buses were fun though - most decorated and pimped to the hilt,including sound systems and various stuffed toys, balloons and other adornments hanging from the front windows. We even saw one with 'fue nino' painted on both sides. The driver obviously had become a Dad and was broadcasting it to all and sundry.
Our Hotel Emporio was in the middle part of La Costera - the road which runs right around the Bay - with its own private access to the beach, 11 floors, all rooms with an ocean view balcony, 3 swimming pools, 3 restaurants, 1 cockatoo, 1 parakeet, 1 very sad looking toucan and a dozen or so turtles.
On Friday we woke up to the Acapulco in the brochures. The sun had come out. Blue, blue skies and not a cloud in sight.
After our morning stroll along the beach, swim and breakfast in one of two restaurants across the road, we took a bus to the Zocalo and from there walked uphill to la Quebrada and the Clavadistas: the famous cliff divers. One experience I didn't want to miss.
When we got there we saw 6 or 7 boys already in the water of the very narrow cove. The water was so rough and they were trying to hang on to the rocks but the waves kept washing them off. I don't know how they weren't hurt. Then they climbed up onto the rocks on our side to practice their dives. There was one chubby one who stayed on the other side and 'scored' them after they had re surfaced. They were having so much fun.
At 1 o'clock 8 of them climbed the 35 metres of sheer rock. Two separate divers went from maybe 10 metres lower down, 2 jumped together from the same height and then the remaining four did different dives from the top. The last guy came down backwards: into a cove with a really rough sea washing in and out. It was breath taking.
After that we walked back down to the beach and took a glass bottomed launch out for a trip in the bay to an island called Isla de la Roqueta. Saw some Frigate Birds and two different types of pelicans but there weren't that many birds about - same in Huatulco.
We had our own private Clavadista with us who did a dive into the water thrashing aginst the rocks from a sheer cliff face, swam under the boat with food so that we could see the fishes and showed us the la Virgen de las Mares, a submerged bronze statue of the Virgen of Guadalupe.
We also found the Titanic, and there we were thinking it had sunk - another launch which was linked up to one of the kitchen/bar/shop boats servicing the day trippers.
And went we disembarked I actually bought the photograph of me with the Captain's cap on! Must have been the sun.
We enjoyed our wee holiday, and the excellent bus service to and from Mexico DF.
I guess that, if the weather is normal in Acapulco - i.e. warm, hot, hotter - most people don't venture far from their hotels and the beach. We weren't able to go in the sea because the surf and currents are too dangerous at this time of year but it's a beautiful golden beach cleaned every morning.
But, you know what? I'm coming to realise that, as beaches go, nothing I've seen has come close to Culdaff Strand in Donegal on a good sunny day :)
I'm now back in D.F. It was Dulce's birthday today - will tell you how we celebrated in the next post.
xx
PS: I don't know what I would have done on this trip without my birthday present from Peter and Claire - my "bible" : Lonely Planet's "Mexico". Excellent book which has told me everything I could ever have needed to know about everywhere I've gone. Weighs a ton but worth it.
Monday, 5 September 2011
Acapulco here we come!!!!!
Hi again. Had a lovely weekend in Xalapa with Betty's sister, husband and two lovely kids. No sightseeing - you'll all be glad to hear - but two delicious meals out, a shopping expedition and plenty of craic. And also plenty of opportunity to speak spanish.
On Saturday we had lunch at a trout farm - I ordered trout wrapped in, and stuffed with, bacon. Yum. On Sunday morning we went for brunch to an Italian restaurant. How's this for value? A half litre carafe of orange juice (per person!), bottomless coffee, Chilequiles (crispy tortilla pieces topped with a salsa suiza (sort of creamy green sauce, slightly picante)melted cheese and strips of Arrachera (very succulent thin flank steak)plus of course the dreaded refried beans and gorgeous warm bread. All for mx$88 - about £4.50. You couldn't beat that with a big stick! I wonder how that translates into spanish :0)
On Saturday night, over a few drinks, the five of us played Dominoes cubana. Anyone heard of that? It was great fun. Set of double 12s (91) dominoes. I didn't even know there was such a thing. Went on for absolutely ages but brilliant game - I went to bed at 2.30am and left the four of them still chatting.
We headed back to Cordoba on Sunday afternoon - 200km maybe - Betty driving and the closer we got the darker it was becoming.
Ran into a cloudburst: not unusual, rains most days heavily in the afternoon: but when we got to the entrance to their street there was a traffic jam. The usually gently flowing stream under the pretty bridge was so full of water that it was pouring over the bridge instead of under it and even the Jeeps couldn't get through. It's also the entrance road to a very upmarket gated development and it was really funny to see all these gorgeous women in their finery and super high heels teetering down to see the torrent.
We turned around and took refuge in a restaurant for an hour and a half by which time the flood had subsided and we were able to get through. The road was littered with foliage and bits of trees and of course yucky mud.
The stream behind the house had also turned into a raging torrent and risen by meters. Fortunately it's quite far below so it still had a fair bit of room before there would be a problem.
I travelled up to D.F. this afternoon by bus and took a taxi here to Nilo. El taxista was really chatty and talked the whole way. I was pleased that I was more or less able to understand him and chatted away with him. He was very interested in knowing all about Ireland. My spanish is good enough now that I can communicate with, and be understood by, people but I'm still struggling to understand what people say to me. It's getting better though. I'll be here with Dulce and Fausto for the next 2 weeks so there'll be plenty of practice as Fausto doesn't (as opposed to can't) speak english :) He's lovely - got a new car today and is so excited - reminds me of my Dad.
Dulce and I are heading to Acapulco tomorrow - Hotel Emporio - looks great. Next post after we come back on Saturday. Hasta luego x
On Saturday we had lunch at a trout farm - I ordered trout wrapped in, and stuffed with, bacon. Yum. On Sunday morning we went for brunch to an Italian restaurant. How's this for value? A half litre carafe of orange juice (per person!), bottomless coffee, Chilequiles (crispy tortilla pieces topped with a salsa suiza (sort of creamy green sauce, slightly picante)melted cheese and strips of Arrachera (very succulent thin flank steak)plus of course the dreaded refried beans and gorgeous warm bread. All for mx$88 - about £4.50. You couldn't beat that with a big stick! I wonder how that translates into spanish :0)
On Saturday night, over a few drinks, the five of us played Dominoes cubana. Anyone heard of that? It was great fun. Set of double 12s (91) dominoes. I didn't even know there was such a thing. Went on for absolutely ages but brilliant game - I went to bed at 2.30am and left the four of them still chatting.
We headed back to Cordoba on Sunday afternoon - 200km maybe - Betty driving and the closer we got the darker it was becoming.
Ran into a cloudburst: not unusual, rains most days heavily in the afternoon: but when we got to the entrance to their street there was a traffic jam. The usually gently flowing stream under the pretty bridge was so full of water that it was pouring over the bridge instead of under it and even the Jeeps couldn't get through. It's also the entrance road to a very upmarket gated development and it was really funny to see all these gorgeous women in their finery and super high heels teetering down to see the torrent.
We turned around and took refuge in a restaurant for an hour and a half by which time the flood had subsided and we were able to get through. The road was littered with foliage and bits of trees and of course yucky mud.
The stream behind the house had also turned into a raging torrent and risen by meters. Fortunately it's quite far below so it still had a fair bit of room before there would be a problem.
I travelled up to D.F. this afternoon by bus and took a taxi here to Nilo. El taxista was really chatty and talked the whole way. I was pleased that I was more or less able to understand him and chatted away with him. He was very interested in knowing all about Ireland. My spanish is good enough now that I can communicate with, and be understood by, people but I'm still struggling to understand what people say to me. It's getting better though. I'll be here with Dulce and Fausto for the next 2 weeks so there'll be plenty of practice as Fausto doesn't (as opposed to can't) speak english :) He's lovely - got a new car today and is so excited - reminds me of my Dad.
Dulce and I are heading to Acapulco tomorrow - Hotel Emporio - looks great. Next post after we come back on Saturday. Hasta luego x
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