The Story So Far...: September 2012

Monday 24 September 2012

Hola México!

Once I had arrived in México City, I was greeted by an ex-client of mine, (now good friend) Jonathan. Jonathan picked me up from the airport as he lived not far from México City’s airport. With no time to rest, we went straight to his friend’s house where they were hosting a BBQ and drinks lunch. On the way we also met with others – Karen and Rodolfo… I’m so glad to have met with them for the day as it was a great introduction to the Méxican culture, food, and friendly hospitality. Here I also managed to meet another ex-client of mine, Kare. Meeting Kare and Jonathan was great fun! We had been communicating for over a year and worked closely together - both were as I expected in person…. Welcoming and great fun! I didn’t think I’d get to meet either of them due to my unplanned short notice, however I forgot that in Latin America everything runs smoother spontaneously ;o)

Meet Jonathan and Kare

That night was the first night which I met Raquel in our hotel – Hotel Metropol. She was my room buddy for the 1^st leg of my GAP Adventure trip through México. I knew immediately that Raquel and I would be fine living together as she was in the same situation as me; a single 23/24 year old travelling solo from Australia.

The next day I would then get to meet the remaining people of the group – Sarah and Brock- an Australian couple, Ling and Terry - friends from Edinburgh, and our tour guide Ivan from México. Not only did we have Ivan as our tour guide, we also had another GAP Adventure’s tour guide whom was in training for México, Eduardo. It was pretty convenient for me to have Eduardo on this trip as he was to be my next tour guide on the 2^nd leg of the trip though Belize and Guatemala.

The next day I decided not to join the group as I wanted to spend more time with Jonathan, my thoughts were that I would be spending the next 2 weeks with the group, and yet I wouldn’t be seeing Jonathan for a while, so he offered to show me around his wonderful city. The GAP Adventure group explored The Teotihuacan Pyramids however Jonathan and I went to the Chapultepec Park where went for lunch. As it was such a lush day we also decided to rent a boat to paddle on the park center water – I thought this was pretty fun!

On our way back we also visited the Chapultepec Castle which has a great impact to the Méxican history. Later that night we then went to a beautiful restaurant in around the city’s square called Gran Hotel Ciudad de México. We waited for a seat by the balcony so we could over look the square’s fiesta below us…. (I didn’t realise this, but every September in México the country celebrates there independence. The Méxican independence day is celebrated on the 15th September, and the 16th is a non-work day (too bad for the workers this year as it fell on a Sunday), however I was pretty pleased to be in México for this wonderful month!) From my experience of Latin Americans, they KNOW how to party, so rather than celebrate for the one night, they celebrate for a whole month. I felt bad as when asked when the English celebrate “their day” (which I consider to be St Georges day), I had no Idea when it was, however I did know when St Patrick’s day was... (well done Guinness, your brand advertisement has succeeded, otherwise I’m sure no one would know this holy day of the pint!) Anyway! The dinner was lovely and the view was amazing – Jonathan, it won’t be forgotten.

The next day I joined the group for breakfast to begin our journey onto Puebla. A short hours bus journey later we arrived and headed to La Alhondiga Hotel. Everyone was pretty exhausted at this stage of the journey with the early starts and jet legs so we took it easy in Puebla. The day consisted of an orientation walk from our lovely tour guide, Ivan. We simply walked around the town, visited the church to see the beautiful architecture and went for lunch. You won’t believe how many beautiful churches there are in México. When the Spanish invaded México they brought with them their Spanish Roman Catholic views, hence all the churches. These churches were breath taking inside, glorious gold and imaginative stone and wood carvings – basically I was pretty impressed!
That night we gathered again, of course after a small siesta, we were off to watch the wrestling – another Méxican tradition. We all LOVED the wrestling… 3 vitals; 1. you have to decide whether you support the “goodies” or the “baddies” (of course we supported the baddies, to my disappointment as the “goodies” were also the “hotties”), 2. The crowd goes loco crazy for the fights – it’s such a pantomime, with the masks worn by the wrestlers and the audience, the acting by the wrestlers and choreographed moves – all contributes to a great show! 3. The wrestling characters – it was obvious who was the crowd’s favorites; Mistico (and let me just say ladies, it was more obvious why!!). Mystico had the moves, the style and the body. To summarise, it was a good night and a fun “sport” to watch.

Saturday 8 September 2012

Wise Words Shared

Congratulations! Today is your day. You're off to Great Places! You're off and away!

You have brains in your head.You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.

You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go.

You'll look up and down streets. Look 'em over with care. About some you will say, "I don't choose to go there."

With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet, you're too smart to go down any not-so-good street.

And you may not find any you'll want to go down. In that case, of course, you'll head straight out of town.

It's opener there in the wide open air.

Out there things can happen and frequently do to people as brainy and footsy as you.

And when things start to happen, don't worry. Don't stew. Just go right along. You'll start happening too.

OH! THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!

You'll be on your way up! You'll be seeing great sights! You'll join the high fliers who soar to high heights.

You won't lag behind, because you'll have the speed. You'll pass the whole gang and you'll soon take the lead.

Wherever you fly, you'll be the best of the best. Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.

Except when you don't, Because, sometimes, you won't.

I'm sorry to say so but, sadly, it's true and Hang-ups can happen to you.

You can get all hung up in a prickle-ly perch. And your gang will fly on. You'll be left in a Lurch.

You'll come down from the Lurch with an unpleasant bump. And the chances are, then, that you'll be in a Slump.

And when you're in a Slump, you're not in for much fun. Un-slumping yourself is not easily done.

You will come to a place where the streets are not marked. Some windows are lighted.

But mostly they're darked. A place you could sprain both your elbow and chin!

Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in? How much can you lose? How much can you win?

And IF you go in, should you turn left or right... or right-and-three-quarters? Or, maybe, not quite?

Or go around back and sneak in from behind? Simple it's not, I'm afraid you will find, for a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind.

You can get so confused that you'll start in to race down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space, headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.

The Waiting Place... for people just waiting. Waiting for a train to go or a bus to come, or a plane to go or the mail to come, or the rain to go, or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow, or waiting around for a Yes or a No, or waiting for their hair to grow. Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting for the fish to bite, or waiting for wind to fly a kite, or waiting around for Friday night,

or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake, or a pot to boil, or a Better Break, or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants, or a wig with curls, or Another Chance. Everyone is just waiting.

NO! That's not for you!

Somehow you'll escape all that waiting and staying. You'll find the bright places where Boom Bands are playing.

With banner flip-flapping, once more you'll ride high! Ready for anything under the sky. Ready because you're that kind of a guy!

Oh, the places you'll go! There is fun to be done! There are points to be scored. There are games to be won.

And the magical things you can do with that ball will make you the winning-est winner of all.

Fame! You'll be famous as famous can be, with the whole wide world watching you win on TV.

Except when they don't. Because, sometimes, they won't.

I'm afraid that some time you'll play lonely games too. Games you can't win 'cause you'll play against you.

All Alone! Whether you like it or not, Alone will be something you'll be quite a lot.

And when you're alone, there's a very good chance you'll meet things that scare you right out of your pants.

There are some, down the road between hither and yon, that can scare you so much you won't want to go on.

But on you will go though the weather be foul, On you will go though your enemies prowl.

On you will go though the Hakken-Kraks howl, Onward up many a frightening creek,

though your arms may get sore and your sneakers may leak.

On and on you will hike, and I know you'll hike far, and face up to your problems, whatever they are.

You'll get mixed up, of course, as you already know. You'll get mixed up with many strange birds as you go.

So be sure when you step. Step with care and great tact and remember that Life's a Great Balancing Act.

Just never forget to be dexterous and deft. And never mix up your right foot with your left.

And will you succeed? Yes! You will, indeed! (98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.)

KID, YOU'LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!

So... be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray, or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea, you're off to Great Places!

Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So...get on your way!

Festival Fever in Toronto

Since the day I arrived, its pretty much been a socialising "meet and greet" experience. I've found it very easy here in TO as there's so many events to go to in the summer time. Every weekend there's something going on, normally too much choice that you can't decide what to actually do!
Downtown south at the harbour front, I found out about the weekend free festivals that happened every weekend. Whether it was Music, Dance, Visual Arts, Food, Caribbean Tales - the list goes on... whatever your flavour, they have it all. Myself, I'm a music and dance girl! In total I think I attended about 5 different music festivals, all of which enjoyable and all very unique.
My top 5 favourites are listed below...
BuskerFest had many performing artists from rappers, to jazz bands, and performing fire artists. All very entertaining, especially when I heard the Lemon Bucket Orkestra for the first time. What an amazing band with such great energy - the audience's attention was captured, as was mine! The event was to raise money for Epilepsy, I found that there were many fund-raising events in the city.

Fire on the Water was a fun all day event. During the day many people were swimming in the Lake Ontario, whilst at night time we were dancing at the dance floor. Various DJs played through the night, showing off their mixes - I managed to speak to one of the DJs who was Brazilian. Throughout the evening there were a few performing arts shows, installations (including an ice room and a feather room), and live performances - all at Sunnyside Beach.

The Beaches International Jazz Festival was the perfect festival for a Couch Surfing meeting... 25 of us in total met at "The Beaches" which is an area of shops, cafes, and bars of TO down by (to state the obvious) the beaches :o) Here we listened to the various jazz music artist's stands. Around 11pm when the street festival was over (yes, many events close early in Canada), we all headed to the pub and then onto the beach for some group games; football, slap tennis, and frisbee. All in all, it was a fun day with excellent music and a variety of cultured company. This festival was also raising money for a good cause - Ontario's Fire Service (hence my picture of 3 strapping fireman)! The other photo below shows about 1/2 the group of Couch surfers for the day's event.

Hispanic Fiesta Festival was an interesting festival to see the different cultures of Latin America, perfect taste for my Central America trip... I went to this festive with Jasmine and friends Nikos & Garo. Here they showed a variety of dances from all Hispanic countries (my favourite was the Peruvian). Each country was competing for gold, I'm not sure what they won - but it was a competition! We didn't stay for long as there were other festivals that day to see and dance to!

Last but not least, The Ashkenaz Festival. I really wanted to go to this festival as I heard that the Lemon Bucket Orkestra were playing again. I really do think that they are such an awesome band that has great music and character. They really know how to get the audience involved, and from what I could see - they also get involved with the audience ;o) They're a gypsy band with approx. 13-15 members, all members are from different country descendants and play different instruments, the perfect ingredients for an interesting collaboration. Oh and here I got to dance my first ever Hora!!! Shalom :o)