¡Carnaval!

So... It is Carnaval and the party has started. The Mazatlán Carnaval is the biggest in México, second biggest in Latin America and fourth biggest in the world. I and not only am I going to it, I am in it. On Wednesday I got told by the other exchange girls that I had to give a photo to Laura, our Rotary organiser person. The next thing I knew I was being given a tiara and being told 'Tu necesitas comprar vestidos muy bonito para Carnaval.' Then last night I went down to the place where its all happening with all the other Exchange students and received my 'AUSTRALIA' sash, which is when I began to feel like I wish I had worn something different to the comparatively casual clothes I was wearing.

When we got to the stage it was chaos. I had no idea what the hell was going on and I still don't really know what we were doing there, but it was pretty fun mingling with beauty queens who looked (and acted) like they were straight out of Drop Dead Gorgeous. There were 'Miss' whatevers from all over the Americas... It was crazy. One girl from America asked me if I'd ever done anything like this before (most likely because it was quite obvious I hadn't) and when I replied 'Hell no, I've never even worn a tiara before!' She gave me the biggest evil glare in the history of the world and walked off. I'm guessing that she went through a lot to get whatever title she had and she was pretty pissed that some 'fat' girl from Australia got to be in it for no other reason that she was born in a foreign country.

So yeah. That was pretty funny. I bought me a nice dress. I'm trying to find picture on the net, but I cant seem to find the one that I bought. It doesn't really matter though. Everyone took lots of photos of us and I'm pretty sure we were on local TV. I'm going to wear my dress in the big parade, which is probably what would make it to Australia if they were going to broadcast any part of the Carnaval so yeah. Watch SBS for the next week and try to find some Mexican news and you will probably see me on TV in my new dress. I think that is probably the weirdest thing I have ever seriously typed. I wonder if Pambula Rotary Club knew they were sending me to Mexico to be Miss Australia. Probably not, or they would have sent an anorexic girl who would fit in better with the beauty queen crowd.

Which reminds me... I am well on my way to becoming a true exchange student. Over here when people start to get fat they call it their 'baby'. While my baby hasn't started to visibly show yet I think it will soon. Everything over here is so fattening. I mean EVERYTHING. And when they eat something healthy they smother it in sugar or salt or yogurt. Its absolutely insane. And whats more, all the Mexican girls are tiny! I dont understand. Maybe they exercise lots or something. I am going to have to start doing more exercise because otherwise I will end up the size of a house. Still in the first two weeks I actually lost weight, so I will start panicking if/when I get back to my normal weight.

Anyway... I must go and find more 'vestidos' to wear. Hope you're all having fun =)

Oh by the way, I don't have photos from the trip yet because most people are still in Mazatlán for Carnaval. Trust me to make friends with people that live in a different city... But yeah. I will get some. Hopefully accompanied by photos from carnaval too.

Baja California Sur

So I just got back from the land of cactus, Baja California. It was so, so pretty. Baja California looks like what people expect México to look like. So many cacti. And donkeys. And tiny towns that are the absolute stereotype of México. You won't see any guys dressed up in Mariachi costumes leaning against cacti with an empty bottle of tequila though. The spikes on the cacti are like two inches long. I didn't take photos because I didn't really want to take my really expensive camera with me, but lots of other people did, so when they send me photos I will do a photo post.

So yeah. Trip was awesome. It started with a 16 hour ferry trip... which was not so awesome, but fun anyway. The boat was pretty ugly. And dirty (everything in México is really dirty). But the people were fun.

We got to La Paz the next day and a few of us went for a swim, then went on a random tour to a cathedral and a museum and a reptile park. The reptile park was by far the most fun. I got to dance with a snake. i say dance because that is how people watching described it. They said because I was so calm and 'enchanted' by the snake it almost looked like a dance. Most people were pretty damn scared of it when they held it, so I think i stood out a bit.

The next day we went to some place, which I cant remember the name... I will look for the itinerary and get it when I do the photo post. It was there that we went whale spotting, which was pretty awesome. I was like less than a foot away from touching the whale, but it swam away from me =(. Only the Japanese girls got to touch the whales.

We went out that night too, to the beach and then some random club. It was pretty damn awesome, although freaky Méxican men invaded and started hitting on some of the girls, which was annoying. Our Rotarian guys protected us though so it was all good. Dancing to Méxican music is very fun. My favourite is reggaetón, which isnt purely Méxican, but its still awesome.

The next day we went to San Cabo, a tourist town. It was very, very pretty and I bought lots of souvenirs. Well not lots. I bought some miniature sombreros for my blazer. *shrug* I probably bought more souvenirs in La Paz. But yeah. San Cabo was awesome. So, so nice. The beach was very nice, but I didn't go swimming. I was too tired as I only had about 2 hours sleep that morning.

Nyeah. Unfortunately there wasn't much of a party that night (so I actually got a healthy amount of sleep), but it was still pretty fun. I made friends with lots of people. Mostly Germans actually. I think I may have learnt more German than Spanish on that trip, but thats ok. I learn Spanish all the time at home. I have decided I am going to try and learn German and Spanish at the same rate. They are very different so I won't get confused, which is good and I already know some so it will be easier. By the end of this year I plan to be proficient in Spanish, German, French and Portugese, so I expect that will keep me occupied. If the Japanese girls can learn Spanish, English and a little French in 6 months then I can so learn all those in a year. So yeah. Thats the plan.

Anyway. I am massively tired. To get back to Mazatlán we took a ferry, then a really long bus trip. But the bus didnt leave until about 2 in the morning for some reason I don't really understand. Something went wrong with a book or something... And some girl's luggage got stolen, which held things up too. So yeah. I will now go and attempt to get some rest. Buenas noches.

The best place on earth...

Ok. This entry, apart from recounting my weekend, is going to explain precisely why México is the greatest place in the world.

This weekend i am in a different city because, for some reason, greg and i got sent here... no joke... On Friday night at about 6:30pm while I was watching TV Lety came up and said 'bla bla bla.... Greg y tú voy a Culiacan.' and half an hour later I had packed and was on a bus for a two hour trip to Culican... the state capital. Greg and i thought we were going to some sort of Rotary outfit, but it turns out that we were just going to some random peoples house who have a Kiwi with them. they only found out we were coming at about 6:30 that night too... so that was really weird. But awesome. The exchang students here are fantastic and I'm in the process of convincing them all to come down for Carnivale in a week or two.

Anyway, back to why México is awesome. On Saturday night we get told we are going to Enrique's birthday (whoever the hell that is), so Mitch (the Kiwi), Greg and I go down the the mall to kill a bit of time before we go and hook up with a crazy German lad. Then we find our way over to Enrique's and find out that we're going down to some park to chill for his birthday party get together. All the exchange students come and we have some fun... Then at roughly 12:30 we decide that the park is boring and the party going on in some building next to us looks more fun. So we wonder in, and it is obviously a private function (I think it could have been an engagement party), and nobody cares! Sure, they all looked at us a bit funny because we were anywhere from 10-30 years younger than all of them and were making fun of their crazy Mexican music, but apart from that it was totally cool!

And last night we'd just been out with the family whose house we are staying at (see, I don't even know their names... how crazy!) and got home at around 12:30. We'd half decided to either go to bed or watch three India Jones movies when we get a call saying 'come out with us' and ten minutes later some guy called Jorge (Hor-hay) and a bunch of exchange students were at our house ready to drive us where ever we wanted. Never in Australia. I mean... firstly... who in Australia would be crazy enough to call someones house at nearly 1 in the morning, secondly, not many people would be up for going out with almost complete strangers when they were just about to go to bed.

So yeah. Mexico is awesome. I think the motto of the country should be 'We do what we want, when we want' or something along those lines. Its crazy and awesome. And Brazilians are awesome too. Possibly even more awesome that Mexicans, but I'm not entirely sure about that yet.

So yeah. that was my weekend. It was a long weekend in case you didn't pick up on that. And now I really must go because I have to figure out how the hell I am going to get home today. On a bus undoubtedly, but I have no idea how, when or where. So adiós.