Only In Mexico

On June 13th, 2012, the kids, Armando, Armando's mom and I went to Mexico for 3 weeks for an adventure. It was a completely spontaneous trip with just a week to plan for it. Angelina needed to travel to Aguillia (her home town and where Armando was born) and invited us to go with her. I'm getting pretty good at the whole spontaneous thing, as well as taking the kids and myself out of my comfort zone, so I didn't even hesitate when the opportunity arose to travel to and all around Mexico. Within a week, we had a tentative plan as to where we would be traveling to, who we would be visiting and how we would be getting around.
So what did we do for 3 weeks in Mexico? Here's a little info on where we visited along with a few random things we did or saw.

We flew from Portland to Guadalajara and had a relatively uneventful flight with the kiddos. We arrived in Guadalajara really late and took a taxi from the airport to our hotel. In the morning we took a taxi to a small town called Poncitlan which is about an hour away from Guadalajara. We borrowed a truck from some people who live there, packed ourselves and our stuff into it and away we went on our adventures in Mexico. We drove to and stayed with various family, friends and the occasional hotels/motels in several different town including Guadalajara, Tepames, Colima, Melaque, back to Colima, Uruapan, Aguilila, Zihuatanejo, Ixtapa, back to Uruapan, Poncitlan then back to Guadalajara. In addition to those places, we visited several dozen other towns and places along our travels that we didn't stay the night at but just took day trips to or stopped to check out along the way to some other place. We met some wonderful people, saw some amazing things, had a ton of fun, encountered a few challenges along the way and ended up back home with many great memories.

I'll post more specific and detailed stories about some of our adventures in Mexico soon, but for now, here are a few pictures. Armando and I were constantly amazed or dumbfounded by things we saw or witnessed in Mexico, because things are SO different there than they are here in the States. We would often look at each other after witnessing something and the only thing we could say would be 'only in Mexico' while shaking our heads. Here are a few of those 'Only In Mexico' moments (along with a few other not so surprising pictures)...

Leaving the Pacific Northwest...

 Only in Mexico...Will you find a farmers market in every town and on every day

Only in Mexico...Does everyone hang dry their clothes.

 Only in Mexico...Will Esperanza find her name everywhere

 Only in Mexico...Will you see over half a dozen grown men packed into the back of a small, pickup truck (A few times, we even had 12 people in our little pick-up)

 Only in Mexico...Will you find a huge, elaborately detailed Catholic Church in every town or village, no matter how small or poor it may be. 

 Only in Mexico...Do you have to pay to use the public restrooms (about 3 pesos which is a penny - but still)

 Only in Mexico...Will you find a pigs head hanging in a meat stand at the local farmers market

 Only in Mexico...Is everyone's kitchen sink built out of concrete and located outside

 Only in Mexico...Can you find purple and blue sequined sombreros for your kids (no we didn't buy them, but I kinda wish we did)

 Only in Mexico...Can you get your hair braided in 15 minutes for 60 pesos (about $5 for Esperanza's hair - I just got one braid for 10 pesos which is less than a dollar)

 Only in Mexico...Is the Pacific Ocean warm enough to swim in while its raining

 And the air warm enough to swim in the hotel pool while it's raining

 Only in Mexico...Can you find an apartment located just blocks from a beautiful ocean beach renting for $100 a month

 Only in Mexico...Will you find old school metal teeter-totters in a park which is a restaurant and in the middle of a forest of avocado, lime and mango trees

Only in Mexico...Does it cost 20 pesos (about $1.70) for a hair cut

Only in Mexico...Will you find what looks like a Mexican version of the Statue of Liberty

 Only in Mexico...Do people go bonkers over corn served in a plastic cup with mayo and chili on it - my kids and I wouldn't touch it!

 Only in Mexico...Do Americans like us heat up water on the stove to take a warm 'sponge' bath instead of a cold shower

 Only in Mexico...Can you sleep on a rope bed

 Only in Mexico...Can my kids meet their Grandpa Jose for the first time

 Only in Mexico...Will you find a national park with thousands of water features created from redirecting a river that the park was built around.

 Only in Mexico...Can you be driving along nursing your baby while your 3 year old naps on your shoulder

Only in Mexico...Can you visit an old friend, his kids and pregnant wife who live in the poorest, most unsanitary and saddest living conditions you have ever personally witnessed with your own eyes, then just a short taxi ride later be on the beach of a world renowned resort town with people who haven't a clue that the place you were just at even exists

 

Only in Mexico...Do all everyday police officers carry machine guns

 Only in Mexico...Can you walk down the road and get fresh squeezed orange juice served in a bag with a straw. 

Not able to capture pictures, but still worthy of sharing these other 'Only In Mexico' moments...


Only in Mexico...Does road kill consist of cows, horses, super sized toads and lizards.

Only in Mexico...Will you see city workers cutting the grass and hedges with machetes instead of power tools and lawn mowers

Only in Mexico...Is road paving work is done by hand - digging up old pavement with shovels, pouring concrete with buckets while knee deep in the concrete

Only in Mexico...Are cockroaches the size of a small rodent

Only in Mexico...Do double semis pass other double semis while driving fast on narrow curvy mountain roads (try being the vehicle coming in the opposite direction!)