The General life of a Wendy in March

I thought I'd just quickly review what I've been up to when I'm not adventuring around Mexico. Attending school with great enthusiasm and with a great record of attendance, of course. (As all exchange students have certainly realized, school as an exchange student is quite a bit different to that as a student where you actually need the credits.) Apart from that, hanging out with friends, baking, and various other activities!

In the first week March, I changed to my third and final family. It's a bit of an interesting situation- not a family at all, but rather a granny living alone in a nice, very large house. As I have had two very involved families, this final living arrangement is actually pretty nice- I am free to do what I want, and I can essentially do my own activities. The house is also much more conveniently situated- I have left the outskirts of Tepic and am now living right in the centre of Tepic. It's a pretty happening place, and easy to catch a bus to anywhere in Tepic! Ever since February, I have been going on weekend trips almost every weekend to various places around Tepic. I am finally seeing a lot of Mexico and loving every new place I visit. I am travelling outside of Tepic with either the exchange students or generous Rotary members who have adopted me into their family outings. So really, I am having a brilliant time in my new house!

Here's a taste of March in Mexico:



First, some food photos to incite both hunger and envy:

From my favourite vegetarian breakfast buffet restaurant, Quetzalcoatl

It's such an adorable place, with delicious food to boot!

These seed cookies are absolutely scrumptious

Mmmmm oh how I will miss you, fresh fruit and veg stands

Tacos al pastor and licuado de fresas

Although you can't really see it, this was a delcious fish fillet in still Hawaiiana. That is, in a creamy pineapple sauce. Mmmm

Homemade gorditas- With dough made from corn flour, you make a pocket and then fill it with deep fried pork called chicarron. You then  cover the meat with the dough and create a ball. With the awesome tortilla maker, you flatten the ball and Voila! A gordita is created! After frying briefly with oil in a pan on the stove, you serve with salsa, guacamole, cream, lettuce tomato and onions and dig in! Very, very delicious. 

Some cinnamon buns created with love by Wendy, Sara and Mariana

A plate of solid, fresh deliciousness created by Sandy, my first host mum when I went over to eat one day. Featuring the fresh guacamole and shrimp gown in the local area (man I love tropical cuisine). 

I made this caramel banana bundt cake for Alex and Maribel a few weeks before I moved houses. They loved it so much I made it three more times before moving! Not many people bake here (to give an indication, the majority us their oven as storage space for things like their tortilla pans and even dried chill peppers), and so when I whip up some simple internet-inspired cake I am looked upon with reverence. I feel a bit like a baking god, as everyone praises the baked goods and my culinary skills, then begs me to make something for them. Does wonders for the ego, and even though I've explained how easy it is, it's just not really something that is done here, especially by kids. (I get called a granny a lot because of my self-professed love of tea, fuzzy sweaters, and baking. But being a granny with those qualities wouldn't be so bad, provided the extreme sports and outdoors side was still included.) However, a few Mexicans who do bake/cook have promised to teach me some authentic Mexican dishes before  go home, so I'm quite excited! Need to learn how to reproduce my favourite meals the best I can so in Canada when I've a hankering for tacos or something I can make them!

I have a love/hate relationship with the public transport system in Tepic. Although taxis are fantastic, very reasonably priced (if you haggle) and I feel like a cool cat flagging them from the side of the street like a small-town New Yorker, they are a bit too expensive to use principally for getting around. So throughout this year I have learned, or at least grasped the concept of the bus system. On one hand, it's fantastic- buses going everywhere almost continuously, super cheap (2.50 pesos each time), and you can flag down a bus like a taxi and it comes to a screeching halt. Likewise if you want to get off. Bus stops don't really exist in Tepic. On the downside, you never really know where a bus is going to go (after a few panicked occasions upon realizing the bus had gone the opposite direction I needed to go, I always ask where it's eventual destination is). It is also sticky, hot and a bit of a rough ride sometimes, thanks to the aformentioned abrupt stops. Then there's the entertainment, which can either be a plus or a negative. There are often people getting on the bus begging for money, and sometimes it's a bit more creative than usual. Take this elderly clown for example. He gave a political rant on the corruption on the Mexican government, then handed out balloon animals in return for change. Sometimes they give a speech, sometimes they give out candy, it really varies. I have also ridden a bus with a few youth having a guitar jam session. Perhaps the most amusing occaison was when I was asked out very insistently by yet another clown (it was actually also sort of terrifying, I pretended I couldn't hear the very made-up youth yelling GUAPITA, GUERITA across the bus).  Either way, all these features of Tepic's transit make for some interesting stories!

One particularily memorable social gathering was a sleepover at Mariana's house where Sara, the two Mariana's (one Brazilian and one Mexican) and I stuffed our face with delicious food, watched movies and just generally had a good laugh In the morning we made crepes and had the ingenious idea to add the mango ice cream from the night before in with the fruit for the topping. It was an excellent night, I'm really going to miss these chickadees!

After the popcorn, we sampled the cookie dough ice cream/pancake bowl. It was quite satisfactory for our taste buds. 

Such a serious group

Sara giving her stamp of approval on the crepes

Nommm look at this feast

 I'm now living in the centre, very close to this awesome church. It's very Mexican with it's brilliant colours and religious festivals happening almost every weekend. There always seems to be music and food stalls in the plaza in front.  It gave me a fright the first time I heard the fire crackers going off in the church plaza (I believe in honour for some Saint) as I thought perhaps there was a gunfight going on outside my house.

As we are exchange students, and as a rule dirt poor, we must take advantage of the cheap cinema days. Tuesdays often find the foreigners in the p
Platino salon watching movies for the 2x1 promo. Also, we picked up this little tip from the Castillos, you can refill your popcorn bucket for only 10 pesos more. So, shamelessly right in front of the concession stand, we transfer our first batch into a plastic bag and go back for more. Nothing like lounging in giant comfy arm chairs with popcorn, all while staying within your budget!

One this particular day the exchangers decided to convene and actually do something productive instead of just eating (although we did that too). We started off by going for a run around a park near Johannes' house (my first house), then we made use of the exercise room upstairs. Satisfied that we'd satisfactorily made a healthy start to the day, we then settled down to our usual habits of eating all the food in the house (poor Castillos), and watching movies. A bit later on we demonstrated our dance moves in a Michael Jackson dance XBox game (bloody difficult, I couldn't do have of the dance moves and failed every song). 

Joao working hard (or maybe not,  he's far too happy)

Just to prove that we did indeed start the day with exercise

Johannes demonstrating the habitual actions of a wild exchanger

Showing off the dance moves

 Visiting a karaoke bar one night. It was absolutely dead except for us, which was quite all right as we made up for the lack of audience by being as loud and rowdy as possible. Even if we didn't know some, all songs were presented in equally in enthusiastic tones accompanied by dancing. Some of us were gifted with a bit better singing voices than others, we might say. In any case, it was a memorable night!

Despite looking a bit demonic thanks to the quality photo-taking of the iPhone, here's the happy group!

Anyways, there's a bit of a taste of the general activities of Wendy in recent times, I hope you enjoyed.
Thanks for reading!

Saludos,
Wendy