miscellaneous mexican musings:

- the little geckos that crawl all over the walls here are incredibly cute

- all the bands in this town only play covers b/c they try to cater to the tourists, but my students tell me there are some good bands from mexico city that tour in guadalajara (a 5-hour bus ride from here) and i'm considering making the trek just to catch a real live show (i'm gonna miss the k-town and toronto music scenes...actually, i already do)

- we have iguanas wandering around the fields of our school campus and they have been known to fall out of trees because they nap in them and then lose their balance

- vendors on the beaches and on the malecon hate that a gringo's favourite spanish phrase is "no, gracias"

- the beer here is incredibly cheap. pacifico, sol, corona, tecate, dos equis--you can buy them all in grocery stores and when you go out drinking, they're all usually under $2 each

- tacos truly are a staple snack food. i've tried fish, shrimp, pork, chicken, beef and unidentified meat varieties so far...not sure if i'm up for the cow's head and other more "exotic" kinds yet

- many men here seem to feel it's their duty to catcall and wolf whistle to women walking past them, even if they're on their own and no one else is there to witness their acts of machismo

- i would never, ever, want to drive here. i already don't like to drive, but driving here is 3204185235 times more insane than anywhere else i've ever been

- the sunsets here are gorgeous, even if it is the middle of rainy season

- i've had quite pleasant conversations w/ some of the timeshare ppl crawling all over this town; you just have to tell them you live here, and they can't harrass you into taking a meeting

- when riding the public buses, sometimes you'll be lucky and a mariachi or two will hop on to play guitar and sing a song in exchange for some pocket change

- we recently found a bar called steve's that's owned by a former vancouverite, and they have POUTINE. this place kicks ass.

- limes! everything here has lime in it (or is spicy, or both). even the lemonade is lime(ade). a student told me that my idea of limes is like their lemons and vice versa, but i'm still confused.

- continuing the lime and spice theme--chips! i really love and really loathe some of the chip flavours here. the doritos are better than back home 'cause their nacho cheese ones are also a little spicy, but there are just way too many flavours w/ unexpected hints (or sometimes just big honking obvious nuclear explosions) of lime in them.
to simplify:
canada/u.s. flavour : mexican flavour equivalent

ketchup = ketchup w/ spice
nacho cheese = nacho cheese w/ spice
sour cream and onion = sour cream and "spices"
salt and vinegar = doesn't exist
something that looks like very spicy nacho = LIME LIME LIME

that's all fer now;
the virtues of having patience in mexico and some stories from school to come!