At Brasil's

This is a restaurant in Puerto Vallarta, but I am told that is is well known in the US as well. The meal cost $17 for girls and $19 for guys, cause they eat more I guess. And it is all you can eat. They have many appitizers that are quite good, but the real fun is the main course. What happens is a waitor comes around with a 3 foot long sword skewered with meat in one hand and a butcher knife in the other, he sticks the point of the sword on your plate and cuts you off a slice. This happens over and over again the entire time you are there. It was something to behold. A group of about 15-20 of us went to this restaurant.

The Puerto Vallarta Waterfall

This is the waterfall that went to go see when we went horseback riding. It is really beautiful. You could swim in the little pond under it but I didnt have a towel, some of my fellow CEA students did and there was a sort of natural slide in the rocks too.

El mercado

This is the largest Mexican market that I have been in so far. It is three stories tall and has a labrynth of shops. It is a few blocks away from the Catedral. It is quite and experience too go here, and not a place I would ever visit alone. The guy to girl ratio of shop owners is like 7:3 so yeah it is nice to have a few guys of your own with your group. Anyway, it is a must see.

On a Work of Art

This is a photo of me on one of the hot brass chairs in the plaza. Quite an interesting piece I must say. Guadalajara is full of many interesting things that I am having fun discovering.

Something I think Chuck will Appreciate

There are several chairs/works of art in one of the great plazas of Guadalajara. Some famous artist guy made this chair and several others in the plaza. I think that they are quite interesting and funny. Like this one for intstance, has a butt, feet, ears, and a face on the other side. Something I think Chuck would appreciate, kind of the style that him and his brother Brian enjoy. I hope they see this, I have more pics on my computer such as this to share with everyone when I return.

La Lucha Libre

Lucha Libre is basically Mexican wrestling. It is very different from what I have heard about American wrestling. The experience involves more than just the “Luchadores” (fighters), but it involves the entire crowd of people as well. The crowd does this thing where the men stand and chant something that signifies that the attractive woman that they are pointing at is supposed to stand and do a turn. If she doesn’t they boo and curse at her. The wrestlers even get involved occasionally. They will stop the match and get out of the ring, bring her to the front and give her a spin. Then she can go sit back down. Also during the break between matches they have a sort of competition where they invite two women up onto the ring to do a dance. The girl that won at this match was the one who was dancing around the judge/announcer in a sexual manner. This man is the same man who declares the winner, of course. The last fight of the match was between two wrestlers, one dressed in pants that held the colors of the American flag and the other in Mexican colors. When the “American” won the first round half of the crowd did this chant and pointed at the students from CEPE who had been dumb enough to cheer for the “American.” The chant was a loud “F*** **U” over and over again, and in English, of course, for their benefit. None of the CEA students did any of the encouraging of the “American” so hopefully we were left out of the loop on that “cheer.”

More from PV

These are some rocks that we got to snorkle around which was really cool. The only downfall being that several people got stung by jellyfish, I almost did but saved myself.

Puerto Vallarta Church

This is just a really cool looking church that we walked by in Puerto Vallarta. We didnt get a chance to stop and really appreciate it but I did snap this picture.

Me and my roomie

Another picture from our Puerto Vallaerta weekend. This lovely girl is my roommate Riley an we are getting along great. We are having a great time here in Guadalajara at school and hanging out with each other. Smile. The water behind us is the Pacific Ocean so now I have officially swam on either side of the country of Mexico.

My First Baking Experience in Mexico

This is my host mom Esthella, she is an excellent cook and used to sell her pastries. Now she works at CEPE as the instructor for the cooking class that is offered. At one time I was thinking about signing up for this class, but now I suppose I dont need to do that. I translated my recipes into spanish and Esthella bought the ingredients, then helped me around the kitchen. The cake was great and I even learned a few things, but the cake didnt even last until the next afternoon, everyone loved it. Now she wants me to translate more of my recipes so we can make something new everyweek. How exciting is that?

Host Home Sweet Host Home

This is a picture of the view from my balcony. I recognize the house by the "copa de oro" or cup of gold vine that grows over the front of it. This is our street and this is our view. My very own balcony, well I do share it with two other people, but I am the only one who has taken advantage of it thus far. Our house is close to the bus route that takes us within 3 blocks of school, so that is helpful too. I'll talk more about our bus adventures later. Ta ta for now.

Horseback Riding

That is me and the horse I rode to se the "cascada," the waterfall, during the cruise on our trip to Puerto Vallerta this weekend. We all had a great time. The waterfall was small yet beautiful, and my horse was fun yet stubborn. The trail to the waterfall was a lot of ups and downs and turns, but that made it all the much more fun.

CEPE

This photo is of my School. CEPE, it is a part of the University of Guadalajara system. This particular building houses the international part of the school. There are about 300 students that go to class in this building, 31 of which are students of CEA, the program that I came with. CEA is the one that organized our stay here and organizes all of the excursions.
The people in the picture are Brian, Matt and Riley(my roommate). This was our first time at the school, the place where we spend most of our time now, and it happened to be locked. :) Oh well, we see quite enough of it now.

Los Arcos

This is a pic of Los Arcos, they are on one of the main roads here in Guadalajara. They were built at a place that was once the main entryway to Guadalajara. These grand arches are not far from CEPE (my school) and we walked right around them. They are quite large and very beautiful to behold. Some of the other students from CEA (my program) and I walked there on our way around town.

La Catedral Nueva

This picture is from the city tour we took in the first week of our stay here. It is of La Catedral Nueva and it is the tallest building in Guadalajara (mostly because it is not allowed to build any higher than the height of the cathedral). It is a beautiful work of art, as are many of the other buildings and structures here in Guadalajara and all of Mexico. The architecture is one of my favorite things about being here. There are amazing places around every corner, and they are very into fountians. I love to take pictures of these beautiful buildings and works of art. I hope you enjoy them. Hasta Luego.

Puerto Vallarta

This last weekend all of the 30 students in my specific program went on an organized excursion to Puerto Vallerta. While there we took to the town, and to the sea. There was a boat tour, snorkling, horseback riding, and a waterfall. One free night my friends and I went swimming in the ocean, and there were these bioluminescent things (maybe algae) floating in the water. We had a great time. My birthday was this last sunday and the whole bus load of students sang, one of my friends even got me a personal sized cake. Aside from the 6 hour bus ride to and from Guadalajara my birthday weekend was great. I have loads more to tell you about and more pictures to upload so stay informed. Hasta luego.

Viva Mexico

So Mexico I am finally here, it has taken me a while to write because of how busy I have been. There is never a dull moment. Things are very different here than what I am used to and it is all very exciting and scary at the same time. I miss home, but I am glad that I am here. I have wanted to do this for so long, and hey so far this is the longest time that I have been out of the country. I am enjoying myself very much, but still missing several things from home, most I can do without, and the rest well I call or write to them nearly every day. I am learning a lot and having a great experience that will last my whole life through. I am doing, seeing, and learning so many things, I wish I could share them all with my friends and family. Some day maybe I will. I hope you all are having an excellent summer. Love you, hasta luego.

4 days 'til take off

Back again to Mexico, I couldn't stay away for too long. My trip is comming up, I am leaving in four days, wow! I better start packing.