So Sunday was my birthday. I have been trying for two years to be in Mexico for my birthday. I had expectations and hopes for what would happen if I finally made it. Nothing I expected to happen did, except I had a great time hanging with my friends. That was really the most important thing.
The day, or days since I haven't really written in here since Friday or so. Saturday I just hung around my hotel until about 4pm when I finally decided to venture out into the world. Went to the cafe and hung there for a few. I then went with the boys to the supermarket, and to get something to eat. While in the super market there were dancing clowns which made me laugh so I took a video. Now one thing I've noticed about Mexico is that the do a lot of promotions for food items in super markets. Unlike in America, where you might get free samples of an item or information packets, there is usually someone dressed in a costume and there is really loud music and that costumed person is dancing. The day or two before when I went to the super there was a person in a costume that resembled this one type of like... sweet bread I guess, I can't remember the name of it for the life of me but it's really good, anyway they had a bunch of music playing and he was dancing and it's always cracked me up. So the clowns were a welcomed surprise as well. I took a video of them which I'll hopefully be able to upload later.
After the super market we made our way back to the cafe and hung out there for a while. Constantly checking the clock waiting for midnight so it was my birthday. We drank and talked with friends and all of that until the clock finally struck 12. At that moment the boys started all wishing me a happy birthday and my friend Ina came down the front stairs of the cafe with a piece of cake that had a candle in it. There was singing and more hugs, and when I went to blow out my candle I realized it was a trick candle which took me 4 times to finally blow out and make it stay out. About ten minutes later (while eating my delicious cake) a street vendor came in with roses and Sina bought 2 for myself, one for Ina, and one for the other girl that was working (who sadly I never got her name).
We drank more and talked more and all of that until about two in the morning and the boys all made plans for the next day. All I was told was there would be roughly 6 of us going. Myself and 5 of my friends.
So I came back to my hotel, talked with my boy, responded to a bunch of Facebook "happy birthday" posts, and eventually went to bed so I could be ready for Sunday's adventure.
When I woke up on Sunday I got breakfast, took a shower and waited for Sina to text me to let me know what the plan was. Around 12:30 I got a message saying they were all in the cafe waiting for me. So after getting ready to leave I got to the cafe about 30 minutes later. No one was there.
I talked with one of my chick friends and found out the boys had run to the super and they would be back shortly. So I waited and after another couple minutes Sina's brother came and we waited together.
While we were waiting my ex showed up. Here's where things got a little awkward. I have seen him several times since I've been here and all of them included nothing more than us saying "hola" and "adios" to each other. So here it is, my birthday and he comes walking in like it's no big deal. He avoided me for the most part and I prayed he would leave before the guys got back from the store so that I wouldn't have to deal with the potential awkwardness of him wanting to hang out with his friends on his day off, and them saying "no I'm sorry we're going with Lorn to celebrate her birthday and you're not invited to come."
It's not that I would have been willing to change my mind about my not inviting him, it's more so that these people are my friends but he introduced me to them. It's really not fair for me to prevent him from hanging out with his friends. It did however make me uncomfortable that there was a conversation about how uncomfortable he was.
After all of that we headed out. Sina, Pedro, and myself in one car and Fernando, and his friend in another. We stopped to get gas, stopped to pick up cigarettes, and stopped to pick up another friend and then headed out. As we started our drive I had simply heard the name of where we were going, i knew nothing more about it than that. The reason being that I had only heard the name like 15 minutes before we actually left to head out. I have been searching the Internet for the past 2 days that I have been working on this update to get the spelling and everything correct of where this place is. I have pretty much only confused myself into not knowing anything anymore.
Once I am with anyone who was with me I will ask so I can point anyone who wishes to go there in the right direction. For now I'll just look like a stupid American and say "I don't know where I was but it sure was perty!"
The drive to this mysterious land took us about 30 minutes or so and included a beautiful scenic drive through what I'll call the Oaxacan country side. We then began to drive up and into the mountains. I have always loved mountains. Back in 2006 I lived in Salt Lake City, Utah for about six months and I lived like spitting distance from the base of a mountain. It was amazing to wake up every morning to this big beast of a rock structure just standing there watching over everything below it. That's when I really knew I loved mountains. Being from the mid-west we don't really have mountains. We just have hills, and usually they're not even that big. So to be near a mountain, a real mountain, one that's part of a string of mountains is really cool.
Once I realized that we were suddenly getting further and further away from flat solid land my anxiety kicked in a little. As much as I love mountains, I'm not a big fan of driving through them... unless I'm driving. I had to keep repeating to myself that it was like a roller coaster, that Pedro wasn't going to kill us. That if there is a God and he is up there watching he'll maybe spare me since it's my birthday and actually let me enjoy this trip instead of careening off the side of a mountain.
Apparently I was right about one of those things because we made it to our first destination unharmed. It was a restaurant on the side, or top-ish part of one of the mountains. the view was breathtaking. Once I got my height legs I was able to be more comfortable near the edge of the deck they had set up.
We sat and ate and drank and laughed and took a lot of pictures before finally heading out. I wish I could remember the name if the restaurant, it was pretty the food was alright the beer was cold but the service was terrible. We had to ask like 3 or 4 different people 2 or 3 different times for another round, or for more tortillas, or even for the check.
We left there and continued on up the road for about five or ten minutes where the boys pulled over at what looked like a shack on the side of the road. I guess once upon a time it was a place to sit and eat and drink but it had long since closed. After learning there was no service to be had there we piled back into our cars and continued up the road a ways until we found another place that was open. We had a round of warm beers and left again. Another five or ten minutes up the road we found a place that looked like a wood cabin. We parked and this is where we stayed for the next two or so hours. Drinking and laughing and eating and playing with the cutest puppy, and listening to birds. The whole time I was there I kept forgetting I was in Mexico, I could have been on the east coast, or even in northern Michigan. The trees were mostly pine or at least appeared to be similar to the ones we have in the states.
I took a ton of pictures, which I'll add in another entry just for them. After we left the cabin in the woods (hah) we headed back to the same area as the second stop we made, bought some more beers and drove down the road a little further to an area where we could just park the cars. We crossed the street, went down a path and there was this creek in the middle of the woods with big rocks and a waterfall and everything. So we stayed there for a while and took a bunch of pictures and drank and laughed more. Finally we got in the car and headed back to the city. The whole experience was amazing. I never expected to be surrounded with so much life and happiness on my birthday, usually my birthdays in the past have been awful or at least mundane. This one was definitely one for the books, or at least the blog.
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