Image inspired by www.garancedore.fr
I came across this This was Paris! image on Pinterest and instantly loved the style and the way it was displayed. I thought then what a great way to compile a trip onto one page. I saved it and decided I would try and do something similar on my next city break. It just so happened to also be Paris which I visited earlier this month.
For more of my Paris photos visit: https://flic.kr/s/aHskgkr7m7
I had heard so many stories about Egypt and Sharm el-Sheikh before my friend and I decided to book this as a holiday destination. I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I had heard from friends and family of illnesses, being kidnapped in a taxi, girls being harassed, food not being great and so much more besides.
Our first night wasn’t all that great. After we had stuffed ourselves on the all inclusive buffet we decided to call it a night as we were both very tired. Neither of us got much sleep due to 1 very irritating mosquito buzzing around us all night. I became quite itchy in the night and a bump would appear sporadically over my body; my shoulder, my leg, my ear, my nose, my eyelid! I had some cream which helped to calm the bumps down except for the one that appeared on my eyelid. I thought nothing of it thinking like the rest it would calm down in the night. The days before we departed I watched the film ‘Hitch’ with Will Smith and the scene where he has a very bad allergic reaction to fish kept playing through my mind. When I eventually forced myself to get up and have a look in the mirror I was horrified that like ‘Hitch’ my eye was completely swollen and I only had a slit of an eye left! I took an antihistamine which did nothing, the next morning I wore sunglasses to breakfast and found a pharmacy where I was given some drops and some cream. The pharmacist promised that by the next morning it will have returned to normal and as promised he was right it did. You see a visit to the pharmacy on holiday just isn’t a holiday for me. I thought this was going to set the tone for the rest of the holiday….and I’m happy to say it didn’t.
Dolce & Banana. On our first full day we decided to go to the old market which we had heard so much about. We were told by a local rep to haggle, haggle and haggle! He gave us this advice; “Offer 30% of the asking price and never give more than 55%, after which just walk away, and if they want your custom they will call you back”. So with this in mind we took a taxi and we dropped off outside a shopping mall where we were greeted by a man called Franc. Franc who’s real name is Saladin but changed it for the tourists, had a brother called Vince. They both had jet black hair, slicked back with oil and with perfect little ringlets at the back. The taxi driver who took no money of us handed us over to Franc and told us to get him to call us when we were ready to be picked up. We trusted the driver as he was booked through our hotel.
Franc took us up to his shop with the excuse the he wanted to give us his business card so that we would remember him to call the taxi driver. Handing over his business card Franc set off showing us his shop which had Michael Kors, Ted Baker and what he called Dolce and Banana bags, he then proceeded to walk to show us his other ‘shop’ which had Egyptian souvenirs, and then his third shop which had t’shirts, his fourth perfume and so on. It turned out Franc had about 8 shops and rented most of the mall. He offered us 30% discount and we promised to return after we had walked the old market.
Old Market isn’t for everyone. Having been to India and experienced harassment and haggling we were both quite familiar with this culture, however it still felt pretty awful. We survived for a short while, sat for some coffee and then decided to return to Franc for our taxi. As we walked up to Franc he saw that we had a few bags in our hands to which he looked a bit disappointed and asked why we hadn’t bought anything from him. He did kindly call the taxi driver and all the while kept giving us evil looks. I had earlier seen in his perfume shop that he had some lovely glass bottles that I wanted to buy. So as a kind of peace offering I walked in his shop to select the bottle I wanted. There was 100’s of these things, ranging from big to medium to small to tiny. I told Franc I wanted to buy a perfume bottle and carefully selected the one I thought was the prettiest. I asked Franc ‘how much?’ still annoyed with us he said ‘how many do you want?’, I replied ‘just the one’ he looked up and in my hand was the tiniest bottle in the shop. Franc wasn’t impressed and said’ have it for free!!!’ In the end Franc was OK with us and our taxi came to take us back to the hotel. When we got to the hotel I dropped the lid of my bottle and it broke!
We made the most of our 5 nights in Sharm, from snorkelling to quad biking, from riding a camel to having a massage and just soaking up the Egyptian sun beside the hotel pool. I can honestly say that our experience of Sharm and Egypt was amazing and any preconceptions I had were proved wrong. For me people make a Country worth visiting and the Egyptians made this trip very memorable.
Here are a few things that I would like to acknowledge and would highly recommend.
Sol y Mar Hotel, Naama Bay. We first agonised over where to go on holiday, we narrowed it down to Sharm el-Sheikh and then agnonised over finding a decent and inexpensive hotel. After much research, checking trip advisor and reading all the reviews we booked the Sol y Mar Hotel in Naama Bay. This is a small and friendly hotel, not too far from the beach or the airport. All of the staff are super friendly and nothing is too much for them. You will be greeted with wide smiles everyday from the humorous waiters serving you breakfast, lunch and dinner, to the hard working pool attendants and the friendly receptionists. The rooms are kept very clean and there is so much variety available in the all inclusive buffet, catering for vegetarians and non vegetarians. One night the chef prepared a Steak for us with a mushroom sauce and chips. If I had to criticise anything it would be that the shower was quite small and the shower curtain was a bit of an annoyance, and the rooms could do with having a hairdryer.
Visit: http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g297555-d6663992-Reviews-Sol_Y_Mar_Naama_Bay-Sharm_El_Sheikh_South_Sinai_Red_Sea_and_Sinai.html
Blue Lagoon Diving Center. We booked to go snorkelling at Ras Mohammed through a rep at our hotel. It was an all day trip with lunch and drinks included. We had 3 snorkeling stops. Diving was also an option but as 2 people fairly new to snorkelling (I had done it just once before) we decided that diving may be a bit too advanced for us. Plus I heard a horrendious story through my cousin which put me off. The instructors on the trip were brilliant. They recognised that we weren’t overly comfortable in the water at first so stayed quite close and made sure we were OK. They gave us their own snorkeling gear which was better than the load they had for everyone. It was quite a relaxed day, plenty of opportunities to sunbathe on the boat whilst the divers completed their dives. The lunch was adequate and drinks were available for the whole duration. They had on board and under water photographers who also captured you on video with an option to purchase photos/video at the end. The trip felt safe and for beginners like us it suited us just fine.
The day in my mind ended perfectly with the company of a pod of dolphins. The driver took the boat towards the dolphins, everybody started to whistle and cheer and the driver sounded his horn. The dolphins became extremely playful and jumped with joy in and out the sea all around us, and some swam along side the boat. For someone who was fascinated by dolphins growing up it was an absolute dream come true.
Visit: http://www.bluelagoonsharm.com
Oasis Safari Sharm. Another highly successful day for us quad biking. We had in total about 1 hour on the quad bikes riding through the Sinai Desert with a camel ride and lunch. Again, 2 people that had never done quad biking before this trip was brilliant. We were looked after and made sure that everything was OK every step of the way. At first I had a slight nervous panic and kind of veered a little off course. The instructor immediately recoginised this and pulled me to one side making sure I was OK. He steered me to the front so I could be kept an eye on. Once I had become comfortable I had a fantastic time! The instructors had a great sense of humour, were friendly and very helpful, and the trip felt safe. Make sure you have a scarf, sunglasses and try to wear something to cover up your legs against the desert sand and the motor fuel from the bikes. The camels are a funny addition, the food was adequate and you also receive a brief insight into the Bedouin culture.
Visit: http://www.oasissafari-sharm.com
Walid Elzonfoly. Egyptian photographer. He has produced a series of photos entitled faces of Egypt. Absolutely mesmerising shots, beautiful and captures the essence of Egypt. You can buy some of his work around Soho Square in Sharm el-sheikh. I bought this magnet. This is the best I have found on the internet where you can view his work http://www.aboudi-bookstore.com/onlinestore/search.php?category=474&subcategory=589
It felt very strange coming home. It started to feel strange at Cancun airport queued up to check in for the flight to Manchester and everybody in the queue was from England and speaking English. I felt a bit lost and confused. I got the train back to Derby and was waiting at the station to be picked up. As I was waiting I got a waft of bacon sandwiches and I couldn’t resist but have one. The man serving on the van asked me in his Derby accent ‘ Do you want tea with that duck?’ and then he asked the same to some builders and one of them replied ‘yeah with 3 sugars please’ and there it was I was back with a bang!
When I got into the house it was decorated with balloons and banners which was a really nice surprise. I walked into each room and looked around as if everything was new to me and it felt like things had changed but they hadn’t. My mum had made/was making my favourite Indian food for me. I had a sudden surge of energy and emptied my suitcase putting all my clothes for wash, showing my mum everything I had bought and then I had a shower. My mind was all over the place and when I tried to speak I felt really slow and couldn’t think of the words to use. The words in Spanish kept coming into my mind. I put the TV on and that was it, as soon as I sat down I was out like a light and only woke to the sound of the phone ringing. By the afternoon and after work time my family started coming round to see me. What I didn’t know was that they had planned a welcome home party for me. There was samosas, chicken, homemade cakes and a homemade bakewell tart. Homemade nan breads with my favourite dish mutter paneer (indian cheese, potatoes and peas) and keema (minced meat). I had missed them and it was so good to just feel relaxed, talk albeit a little slow and laugh at silly things.
When they left I couldn’t switch off. I faffed around a bit on the computer then in my room and before I knew it was 2am. I fell asleep straight away but awoke again at 5am. Then for 2 hours I couldn’t sleep but when I did sleep I didn’t wake up again until 2pm. I felt really exhausted. The next night the same happened I couldn’t switch off and went to sleep at 2am but this time awoke at 7 am and I decided to just get up. In the day I was sat at the table updating my blog when I had the urge to close my eyes. Before I knew it I had nodded off sat upright on the dining room chair and ended up with a very crooked neck! So the third night and the same happened again. I slept late to then wake up at 5am, couldn’t sleep for an hour or so and then I fell asleep and awoke at 2pm ish!
I didn’t feel like venturing out nor watch any TV. I got quite used to not watching TV. I finally left the house on today (Friday), 5 days after I arrived, only because I desperately needed to get my hair cut and coloured.
The good news is that my cousin is getting married next weekend in Crete, and as a family we had planned to go before I left for Mexico. So I’m afraid I’m about to jet off at the weekend again for a week. Actually I’m pleased it’s worked out this way because I had something to look forward to when I knew I was coming home. I will also get to spend some time with the family away from the daily grind. I have been a very lucky girl this year and feel very blessed to have met the people I did and to have an amazing family to come home to.
My flight to England was direct from Cancun. When I booked my trip it became a little complicated as I was travelling to Cuba first and the most cost effective way to travel was to add Cancun in to the mix plus when I first arrived I wanted to visit some of the Mayan ruins. This meant I had to get a flight from Cancun to Puerto Vallarta with a change over at Mexico City and vice versa on my return. I decided on my return journey I would travel to Cancun on Saturday and stopover in a hotel and get my flight on Sunday, however my flight to Cancun was cancelled and I had to travel across on Friday instead which meant that I had 1 less day in Vallarta and an extra night in Cancun.
After my very emotional goodbyes on Friday I had quite a straight forward and pain free flight to Cancun with a short stopover at Mexico City. My journey was quite a blur to me as my mind was in quite a sad state. All my memories of Mexico were flashing through my mind and I didn’t want to leave.
In Cancun I took a bus and taxi to the hotel. The hotel was clean and comfortable. My room was large with a seated area, kitchenette and all mod cons. However I felt very lonely. For the first time since Playa del Carmen back in April I was a solo traveler again. I was desperate for some coffee and food. Luckily there was a Oxxo convenient store located in front of the hotel. I ended up binge eating on nachos with cheese and jalapenos, chocolate and cakes. Not something I like to do but I was craving comfort. The lady on reception kindly offered me a cup of coffee from her personal stash, as the tea and coffee in the room was part of the mini bar and at this point I was on a budget of whatever was left in my purse and it wasn’t a lot.
I slept until late and got up in time for breakfast. I decided to venture out into the centre. The receptionist advised that there wasn’t much to do in the centre and recommended a flea market called Mercado 28 to me. I wasn’t bothered about shopping but none the less I went to check it out. I found the correct bus and used the map I had to gauge where I was. Buses had become a part of my life and I felt confident going on it, however I started to see things on the map which were no where near the market. I don’t know why I didn’t just ask the driver but I convinced myself I could find it myself. Unfortunately a stubborn family trait I have inherited. The bus driver pulled up at the last stop to take a break and he looked at me strangely probably wondering what I was still doing on the bus. I told him where I wanted to go and he laughed and said that stop had passed along time ago. There was another bus ready to depart to do the reverse journey and he told me to get onto the bus and told the other driver where I wanted to get off. The other driver wouldn’t take any money off me and let me on for free. This is the kind of Mexican hospitality I am going to miss.
The flea market was a typical souvenir place where vendors harassed you and tried to sell you something. I wasn’t really in the mood so I had a quick wander around and went into a internet cafe nearby where I spent 2 hours. I got back on the bus and was determined I would know where to get off now…So…this time I didn’t recognise anything at all and the bus kept going until the driver drove down a housing area and preformed a 3 point turn and then pulled up. There was 2 other girls on the bus and the 3 of them turned to look at me. I felt as though I was interrupting something that shouldn’t be happening as the girls were quite friendly with the driver and a thought crossed my mind that I was going to get dragged into something. So I told the driver where I wanted to go and guess what? it appears that stop had passed along time ago! He let me stay on the bus whilst he took a 10 minute beak and chatted to the girls. FYI nothing dodgy happened. He then carried on the drive and told me where to get off.
I spent the evening in my room watching a film, listening to music and repacking my suitcase. I forgot to mention that my suitcase allowance from PV to Cancun was 25kg and my suitcase weighed 27kg. I had to take out the 2kg at the airport and put it into my hand luggage. But I new I had a problem. My flight from Cancun to Manchester had only a 20kg weight allowance! So in the hotel room I became ruthless and threw away some of my old clothes and most of my toiletries. I reshuffled, weighed my suitcase and it was about 20ish kg or so I thought. It actually weighed 23kg on the airport scales and my hand luggage 8 kg (the allowance for hand luggage was only 6kg). I knew what was coming at the check in desk. There was nothing I could get rid of or put into my hand luggage as that was over too. The airline offered me a upgrade for £50 which meant that my baggage allowance increased and I would be seated in business class. The alternative was to pay £18 a kg. I took the upgrade offer and it seemed so did everybody else.
Business class on Thomas Cook is actually the equivalent of standard in BA, Virgin, KLM etc and I had to pay for my beverages! On the upside the meals were designed by Chef James Martin (one of my favourites) and were very tasty. I found it very strange on the airplane to be able to understand conversations around me and to be able to talk to the cabin crew without hesitation. I suddenly felt very English with my please and thank yous.
I spent the last week in Puerto Vallarta buying presents and saying goodbye. The Friday before my departure was my last day at the Arts and Crafts project and the following Monday was my last day at Pasitos de Luz.
Friday (before my departure). Saying goodbye to the Arts and Crafts project team. My final week at the project had completely slowed down I had done everything I could have done. On my last day I decided to take a cake for the children and ladies as a way of a thank you. The ladies made ceviche which is similar to a chopped salsa and is made from raw fish, chopped up tomatoes, onions, carrot, lemon juice, coriander and served on a tostado but they had substituted the fish for lentils. We sat around and chatted, the children fought for my attention and I took some final photos with them. I felt quite sad about going as I had spent almost 5 months with them and really got to know the children well. Although I felt sad I was quite OK about going as I felt that I had done all I could. The children started to hug me as I was leaving and as I saw their little faces and beautiful eyes looking up at me I lost control and started to cry. My emotions had got the better of me.
Monday. Saying goodbye to Pasitos de Luz. This place changed me the most. It was an unplanned part of my Mexican journey and one that I am very happy did happened. This place moved me so much that I really did not want to leave. In fact I was planning to leave on the previous Thursday but I just didn’t feel ready to say goodbye so I went in for an extra day and I’m glad that I did because it was a super last day.
Donations. Before I left Mexico my mum gave a sum of money and asked me to donate it where I felt it was needed the most. Not for one minute did I think the other places did not deserve it but I decided that I wanted Pasitos to have the money and my mum agreed. My sister subsequently also made the equivalent donation, and then by the power of my blog post about Pasitos de Luz my work colleagues/workplace and my kickboxer friend Rob also made large donations. I was completely overwhelmed by these kind gestures and so was Pasitos de Luz.
So on my last day armed with the donations, Me and Arturo the Director at Pasitos went grocery shopping for much needed items such as beans, cleaning products, milk etc and the remaining amount of money went directly into their account. To top off the day, Pasitos received a call from the best bakery in Puerto Vallarta, Los Chatos, who had a donation of cakes that were close to their sell by date. So we filled up the back of the truck with about 10 large cakes and pulled up outside my host house in the rain with a spoon each and sampled the cakes. Arturo kindly gave me a cake and other sweet goodies for my family to enjoy.
I was sad to leave the children and staff, in particular the teacher I helped called Betty. I wish I had more time with them but the little time I did have I will cherish for the rest of my life.
Thursday. My final family meal. I was asked by my Mexican Mum what I would like to eat for my last meal. It was an easy choice for me, Pollo con Mole (Chicken with sauce). Very mixed reviews on this dish. When asked what my favourite Mexican food is and I say Mole I get some very confused looks. Not many Mexicans would rate this as a winner, and usually soup style food would come up top. For me Mole had some significance, it was the first Mexican food I ate when I arrived in Playa del Carmen all those months ago. Pollo con Mole is a traditional Mexican dish of chicken served with rice and a spicy dark sauce that has cocoa in it. I like the richness and spice of the sauce with the chicken. It reminds a little bit of jerk chicken and I love jerk chicken. It is quite a heavy dish so you can’t eat too much of it and typically it would be served for lunch when Mexicans tend to have a larger meal than in the evening. I had a lovely evening with the family, we ate and talked and I received lots of lovely presents. I felt a part of the family quite quickly and never like an outsider despite the lack of communication I made many friends who I will miss. My goal now is to learn more Spanish, return to PV and have all the conversations with them that I wanted to have!
Friday. Saying goodbye to my Mexican family. My flight was leaving at 2.30 pm and I wanted to leave the house about 11am. The airport was about a 30 minute car journey. The family decided they wanted to drop me off in their truck which was very kind of them. I felt quite anxious about leaving. I tend to feel stressed without realising it before I’m about to fly but this was different I had mixed emotions. I was leaving Mexico, leaving people who I had received so much love from and I was very fond of and also anxious because I was going home. It felt so long since I had been in England that I was wondering how I would feel about returning. I sat with the family waiting for my time to leave. I knew I had to say goodbye. Part of me thought about just going without saying goodbye but I knew I could never do that. My Mexican sister was telling me that a previous volunteer had done just that. She left without saying goodbye and left the family wondering where she had gone, because she hated saying goodbye so much! I had already had a little cry in my room so when it was time to leave I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold back the tears and yep you guessed it I couldn’t. They are such wonderful and kind people and I know I will always have a family in Puerto Vallarta.
Hasta Luego Puerto Vallarta. Voy a te extranar…
I can’t get enough of these Jalapeño flavoured chips. Random I know but a memorable part of my trip. When I’m peckish I reach out for these crisps, after a night out I want these crisps, when I’m tired, I’ve even introduced friends I’ve made here to them including Mexicans themselves. I’m currently munching away on a packet which got me thinking about favourite crisps.
In England my favourite crisps are pickled onion flavoured monster munch.
In India I love masala flavoured kurkure crisps. When my Mum visits India she brings me some back because she knows how much I like them.
I’m interested to know what your favourite crisps (potato chips) are from around the world? Leave a comment below.
Sayulita. The colourful and laid back surfer town, north of Puerto Vallarta and in the state of Nayarit. The beach is covered in umbrellas and tourists. If like me you need shade then you can rent an umbrella and lounger.
Sayulita beach. You can attempt to go into the sea but be prepared for the huge waves which carry you back to shore, hence why it is a well known surfer town. We waited until the afternoon to go back into the sea when the huge waves had moved along the bay to another stretch. The odd wave would still take me by surprise though and dunk me in. I realised that I don´t have much sense of gravity and I lost a contact lense.
One of many of the colourful buildings you can see around Sayulita.
Beach art.
Shops. Sayulita has many beautiful shops and I would say that I saw the best souvenirs here but being a popular tourist town meant that the souvenirs and local crafts come at a very high premium.
A knitted bike. The lady who it belonged to also had knitted bikinis for sale.
A sign reading free hugs but unfortuanately the shop was closed so we did not receive any. On the reverse the sign read Dream. Believe. Do. Repeat. I think you can get an idea of the kind of town it is.
A baby parrot perched on top of some fruit and vegetables at a grocery store. He wasn´t bothered about the attention it was receiving from us and actually posed for some photos.
My one saddle bag donkey. These stuffed toys can be commonly found in Mexico. This particular donkey caught my eye instantly and I knew I wanted to take him home with me. Unfortunatley it only had one saddle bag so the lady who was determinded to make a sale offered me every other animal (lion, turtle, monkey) but I only wanted him. She tried to colour match another saddle bag, she tried everything and then eventually she reduced the price. I didn´t care he only had one saddle bag I just had to buy him.
Food. A very aptly named stand called The best fish tacos really does sell the best fish tacos. I don´t eat fish and haven´t done so for over 25 years but I decided to be brave and eat fish tacos. I would highly recommend this stand which you can find on Calle Delfines and very close to the entrance to the beach. Fresh and very delicious!
As you know from my previous posts I have predominantly been volunteering on a Recycled Arts and Crafts project where I spend 3 days with the ladies and 2 days to develop ideas at home. As my time in Puerto Vallarta is drawing closer to the end my project too is starting to wind down and I felt that I wanted to give more to Vallarta before I left. So I have decided that I would volunteer at a disabled childrens day care centre on my 2 days off. The centre is called Pasitos de Luz which translates as Small Steps of Light.
(The following description is taken from the website about the organisation)
Pasitos de Luz is a non-profit organisation that provides care for disabled children from low income families in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. It was founded more than fourteen years ago by a determined group of mothers who were desperate to have a place where their disabled children could receive decent levels of care and attention.
Pasitos is a lifeline for the more than 122 families who rely on us to look after their children during the day. These children often suffer from acute physical and psychological illnesses and many are unable to enter the mainstream education system. Furthermore, by providing a safe place for these children during the day, both parents are able to go out to work. This extra income is essential for many families who live on the breadline.
We offer a huge range of essential services, including physical rehabilitation, psychological care, nutrition and much more.
My experience at Pasitos de Luz. Luckily I knew somebody who worked at Pasitos so it made it easier for me to become familiar with the place. On my first day I started the morning by helping to feed the less abled children. I was handed some rice pudding, a flannel and directed towards a child in a wheelchair. I was quite nervous about feeding the children but I thought how hard can this be? I soon found out when he was wearing half the contents of the rice pudding. I slowly learnt how to handle him and got there in the end even if it did take me half an hour to feed him. I was then directed towards a classroom of children aged between 9-13. I found it to be a calm and well behaved space. The children got on with activities such as practicing their handwriting, colouring in, playing educational games etc. It didn´t take too long before the children started to talk me, they were a little cagey at first but within half an hour they were asking me questions and I was instantly making progress with them. At lunch time I helped to feed the children again, thank fully it was tortillas and salsa for lunch and didn´t involve much liquid. The boy I was feeding successfully ate all of his lunch. The following days at Pasitos kind of went like this.
Then one day the teacher from the other classroom of smaller children asked me to help her. Straight away she handed me 3 children all under the age of 5 and asked me to assist them to the toilet. I was their to volunteer so I couldn´t pick and choose my tasks and I had to just get on with it. One by one they went into the toilet, actually I think I had 2 at 1 point. The first had already wet herself, the second confidently went without much assistance from me and the 3rd, well lets just say he produced something which was making me heave. I had to tell myself to snap out of it and there was no way I was going to be sick, I held my breath. When I returned to the classrrom I saw a completely different atmosphere than the other room. The teacher was running around, grabbing children, cleaning faces, seating them, sorting out tables and chairs, and handing out activities. Having never worked with children before I thought ´help!´
Sientate! A word which translates as Sit! and I find myself saying this every 5 minutes.
But…and this is a huge but because I would say this has been the biggest life changing experience on this trip for me…as the day went on I was receiving hugs, kisses and smiles and each time my heart melted. Subsequently everyday I go into that classroom I love it. The children no matter what difficulties they are facing and physical or mental limits they have are the most beautiful, happy and affectionate little things I have ever met and they never complain. Every time I walk into the classroom little Jeff a 4 year old boy who has a 
cleft palate and can only make sounds greets me with his smile and grabs onto me, and Ariana a 5 year girl who has Down’s Syndrome shouts at me to come and sit next to her and play, and Brenda a 8 year girl who has a intellectual disability and looks at me to say ha ha I´m going to give you the run around today and believe me she does!
It´s an incredible place, full of joy, music, laughter and happy faces. The staff are super friendly and make you feel at ease instantaneously, I´m offered drinks, coffee and food all day long. I was worried at first because I´m not a therapist or neither have I ever worked with children but this really does not matter. Just being there, If you give 1 hug, 1 smile, feed 1 child, take 1 child to the toilet (or 3 in 1 go), have a small conversation, play 1 game, it all goes a long way.
Pasitos de Luz is a non profit organisation and it needs donations to continue the great work. If you would like to support them you can do so by making a donation through their website here. If you are in Puerto Vallarta please visit them they love receiving visitors and why not take them something from their necessities list which is updated every 3 days and can be found by following this link. Additionally you can also follow them on facebook.
I love this place and actually without realising it the children are giving me more than I am to them.
On Thursday it was my Mexican Mum’s sisters (Christy’s) birthday and I decided I would make a cake for her as a surprise, not just any cake but a tradtional British favourite…Victoria sponge cake. She’s a very good chef and often makes me food so I wanted to make her something culinary in return. Me and Christy have an interesting relationship. I get on with her very well and we often have conversations in Spanish and she oddly understands me. Then some days she decides she’s going to ignore me but I’m quite used to this now.
My sister who loves baking and is good at it will be laughing right now because she knows my history in baking and will know that things didn’t pan out like they should have done. You’re right if you’re reading this ‘It was a disaaaaster’ said in Craig Revel Howard’s voice of Strictly Come Dancing. I am a really enthusiastic, impatient and make things up as you go along kind of baker. Mexico hasn’t really caught the home baking bug so finding ingredients and equipment is not easy but luckily through my Mexican family I got to know somebody who is a baking enthusiast and has the equipment I needed. So I contacted her and she let me use her kitchen. I went to Walmart to buy my ingrediens because I thought if anywhere has the ingredients it has to be there. I had pretty much found everything except they do not have self raising flour in Mexico. I Google searched alternatives and Nigella wrote on her website that she cannot be bothered to keep plain and self raising flour, and only ever uses plain flour and just adds baking powder, so I decided this is what I would do.
The recipe also required 4 large eggs. Well the Mexican hens lay very small eggs so the ‘make it up as you go along’ in me decided 6 small eggs were the equivalent of 4 large eggs. 1.5 small egg = 1 large egg.
It was all going quite well. My baking buddy was methodical and I just let her get on with it. She only had one tin so we had to put all the mixture into one which I knew would take longer to bake. The first disaster…The cake had I would say about 20 minutes to go in the oven when the gas cylinder ran out. There was a replacement cylinder but my baking buddy needed somebody to change it for her, I’m guessing a man. So she wrapped the cake up in foil paper, 2 of her t-shirts and 3 carrier bags and off I went to finish the bake at my host families house. I had to catch 2 buses in the blazing heat with a hot and still cooking cake.
I arrived home and my Mexican Mum was out. I opened the oven to find that it was used as a storage cupboard for anything and everything. I had some tea and a natter with my fellow volunteer whilst I waited for her to return. She returned about 1.5 hours after the cake had come out of the oven. Christy decided to follow her into the kitchen so I couldn’t mention the cake to my Mexican Mum. My Mex Mum being quite alert spotted the suspiciously wrapped package. I was praying she wouldn’t say anything and luckily she’s quite switched on and didn’t but gave me a little look of acknowledgement. Christy left the kitchen and I managed to explain the situation. My Mex Mum emptied the oven and turned it on for me. I was about to put the cake in the oven when Christy decided to return to the kitchen and have a full blown conversation with me. Finally she left after I started shuffling around indicating I was leaving.
I got the cake into the oven now 2 hours after it first came out the oven. I know, it’s a big cardinal sin in the baking world. Then as I was waiting alone in the kitchen we had a massive storm, thunder, lighting, rain and a power cut! Seriously I thought ‘what else could go wrong?’ The power retuned and the cake had now had 20 minutes in the oven, it was almost cooked through with only the centre slightly uncooked. Here is the part where I lost my patients. The cake came out of the oven because I decided it would still carry on cooking in its own heat. I wrapped it back up and made a mad dash in the rain up the stairs to the 2nd floor and left the cake to cool overnight on top of the fridge in my room. I didn’t trust it in the kitchen with prying eyes.
Contingency plan (always have one). Cut out the centre and pretend it’s intentional, they will never know.
The next day I checked the cake and just as I probably secretly knew the centre was not fully cooked. I was out for most of the day at my project so had to leave it until I retuned. I went to the supermarket to buy some strawberries because Walmart did not have any and to my surprise there wasn’t any anywhere. I had to buy frozen strawberries which I knew would be full of water but there was nothing else I could do. I came home to find Christy was back early setting up her party and hovering around the kitchen. Determined to keep my cake a surprise I decided I would have to decorate it in my room.
I cut out the uncooked centre of my cake making it into a ring shape. I got started on whipping the cream, by hand! Half an hour later I was still whipping the cream and was very tired now, and started to loose enthusiasm and hope. I had no choice but to go into the kitchen and ask for help. My Mexican Mum had a hand whisk but something very strange happened to the cream and something I’ve never seen before. It started to seperate and curdle. I was completely fed up now and had lost all hope and Christy had walked in and seen what I was doing. My Mexican sister no.2 arrived as I started to look glum and gave me the boost I needed, without her I would have thrown the cake in the bin. Quick thinking she told me to buy some Philadelphia cream cheese from the local shop and mix it with some sugar. For some reason (something I did get right) I had bought some icing sugar from the supermarket even though I didn’t really need it but as it happened it was useful to mix with the cream cheese. The cream cheese and sugar topping was really tasty. I spread it in the centre of the cake with some jam. I added some cream cheese topping to the top and placed the slightly wet strawberries on top. My Mexican sister no.2 started adding some grapes around the middle, found me some chocolate sauce to drizzle on top and a flower for the centre. Thanks to my Mexican sister no.2 my cake looked beautiful. I was happy, Christy was happy, and everybody said it tasted delicious. Not quite a Victoria sponge cake but here’s some photos of my adaptation.
Me looking a lot happier
The Cake
Christy taking a bit from the cake. A Mexican tradition
I should be back home in the UK now but in June I decided to extend my stay by 2 months. I was really enjoying myself (still am) and didn’t want it to end. Something everyone warned me about. Progress here is a bit slow and I got to a point with my project where I didn’t want to leave it unfinished. I originally thought 10 weeks was enough time but it really wasn’t. If anybody is considering volunteering abroad I would say think about time scales because not everything moves as fast as what you are used to. It takes a couple of weeks for your body to adjust, a further 2 to become familiar with everything and then there’s gaining trust with the people in your project something which takes time. Not forgetting learning a new language needs lots of practice and time.
Spanish. On the subject of languages I’m happy to say that I am a lot better than when I first arrived. My understanding of conversations is better than me talking. This is a testament to my progress…we have a new volunteer staying at the house and sharing the room with me. Like me she has no previous Spanish experience. My Mexican Mum asks me questions in Spanish for me to then translate into English to her! When did that happen? I’m by no means fluent but I’ve improved a great deal.
Homesickness. They say homesickness kicks in quite early on but if I’m honest it didn’t for me and that is until now, and that’s not to say that I didn’t miss home before. I’m not crying myself to sleep or anything like that but I’m starting to miss the everyday little things. I say little things but in a persons life the little things are usually the meaningful things.
I miss…my Mums home cooked Indian food and going to M&S for tea and soup with her; talking rubbish for hours on end with my sister; my brother in laws ‘alright then’ in his Derby accent just before he’s about to leave; giggling with my cousin at silly things that only we find funny and having a good chat with her brother; family BBBQ’s and eating my Aunties home made kebabs which I saw on Skype the other week; my Uncle’s sense of humour; my car; my shoes, bags and clothes; the banter at work on taboo topics; my kickboxing classes and dare I say it I haven’t done a single burpee since April (this is going to bite me back I know); having a good catch up with all my friends who I probably wouldn’t see for the length of time I’ve been away anyway.
Gym. So I joined a gym when I first got here. The thought of eating fried tortillas nearly everyday frightened me plus I kickbox back home and I wanted to keep up my training. The gym I chose ran Muay Thai classes which is the preferred martial art here. The instructor spends the first 10 minutes putting wraps on peoples hands. My kickboxing buddy kindly lent me his gloves/wraps with velcro fastening which takes me seconds to put on whilst everybody is being wrapped up. We have a gentle warm up and then usually go through some combinations and then work on pads with a partner. The instructor didn’t know about my background and in my first class kept correcting me. OK so I was a little rusty I had been away from training for about 2 months but I felt he just wanted to correct me for the sake of it. I was partnered with another female who also kept correcting me. I just went with it and they both did it to me again in the second class. We were doing some kicking on pads and I decided it was time to unleash some kicks on her to which afterwards I heard her say in Spanish that my kicks were really hard. Then I had to confess to my background and funny because I’ve never been corrected again. However I’m only allowed to be partnered with another female or male who is of slim build. If I’m partnered with a strong man then I’m not allowed to hold the pads for him. I wish they could see the kind of kicks and punches I receive at my academy!
Climate. There is a huge shift in weather and it is very hot. According to the internet it’s 30 degrees in the night here. My host family sleep outside when it’s too hot. I have a trick/tip. I soak a flannel in cold water, rinse and place it over my feet with the fan directed towards them. It has the reverse effect of a hot water bottle and keeps me cool in the night so I can get some sleep. Oh and the mosquitoes have backed off a bit now. I still get the odd bite they don’t let me get away with it completely but the new volunteer is getting the brunt of it now. My Mexican Mum’s sister (Christy) has made me a home made repellent which works wonders. I will post the recipe on my blog soon, just don’t drop the entire bottle on the floor like I did. The main ingredient is olive oil!
Doggy update. My phobia has been reinforced more than ever and I was making such good progress when I stroked a friends dog for the first time one day. Once a week I meet the ladies at the Church where they pray. One day in particular I was early and decided to sit outside at the chairs and table that had been set up. There is couple who live with their 2 pitbulls on the church site. The 2 dogs, did I mention they were pitbulls?, heard or saw me from where I really don’t know because I can never see them. Anyway the 2 pitbulls came running out towards me, started to bark furiously and circling me. I could do nothing but scream and climb on top of the chairs. The women and children came out to see what the fuss was about and shouted at the dogs to back off. I was shaking and almost crying!
TEXT ME WHEN YOU GET THERE 
