Final goodbyes

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…

What’s your flavour?

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.

Soggy middle

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

Mexican life part 2

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!

 

 

The phantom flusher

We had a big storm in the night last night like I had never seen or heard before. All the windows and doors were banging against the walls, I could see lights flickering and I could hear big loud noises. The electricity went down and it turned out that a tree had fallen onto the lines outside the house. I heard my Mexican sister scream out loud as she was fast asleep as the window first banged against the wall. This gave me the giggles in bed!

So I shut my eyes as the storm calmed down and was drifting in and out of sleep. My eyes opened and I saw a tall girl with her hair up in a bun walk away from the bathroom. I thought it’s probably my Mexican sister going to the toilet. I looked across to the other room and she was in bed. OK I thought it’s probably the new volunteer who is sharing my room but ‘where is she going?’. The girl was headed in the direction of the other room where my Mexican sister was sleeping. ‘Maybe she needs water or fresh air’ I thought. I looked across and the new volunteer was asleep in her bed. I didn’t want to think about it too much and went to sleep.

Coincidently last week on 2 separate occasions, in the middle of the night I heard the toilet flush. On both occasions I was asleep on my own in the room and my Mexican sister asleep in the adjoining room. The first night I assumed it was her using the toilet and didn’t open my eyes but I also recall not hearing the bathroom door open or close. On the 2nd night it flushed I opened my eyes, curious, looked across and my Mexican sister was asleep. So who was in the toilet and can toilets flush on their own?

This morning I was talking with my Mexican sister and I told her about these things and then she told me about the crying girl. One night my Mexican sister was asleep in the downstairs bedroom next to the window. She opened her eyes and saw a girl outside crying. Apparently on many occasions the family have heard a girl crying. She has also heard lots of noises from the room where I am sleeping.

I have also been told by somebody else that some volunteers a few years ago were sleeping outside and one of them saw a girl in the night looking over her on several seperate occasions. I don’t know if I believe in ghosts or not and I’ve never experienced any paranormal activity before. I’m not going to think about it too much as I’ll never get to sleep!

Mexican life

I have 25 mosquito bites. The repellent clearly from the UK does not work in Mexico. My advice is buy mosquito repellent and after bite from the country you are visiting. My legs are a giant red dot to dot.

My home for the next 10 weeks. I am staying with a Mexican family made up of Mother (Justina), Father, 3 year and 21 year daughters. On the same land lives Justina´s brother, sister and mother. She also has another daughter who lives 2 doors away with her husband and daughter, a son who lives in the centre, and another 5 siblings who live very close by. Each sibling has children plus grandchildren. Everyday I come home there is a different member of the family and I don´t know who´s who except that they are related in some way. I thought Indian families were complicated!

Here is a photo of the house where I am staying. The room on the top is my room.

 

My room. I hope you like what I´ve done with the place. I have gone for a powder blue bed spread with a contrasting white sheet, imported all the way from England. I bought a new pillow just because. I swapped the fridge and bedside unit for convenience and so that I could actually plug the fridge into a socket. I added an extra touch of buying some hangers for my clothes and I like the unique way that they hang over my bed.

 

I have an ensuite shower and toilet but do not have a sink (?) or toilet seat and I can`t get used to not flushing the toilet paper.

I have a fan that has 3 settings. 1. gale force wind, 2. jet engine and 3. tornado. Gale force wind has been sufficient however the last few days I have had to crank it up to jet engine and make sure I weight everything down.

In all seriousness my room is comfortable and clean, and that is all I could of asked for. The family are fantastic. They help me with my Spanish, wash my clothes and feed me.

I´m not sure these photos show you the extent of the hills but this is the hill I climb everyday to get the bus. It`s virtually at 45 degrees and if you wear flip flops you get a free foot massage everyday. I thought about running before I came to Mexico…

Spanish lessons My teacher Norma is fab. Although everytime I go for my lesson I have a mini heart attack. She lives in an affluent area of Vallarta. The houses are big with electric gates and swimming pools. The lawns are maintained and nearly every house has a dog but not your average cute and fluffy dog but big viscous dogs with fangs. So everytime I walk down the street the dogs come bounding down to the gate and go crazy barking and showing me their gnashes. By the time I reach Norma I´m a nervous wreck. I had one incident where a dog was loose outside it`s house and came running up to me barking. Luckily it stopped at a distance and let me pass . I have been a few times now so I know which houses have dogs and I now have a strategic walk pattern. Norma has 2 dogs but kindly locks them in the garden for me. The lessons are going OK. I take 2 hour classes every other day. I am actually finding that having learnt Italian before is more of a hinderess. For example ´ce´ in Spanish makes a ´ss sound and in Italian makes  ´ch´ sound and I am constantly using the latter. I am better than I was before.

Dogs The dogs here are crazy. They just bark all the time…all night and at any other dog that passes it. They are very terratorial.

Buses My mode of transport everywhere is bus. The bus network here is like the London underground. It is 7.50 pesos (about 36p ) for any length of journey whether long or short, and each new ride is 7.50. The busy are all unique. Some have holes in the floor, some cracked windows, some have cushioned seats and some have childrens shoes hanging from the top. There  are hardly no bus stops and you can pretty much stop the bus anywhere you like. The drivers are the best multitaskers I have seen. They can take your money, hand over your ticket and your change in one swift move all whilst driving off and sometimes answering their mobile phones.

The Mexican men will always let female passengers on to the bus first and will often give up their seat for you. Another interesting observation I have made about the men on the buses is that they will rarely sit next to a female passenger even when the seat is free. I have had a man give up his seat by the window for me and to not then sit back next to me. Another thing I have learnt is that you never sit next to the window. Nobody sits next to the window and the reason why is because you have to literally fly off your seat when you want the bus to stop. I have become quite Mexican now…I will not sit next to the window and expect men to let me on first!

Being mistaken as Mexican I´m Indian and because of my skin colour will quite often get mistaken for Mexican or of Latin descent. This can have its advantages. Usually I go about minding my own business and not get the hard sale that other tourists get. But on the flipside I will get locals speaking to me in Spanish and expecting me to talk back and when I tell them I don´t speak much Spanish they look confused and look at me as though I am lying just so I don`t talk to them.

Internet Cafes. My biggest frustration is the keyboards here. So far I have come across 3 different keyboards which operate the @ symbol differently. One by holding ctrl, alt and q, the other by holding 4, 6 and q and now this recent one then one I am currently typing on I haven´t got a clue how to get the  @ symbol. I´ve had to copy and paste the symbol off the internet! An observation as I have now used a few internet cafes is that children as young as 5 are in here playing games and on facebook!

Mucho Gusto man in the ladies toilets. On my second Sunday here in Vallarta I went to an international food fair at the Marriot hotel with the other volunteer. I went to use the ladies toilets and in there was a male attendant. As I was washing my hands he started talking to me in Spanish. I explained that I couldnt speak much Spanish etc. So then in Spanish we spoke a little using my basic vocab I managed to introduce myself and he as Manual, which was then followed by ´Mucho Gusto`which translates as pleased to meet you usually followed by a peck on the cheek which is quite normal here. I am slowly getting used to this. For some reason he exchanged another ´Mucho Gusto` followed by a peck on the cheek, then a third. By the fourth ´Mucho Gusto´he held onto my hand and kissed my cheek for longer than I liked. I pulled my hand away with a very sharp ´Adios´ and waled away. Very strange man in the ladies toilet.