Mexico was a much needed rest from work and the stress of finding an internship suitable to my interests and aspirations. It was also a chance to get a great tan. It’s funny how something as simple as a little colour in your complexion can make you feel so much better.

One of the things I was hoping for in Mexico was to go on an adventure that would make an incredible story that I could share with the world. I figured the only way that was going to happen is if I venture out on my own and meet some of the locals.

The beach volleyball action had picked up and I was having a good time taking a few photos of it with my new camera when I met Jose. We got to chatting about everything from Mexican politics to global warming. Apparently he figures Fox isn’t/wasn’t such a great president but he doesn’t have much hope for the next guys either. He also wondered if in 50 years it would be tropical in Canada and cold in Mexico. (It makes you wonder if global warming will be bad for everyone, eh?)

But seriously, despite his slightly broken English, he seemed like a pretty intelligent guy. He told me about a series of three waterfalls not too far away that he would take me to if I was interested. He said they were a great place to take some pictures and only a short bus ride away.

Immediately I felt a surge of apprehension because, you know, most of the time I am NOT VERY ADVENTUROUS AT ALL. I threw my concerns out the window and decided… yes either I’m going to see a lovely waterfall or it will be an adventure and if anything goes seriously wrong, well assuming I’m not dead, I’ll have a great story to boot. Either way it’s a win/win situation.

The only thing Jose wanted was for me to buy him a beer. I told him I wasn’t in the mood for a beer but pounding down the 1.5 litres of Mexican brewsky alone didn’t bother him a bit. (”Just a small bottle”, he said…)

I explained to him that before we left, I was going to need to tell my friends where I was going. After all, I may have been in the mood for adventure but I’m not turning completely irresponsible.

I had Jose wait in the lobby while I ran upstairs to tell the gang my plans and even offered to let them join in the adventure. Nope, they’d rather lounge around in the hotel room watching the soccer highlights—so I was on my own. At this point in time I was beginning to have serious doubts about whether heading off alone with some stranger in a land where I don’t even know the basics of the language was really a wise choice.

“Ok, let’s go!” I said to him as we headed out into the great unknown of Puerto Vallarta. It wasn’t long until he fired off a solid question straight out of left field that hit me like a ton of bricks.

“So, do you do any illicit drugs?” he probed. “Do you want to try coke? I don’t have any, but I know where we can get some.”

He wanted me to buy him some drugs. What the hell have I gotten myself into?

“No. No, I don’t really want to.” My stuttering probably indicated that the romance of adventure was fading fast. In fact, I thought to myself, I don’t even want to go to see the waterfalls anymore. The idea of sitting around watching soccer highlights in a hot and stuffy hotel room was gaining a lot of appeal.

Luckily for me, he could read my thoughts through my wide eyes and dropped jaw—you know it’s the look deer have when they are about to be pummelled by on-coming traffic.

“You don’t really want to come, do you?”

I told him I wasn’t too interested and thanked him for the offer (of the trip to see the waterfalls, not the offer to buy him some coke). Well if I didn’t want to buy him drugs, then would I mind buying him some lunch? I took off pretty much instantly after that, mumbling something about missing an important sporting event; ending my potential adventure with Jose.

Jose, wherever life might take you, I wish you the best but I’m glad I’m not along for the ride. Sometimes not having adventures is good too.

It’s my birthday and it’s a good one. I’m coming home to the cold snow tomorrow—Mexico was fun while it lasted.

Last night my friends wanted to do some shopping at Walmart and not being much in the mood I decided to do some exploring on my own. After doing the usual daily Flickr upload ritual, I headed out and found myself a mighty greasy looking taco stand and ordered 5 of the most delicious quesadillas I have ever eaten. I also had a really delicious Coke-Cola—which as you may or may not be aware tastes so much better in a bottle.

It might seem a little scary to eat food prepared right on the street but so far, other than a couple of the guys having a natural reaction to the beans, we haven´t had any real issues.

I ordered the pork quesadillas which in addition to flame roasted pork chunks come with melted cheese, fresh pineapple, a little bit of onions, and cilantro. They have a motley selection of sauces to add but I usually just stick to good old guacamole.

On one of the first nights where we had tacos and quesadillas, Steve was showing us the ropes of what was good what was bad, and how to prepare a delicious taco. He poured on some of the green—which he thought was guacamole (the other green sauce). Luckily for Steve, the guy at the stand warned him that it was going to be quite hot. Despite his efforts to scrape most of the sauce off, it was still easily observable that Steve was enjoying some very spicy food. Though you wouldn’t think it was possible, his red sun worn face became even more red and tiny beads of sweat collected on his forehead. He kind of laughed as he mentioned that yeah, this stuff was pretty hot, and we might want to avoid that particular sauce.

This morning we hooked up with a bus for a day trip to Sayulita. Sayulita is a great place to go for beginners to learn to surf because of the fairly low, consistent waves that move in over a large shallow bay.

This was my first time trying to surf and I certainly am not that great at it. I did alright getting through the waves. I was alright the few times I found myself in front of nice rolling wave , but I can see that it would take a lot of practise to get really good at it.

I think my biggest problem was knowing where to go to catch the good waves. I didn’t want to crowd the group of people that seemed to know what they were doing, but at the same time, there was a reason they were all grouped by the tall breaking waves.

After a couple hours I had my fill of surfing and just spent some time laying under a canopy, and enjoyed some time walking up and down the beach.

When we caught our bus home, we had some excitement play out right before our eyes. While stopped at a traffic light, we noticed a rather fat and shirtless American chasing a smiling Mexican with the very clear intent to cause him bodily harm. The Mexican was wearing a green shirt and seemed to be laughing that this guy was so mad at him. (I have no idea what started everything off). There was another American guy that jumped out of a Volkswagen beetle who swung and missed the guy in the green. Suddenly a second Mexican jumped on the second American, pinning him to the ground and feeding him punches. The fight was really on.

Some other Mexicans jumped in from off the street to try and break things up but that only lasted for a moment. The original Mexican in the green shirt was still laughing and running backwards away from the fat American, whom was swinging wildly and tripping himself as he pursued.

It looked like things might be simmered down when the Americans were just walking slowly toward the guy in the green and the other Mexican´s from the street were trying to calm them down. The American pretended to swing at the guy in green but then instead smoked the guy that was trying to calm him down, right in the mouth.

That guy took off back into a nearby shop to get his bearings, but then started back out after the American’s, this time with a collection of friends who didn’t seem as interested in just breaking up the fight.

The two Americans realized that right about that moment was a very good time to turn their tails and run.

We didn’t see much else. The bus kept going but pretty soon we saw a police truck race along past us with its lights flashing. In the back sat a police officer and the Mexican wearing the green shirt. He didn’t seem to be smiling so brightly anymore.

On Sunday we really cut it close making our plane. We only gave ourselves about 15 minutes of extra time assuming everything else went according to plan, which would have been fine except for a couple of mix-ups like Trev forgetting his runners. Not to mention he also forgot that Drew moved about a year ago and hence he accidentally went to Drew’s old house putting us slightly behind schedule for the road.

Once we got on our way things were pretty uneventful, but there was a near disaster when Forgetful Jones Wallace forgot to pick up his wallet on the other side of security which might have resulted in a missed flight due to no ID. I have been thanking my lucky stars that I haven’t yet done anything particularly embarrassing or potentially trip ending but remember the week is young. Anyway it’s all good and we are having lots of fun in the sun.

Today we hired a charter to take us to a couple of different villas up the coast and had fun snorkeling as well as hiking around on a couple of different beaches. The boat ride was really a blast. All of a sudden Drew was hit with a wave of nausea and began a not so friendly reunion with his breakfast on the port side. He looked in quite a bit of discomfort so I didn’t think it would have been right to document it in pictures. However I´m pretty sure Steve and/or Trev got a photo.

While Drew was just kind of taking it easy we were learning that it’s the manta ray mating season right now. There are lots and lots of large and small manta rays scouting the area looking for action. We were amazed to see one giant manta ray breach the water completely. Steve and Trev hopped in to get a closer look and I captured a photo with the manta as one of its fins came up out of the water. When I jumped in myself I was too late they were long gone.

When we got to town, we lounged around a bit, I picked up some stomach settling pills for Drew and eventually we hiked up to see a waterfall. Unfortunately when we got there we discovered it was pretty dry. Apparently they are on the verge of a water shortage in the village and so there isn’t a lot left over for the river, but despite that, it was still a nice hike.

We had dinner on the beach, enjoyed the weather and scenery for awhile and then and headed back into town.

I’m having a great time here in Mexico. We’re keeping extremely busy going to the beach and lounging around.

Today we hit up El Eden and the Preditor Set restaurant. I’ll have some good stories to tell when I have more time.

In the meantime—my Mexico 2006 flickr set.

Three of my friends from the highschool gang and I are headed way south for some fun in the sun. That’s right—I’m flying to Mexico on Sunday for a week of hijinks and adventure.

None of us really know any Spanish—accept for Trevor but he only knows “Taco”, “Burrito”, and “merci”. Granted merci is French but you never know that might come in handy anyway.

Here is a photo from my last trip there in 2001.

The cold has really been getting to me lately, so as expected the four of us are all really excited. I’ll take some good photos and upload them here. I can hardly wait for Sunday to say, “Adios amigos, I’m off to Mexico!”