Hi,
Well, I'm back from Mexico, exhausted but happy but sad but ...
It was a great trip. It was my LAMP midterm conference - a chance for me and my classmates (11 of us) to get together, share stories, compare notes, reflect on our collective futures, relax (but not much), meet some new people (guest speakers), and very briefly sightsee. I arrived on Saturday at noon, already tired from dancing up a storm on Thurs till 3am and then packing on Friday night and up early for my flight. I arrived, and proceeded to misplace my directions to Cuernavaca that I had so carefully printed out. In any case, I remembered enough to get myself on a bus. I tried to call my friend and classmate Tyrion from the airport, but had no luck as I was clueless as to how the Mexican phone system worked.
In the Cuernavaca bus terminal, a nice woman helped me call Tyrion and I met them at a hotel nearby. I waited for a bit, reading my newspaper, and Mitra, one of our professors, and David, one of our administrative assistants arrived. Mitra and I caught up a bit while David and Tyrion went shopping for some last minute stuff. Finally, Tyrion and I went to her place for a lovely Mexican dinner that she made me. I tried to help, but was more in the way than anything. Anyway, we chatted and caught up, which was the most important thing. After dinner, I watched Tyrion sew her dress for our formal dinner later in the week (which is about as exciting as it sounds :) It was good, we still chatted. Finally, she gave that up around midnightish, I think, and we chatted for just three hours more and finally slept at 3am. We slept in, blissfully, but still not really enough. We went for breakfast in the market, enjoying quesadillas, Mexican style. Back for a nap, and eventually, we had to go to Las Estacas, a resort where most of our activities were going on.
We arrived at the same time as most of our classmates, who had been partying it up in Mexico City. The resort was really luxurious, naturally, although it was an eco-resort. Originally, I was to share a room with Jilian and Tyrion, but I ended up on my own - such luxury! It was nice in a lot of ways, although a bit lonely at times.
That first night, we had a welcome dinner after an initial tour of the site. Our rooms lacked TV, which was great. The first day of the conference was a workshop on the maps of adult life, which was very interesting and then several presentations from us on what we were up. Trent and I decided to do ours together, since we are both in Costa Rica. It went well, and the professors all seemed to like my midterm report as well. Later that night, I had a career counselling session and that was good to think a bit about the future.
Each night, we stayed up late, often different people, chatting and catching up. The odd night it was in the form of a slumber party. Probably I enjoyed those times the most. Probably that is contributing to my exhaustion now though... :)
On Tuesday, we had more presentations, it was very interesting to see what everyone else is up to. We also had a session on visualising goals and taking steps - i.e. getting to the future you want. We also played minigolf and I won! I won a t-shirt from the resort. That was fun. (I'm not competitive though :)
The next day, we had a workshop on leadership then a free day in Cuernavaca. We had lunch together, then people started wandering off to do their own thing. I hadn't any particular plan in mind, so I tagged along with Gerry and we visited an NGO partner of theirs (Pueblito). It was great, they had connections to Nicaragua and we talked about that and the work they are doing. Then we spent 30 minutes in a museum, which wasn't that interesting, but it did have a Diego Rivera mural, which was so beautiful. Next time I go to Mexico I really want to go to the Diego museum...
That night we had dinner at a fancy restaurant and we played Secret Santa - actually we played Stealing Santa, which is much more fun. In the end, I got a beautiful painting that is decorating my room now. I also got a book by Marge Piercy, a pen from Ecuador and Thailand's version of Jolt. We also played Mafia and Citizens, a game where the two groups try to kill each other off. It was fun. (I organised most of it, much to the shock of my classmates - they thought I was so innocent :)
Thursday was guest speakers all day on topics like the Summit of the Americas, Intercultural communication and the political situation of Mexico. Very interesting, but tiring. It was kind of a bad day - the resort seemed to suddenly forget that there was a vegetarian and I ate poorly that day. We had a BBQ reception and it was mostly meat. Yuck. I was out of sorts a bit and thinking depressing thoughts, so I didn't enjoy the dancing after. I went for several walks by myself and that was nice. I really needed some space that day. After, we had a bonfire and played Charades. That cheered me up a bit.
Friday we traveled to Mexico City (DF). A long bus ride to the city. Some trouble checking in, we were late by our schedule, but early by the Four Seasons. It is the most prestigious hotel in DF, apparently - Mitra got us a good deal. It was still expensive though, so I did end up sharing a room - with Tyrion and Erin. Sharing a room with two girls is not as exciting as it sounds - more often than not I was in the way - "Rob, stay in the bathroom." or "Rob, stay in the bedroom." The hotel was one of the fancier I've stayed in, even considering all the Nortel hotels.
We had more guest speakers in the p.m. and then a fancy reception at San Angel Inn. It was fun. We were all tired and ready for bed and then David suggested going for a drink. I almost said no, but am glad I didn't. We went to a disco/acid jazz bar and danced until 2am. It was great fun. At the end of the night, someone told me "you dance like an angel" in perfect English. It was a bit surreal.
Up by 9am or so on Sat and we had some closing sessions and shared what we appreciated about each other and what we were taking from the conference. For me, it was how important these people were to me. I'm going to really miss my classmates. Friends, like you and them, are important to me. I hope I never forget that. It turned into a "cryfest" as one faculty member predicted in April.
In the afternoon, several of us went to the Museum of Anthropology - it was amazing, I couldn't believe it. It is huge with stuff on all of the indigenous cultures before the Spanish. We were there for 2 or 3 hours and hardly made a dent in it. I have to get back there someday. Outside the museum, we saw some indigenous acrobatic show, it was beautiful. How to describe it? It was basically 4 men, hanging and slowly revolving down to the ground. It was almost poetic.
We went back to the hotel, I had a nap for a couple of hours, then we hung out in the whirlpool a bit and then a big last group dinner at a Taqueria. We sat and ate and drank until midnight, then some of us went dancing again! We went to a different place. We noticed that people were dancing on the tables, so some of us started doing that too. I danced on the table with Jill, then she got nervous, maybe because it was so wobbly, and I was left by myself. Jason then offered me 50 pesos in his teeth - how could I resist? Then a 10 peso coin. We had the whole bar cheering and whistling! I gave the money back, but made him buy me a drink (maybe my second that night, whew! :)
We danced till 3am to Ricky Martin and alternately Latin and North American music. It was so much fun. Kind of our last blast, since who knows when we will all be together again. Maybe someone's wedding? Back at the hotel, we chatted and held a slumber party, the four girls and I. They dressed me up in Hello Kitty PJs and we chatted. They alternately slept and talked and I talked lots. I was full of energy, at least until yesterday. At 5am I caught a taxi to the airport. I was surprised by the $39US exit tax and had to do some fast talking at a store since I couldn't get a Visa advance. Dozed on the plane and finally was home by 11am. A quick lunch and collapsed until 3 or 4pm. It was my "mother's" birthday, so I had to participate in their party. I was pretty tired though. I multitasked with my laundry and email. By 8 or so though, I had to sleep. Slept right through to 8:30am today, it was great.
Back to work. Mostly catching up and trying to figure out where I was 10 days ago. Things are going extremely well here. I am very happy with most aspects of my life. I think I'd like to move into a new place next month, but work and friends-wise, life is excellent. Now, I have to start thinking ahead to life after July (the end of my contract) and what I'll be doing. Some things are starting to pop up though - I'll keep you informed.
Hope things are well in your life. Let me know... Talk to you soon...
Rob