Michelle's Place

Awesome Girl

On Tuesday afternoon, I lay by the pool waiting for the Novocain to wear off, and I was finally starting to relax and preparing to enjoy the rest of my vacation. My non-traditional house/hotel was kind of communal, and after I came out of my shell I met some nice people who were friendly and sympathetic, especially when I explained the reason for my twisty-looking mouth. We were chatting and I realized how I came across to them.

Listening to myself describe my job, my interests, and defining "ethnomusicology," I could see myself as the "weird girl" that everyone knows about, the hippie that travels around the world and listens to weird music and is kind of flighty. Like the character "Lynn" on Girlfriends. I never thought of myself as adventurous and certainly not flighty. But from their white bread, married, retired, see-the-world-on-unlimited-budget perspective, I could see how this would apply to me. For me though, I never set out to be adventurous; this is just my life as I see it.

I thought about this for a while when another hotel guest, who kept referring to black people as "colored" (oh, good grief!), and made it a point to tell me how weird I was for traveling alone. He had the good fortune of saying this just as the Novocain was wearing off. 

This guy was honestly kind of a jerk and I shouldn't have let him get to me, but I ended up having one of my "what am I doing here?!" moments, where I thought, "hey, maybe I am kind of a nut. I am in pain, here by myself, and why would anyone do that?"

A quick call to a friend back home reassured me. The nice couple told me unexpectedly that they admired me for what I was doing. And I started to feel better. By the next morning, I felt better and realized that it really is kind of exciting and that I really can handle solo travel.

Later, when I was back in Texas, I met a family on my same flight home from PVR. They had two teenagers with them. We chatted about each other's vacations, and the lady asked me, "Are you by yourself?" And I said, "yep." The teenage girl, who hadn't appeared to be listening, suddenly piped up and said, "Wow, that's awesome!" And I think it kind of is! It's always amusing to be considered "awesome" by a teenager, and I'll never forget the admiration on her face. Ha! Me, awesome!

Último día

So, today was the last day for me in beautiful Puerto Vallarta. This trip wasn't the total vacation I dreamt off all those months ago, but I think it evolved into something better and more meaningful. Despite everything, I think I would do it again.

Yesterday the tourists descended, and ever since they arrived (they all seemed to get here at once), the atmosphere changed a bit and was more hurried and tense. They arrived in big tour groups, large groups of 20 or 25 people with cameras. Some even wore name tags of the names of their cruise ship or whatever, and others had fluorescent-colored wrist bracelets, required for entry into the all-inclusive resorts. I was embarrassed for them. Many brought their young, screaming children, and I was especially embarrassed for them--the kids here in Mexico are much better behaved.

In the streets, I witnessed the first traffic jam since I got here and saw some aggressive driving, complicated, no doubt, by all the Ameri/Canadians in their rented (or driven!) cars, the confused pedestrians, and especially by the tourists from places like México, D.F., who were responsible for all the honking horns I heard. I have been to México D.F. and have seen the driving there--if you see a driver with Distrito Federal license, plates, you'd better get out of his way! I almost found this out the hard way.

And I saw some other tourists, who were older people. There's nothing wrong with being old; hell, I want to be old someday! But some of them were in wheelchairs and too tired and sick to do much. I imagine that some of them just want to come here and relax. But what about the others, the ones that worked their whole lives so that they could retire and then see the world? And now they can't really see it? I realized that I don't want to do that, I want to see the world while I am able to enjoy and experience it. Maybe the inconvenience of missing a few days of work over the years is worth the exhilaration of travel.

By this point in the trip I have formed some relationships. My "routine" involves walking along some of the same streets every morning, and people recognize me and say "hi!" It's such a great feeling! There's Carla, who owns the restaurant across the street, and the girl from the Internet place and the two ladies at Baskin-Robbins, where I ate stomach-calming ice cream almost daily.

I spent this morning at the beach. I got there early, like around 9am--no tourists. I sat by the water, took some final photos and sent a text message to my family and friends--"Happy Thanksgiving from the beach!" I got a chance to say goodbye to some of the people I met--including some very nice Canadian tourists at Casa Dulce Vida, where I stayed, and headed for the airport. And that ends my adventure!--although its effects on me will last a long time, I think.

By the way, I highly recommend, if at all possible, to fly on Thanksgiving Day. It was easily my most pleasant airport experience in the past four or five years. No delays at all, no trouble, the flight was completely empty (only about 12 people, I'm surprised they didn't cancel it!). Customs was a complete breeze, no waiting times, and all the officers were in a good mood (although their guns still scare me). Easy traffic. It was great!

I am still posting pictures of my trip, so please stay tuned to my PVR set as I will be adding them shortly.

Second to Last Sunrise

This morning I woke up and realized that there will be only one more sunrise for me during this trip. What a shame that it took this long to get used to being in Mexico in the first place!

I have swung all over the spectrum on this trip, from feeling excited to being devastatingly lonely to being exhilarated and proud of myself for coming here in the first place. Today I started reading Without Reservations, a book about solo travel that was painfully trite at times but seemed to apply to me in many ways, particularly the extension of yourself that is required when you are in a foreign place, by yourself. But I have discovered that I feel less alone here in Puerto Vallarta than I do living alone in Dallas. There are probably a million reasons for that.

I do seem to have a routine here. I brought a little speaker system to go with my mp3 player, but I don't listen to music as much anymore. Instead, I wake up in the morning to the sounds of the roosters and the neighbors and their music playing, and I get dressed and go down the hill to take pictures. I walk around the city in the morning, sometimes toward the beach, trying to find things to eat or whatever, talking to people along the way. When it gets hot I stop into the Internet cafe and then back to the hotel, where I lounge by the pool for a few hours. Then, around sunset, I get up, go out around the city to find things to eat (or find the dentist, whichever :) and return at night. Who can complain about that? Today, my routine was no different, except that I went out to take sunset pictures this evening. The last sunset! Oh no! I'll have to come back to finish the trip, I think.

Smiling in Vallarta

So I found a dentist. Yesterday I actually spoke with two dentists.

First was Old Dentist, on calle Juarez. He was very nice, but his office was super old. I only went there because he was walking distance and took me immediately, and looked at my tooth as soon as I walked in. But when he showed me the cavities on a diagram that looked like it came from a 1965 World Book Encyclopedia, I freaked out and decided to call a more modern dentist.

I felt bad about this choice--I try hard to defy the "whiny American tourist" stereotype. But I guess I am susceptible when I am in pain. I couldn't imagine trusting any part of me to this guy and his one antiquated dental chair. Oh yeah, and I also found out later that he gave me prescriptions and sent me to the most expensive pharmacist in the city. :(

So, yesterday I called Smiles at Vallarta, recommended via TripAdvisor. Dr. Hernandez could take me today, a national holiday, no less!

Fortunately last night I treated myself to a wonderful dinner at the Agave Grill, because I knew that I wouldn't be chewing much for the rest of the vacation. The restaurant was wonderful, and the food was excellent. I chose them in part because they participated in the annual Gourmet Festival held here every November, and I arrived too late to participate. Still, they had their Festival menu ready and I had the fajitas con carne de res and for dessert, banana mouse & cinnamon ice cream. Everyone was wonderful. Here is a shot of the waiter making salsa from scratch, using a molcahete.

This morning, I went to the Revolution Day parade and tried to distract myself there, and and it was nice, but I was full of dread.

Finally I went to the dentist. The service was incredible--he took me within 5 minutes of my arrival, no other patients, no full waiting room, no bureaucracy. The x-rays were developed in 5 minutes. He just worked hard (2 1/2 hours straight!), explained everything, was wonderfully calming (as was his assitant) and reasonably priced. I have never been less afraid of the dentist and now I know why people come to MX to get their dental work done! Turns out I didn't need a root canal, but still sufficient work that Novocain was required.

I asserted that Dr. Hernandez was now part of my vacation and insisted on a picture, and he happily obliged. That's me, after all the dental work--frizzy hair and no makeup, and a paralyzed mouth! I can't complain--after the appointment I had mango ice cream and waited by the pool for the novocain to wear off! That's dental work in paradise!

Married in Mexico, y'all!

As my friends & family know, I planned this trip being "single & fabulous," knowing that I can't wait forever to see the world and why wait? So I did it anyway!

Well of course, other countries don't view single women in quite the same way I do--sometimes instead of "strong & independent" we are "loose and wild." I am neither of those things. In Mexico I had heard that sometimes single women are considered fair game--it's not necessarily that you are so beautiful or irresistable to men (although I wouldn't mind compliments along those lines), but you are "available." As instructed, if anyone asked me I was prepared to say, "Yes, my friend is waiting for me across the street/at the hotel/in the restaurant," to deter people who might prey on me. Some solo travelers suggested going to a different extreme and buying a wedding ring to wear.

I wasn't planning on doing that, it seemed like such a blatant lie. But after being followed twice, I realized that I didn't want to get close enough to these pend*jos to have to tell them where my imaginary friend was. So, I gave in and stopped in a silver shop, and bought myself a little band. It actually works! Some of the men still shout from a distance, but they are easy to ignore (they are timeshare salesmen, anyway!). The ones that get close up, I brush my hair away or something so they can see the ring. 99% of the time, they are gentlemen anyway and just continue being nice from a distance. To the few that asked "where is your husband?" I say, "He's waiting for me at my hotel, he'll come looking for me if I don't get back there, please get out of my way." And it works perfectly fine!

Most everyone has been very nice to me here. I'm sure I'm an anomaly, a black young woman traveling alone, but I am comfortable with myself and it shows. In fact, because I have been running around speaking Spanish, and away from the touristy areas, I have been asked a couple of times if I live here, and a nice Mexican man asked me for directions! Ha! This is so fun!

¡Ayudaaaaa!

Today was the first day I really feel like I'm on vacation, and it's a shame, because I only have two more full days left. I had all these wonderful things to say about how Mexico and how being here is forcing me to confront lots of fears that I have, and how the last time I was in Mexico I was more fearless, and bla bla bla wax poetic... but instead, I am having to confront one fear a little too early for my taste--my irrational fear of the dentist!!

I had planned to do a bunch of things, one to go to the movies, and the other to go on a day trip to Bucerias. However, neither of these will be possible because of my dental woes. I started with a slight tooth pain Friday, and now it is unbearable and kept me up all night. It seems I have a broken & infected tooth.

Today was completely consumed with trying to find a dentist and running across town to find doctors and get x-rays and fill prescriptions. In fact, I am about to jump into a cab to go and get more medicine--tomorrow is a national holiday (20 de Noviembre, Revolution Day) and it might be closed.

I have an emergency appointment for a root canal tomorrow--I'm so freaked out! Root canals sound scary. I have a terrible fear of the dentist, but I have a little less fear of Mexican dentists than American ones (and apparently, so do lots of Americans who come here for dental work) so we'll see how it goes!

Confianza

In every solo traveler story or webpage I've read, it says that you have to step out of your comfort zone considerably and learn to trust your instincts, and learn to trust others. The idea is that no one can make it alone, and sometimes you just need help.

I've already encountered this twice; once when I arrived at the airport. I had to trust the cab arranger guy, and I chose not to be alarmed when I ended up being the last person to be put in a cab at 1:30 am. All the other cabs were taken up by families and couples with lots of luggage; there was no room for one more single person. The advantage is that I got to meet the nice cab guy, we talked for a bit, and I had a cab to myself with a very nice driver who showed me where everything was.

The second time, I was arriving home yesterday after my first day walking around, and my hotel is at the top of an INCREDIBLY steep hill. It's so steep that I have to rest halfway up. Anyway, I finally got to the top, dripping with sweat and tired, wanting to go inside and shower and rest, and my keys don't work. I tried for about 10 minutes, realizing that this isn't a traditional hotel, no one is at the front desk, and I'm stuck. It's hot and I'm tired and there's no one around and what was I thinking, planning a vacation alone?! I stood there and promptly burst into tears.

But existential crisis aside, I still needed to get into the room so I composed myself and knocked on the neighbor's door. A very nice couple let me into their apartment so I could reach my place via an alternate entrance. I felt better.

All part of the adventure!

Click the image to see today's pictures of Puerto Vallarta!

Finally Here!!

Well, here I am, in Mexico! I am so excited. I arrived this morning instead of last night, after a super late flight (3 hour delay, thanks American!) and a 2 hour customs/immigration marathon. But I made it. The good news is that because of the horrible delay, there were hundreds of passengers, it was after midnight... and they just let everyone through, no inspections, no red light/green light or "how much money do you have?" or things like this.

At the airport, you nearly get assaulted by timeshare people once you pass customs. Apparently timeshare fraud is big here in Mexico (a search for "puerto vallarta" timeshare scam yields 25000 results). They have their own designated area of the airport, and they're in there, ready to scam you!! I can't believe it. You have to walk through a gauntlet of tired, money-hungry people ready to eat you up! I put on my New York street face and just kept walking. It seems so obvious to me, I can't believe people actually fall for them and their scams. They look kinda sinister. (Ha, watch me get caught by one later on!) I hear that they hide in grocery stores and restaurants, pretending to be employees that will help you.

Luckily, someone was waiting up for me at my hotel. It's very is quiet with a great view, just like the pictures. Outside of my rooftop terrace I could see all the beautiful stars. I haven't seen a sky like that since... well, the last time I was in MX!

This Internet cafe is the first stop I've made today, so I havent taken any pictures yet--but I certainly plan to!

Gone to Mexico, Y'all!

I'm so excited--very soon I'll be leaving for my vacation to sunny Puerto Vallarta, México! I can't wait!

Keep up with me & my adventures here on my page!