Mexico - 5 to 17 July 2010

Mexico City – the city of speed humps! This would drive me nuts. There are almost the same amount of people living in the place as there are in the whole of Australia. The city is massive in area also.

We stayed at a friend’s house while in Mexico. We met Serena on the DTS and what a blessing it has been. We were picked up at the airport by the whole family, in two cars…and we arrived at midnight! The Lopez family has shown us abundant hospitality. Serena gave up her bed for us, the whole family doted on us and we were chaperoned everywhere and anywhere we wanted to go. We ate a lot of Mexican food, some homemade and others in restaurants and kiosks in the street. It was so cool, though after a week my stomach thought it was taking too much of a beating with all the chilli and decided to get upset, but nothing too serious. I found some of the food a little heavy and was craving for salad. On one of the last nights we were there, Dan and I made dinner for them. I made rissoles (an Aussie thick-burger-pattie-looking thing) and a HUGE salad. Dan made a white chocolate and raspberry cheesecake for dessert – yummo!

We also caught up with two other guys we’d met on the DTS – Alex and Bernardo. Fortunately they were doing a bakery course close to Mexico City and we were able to spend two days with them. They bought some of their artwork over and it was sooo good. We were blessed having caught up with these dudes – they are such good value.

We walked through a huge park called Chapultepec and jumped on a peddle boat on the lake there – which was a funny green colour. We also visited a Castle-come-museum at the park, which has a lot of Mexican history in it. Unfortunately we didn’t learn enough Spanish to be able to read all the descriptions, nonetheless it was cool to see it all. Serena and I got a caricature done which was pretty cool (photo on Facebook). We went and visited Cuernavaca, walked the markets there and visited the Cathedral. It had some really nice (and old) artwork in it. A strange thing was the skull and crossbones on one of the doors – weird. We went to find the pyramids of Mexico, but when we got there (after getting a little lost) they’d shut for the day :o( Got a look at them from the distance, not as impressive as Egypt but these were Mayan-style so cannot compare. One night after dinner we went for a short walk in the street and there was a breathaliser set up, on the other side of the street were tow trucks ready to take the cars home - classic and brilliant!

We watched the World Cup final and it turned out that Dan’s orange pants didn’t help much, only good for one game. Dan wanted watch a live match of Luche Libre which is similar to WWF (which I’d only been introduced to a few weeks ago) except they’re more athletic…but still just as pathetic. We watched a little bit on TV and it was enough, Dan decided instead to buy a mask…uniquely Mexican.

The traffic in Mexico is similar to that of the Middle East, however I don’t think I can trust the Mexican drivers as much when crossing the road. We did a fair bit of driving (well, Serena did) and the traffic was horrible at times. There are pretty much no rules, though they do stop on red lights. We saw an article on TV of police charging drivers if they stopped over pedestrian crossings. The police drive with their lights on all the time and you know when you’re being pulled over if they announce it by loud speaker.

So, on the 15^th we packed up, said our goodbyes and went to the airport to fly to Brazil…and we were denied. We had to get a visa, which we didn’t know about (or really look into it). We figured we’d been fine with all the other countries. So we went back to Serena’s – I felt so stupid. I’ve never had that happen to me before. I pretty much fell apart and had no idea what we were going to do as I’d organised with Compassion to visit 2 sponsor children we have. Dan figured out what we were going to do after a few phone calls to airline(s). Getting a visa to Brazil was going to take 5 working days and we were only on stand-by for flights to Brazil a week later. We couldn’t take the risk with Brazil as our flight to Brisbane was already booked, which went through Santiago, Chile. So loooong story short – we’re going to Chile so we can catch the connecting flight to Australia – which is 10 days. We also found out that it’s going to be pretty cold in Santiago – yay! We will be staying with YWAM and serving in whatever way we can after the earthquake there, and in running the base. Oh to serve again! Holiday with a purpose! Woohoo!

Till we leave Chile and hit Aussie, take care my friends and family mob.

See you all REAL soon – woohoo!

Liz

xoxo

Canada – 17 June to 05 July 2010

French! Canada is a bilingual country and legally you can’t sell anything unless it has a French translation on it.

We stayed in Montreal (East coast) for a few days getting over jet lag. It was a nice feeling to be fully away at 6:30am, but then I was knackered and falling asleep at 8pm. That lasted a few nights. We went for a run the first morning – oh boy that hurt, but it felt good…afterward, well after. We went to a nice park up the road from us and saw squirrels again…I love these critters and wanna introduce them to Australia!...maybe no. We walked around and got to know the city a bit. We were able to use bikes for free and rode on the most bike-friendly streets ever! Rode up Mont Royale, a big hill with a giant cross on it and a great view of Montreal. The city is really artsy and quite hip, there’s always something happening, streets close down for markets and festivals. I got to see a “Free Quebec” parade, a province who want to be separated from the rest of Canada. I fed a squirrel a chocolate éclair, which I’m sure took him ages to eat :o) I had my first poutine (chips, gravy and cheese curd…mmm), it was okay. I said goodbye to my trusty pants, they faired me well. I was proud my stitching held! I bought another pair which should last me a few years since I won’t be wearing them everyday! If I get out of the habit of wearing the same clothes…I don’t think that will be too hard.

We hired a car and drove down to New York state to visit one of Dan’s old housemates from 10 years ago. The American border was friendly enough, Dan is good at breaking the ice. This time he asked the custom officer for a form in the African language featured in the ‘The God’s must be crazy’ movie – the clicking language. Always up for a laugh this husband of mine, meanwhile I’m one to follow instructions and behave myself so nothing untoward will happen to me, especially when it comes to official and law stuff.

We took a bus down to Toronto to visit another friend of Dan’s who lives in Mississauga. Checked out downtown Toronto as they prepared for the G20, we weren’t affected too much by it. There was an earthquake on one of the days, but we didn’t feel it. We borrowed bikes from a neighbours’ place and went for a cruise, Dan just happened to pick up a newspaper from someone’s recycling bin and read about our fearless Kevin Rudd stepping down – timing huh? We visited Niagara Falls which was amazing! So much water! The street-long ‘amusement park’ was sooo touristy, which we were happy not to partake in. Visited the Hershey factory and a couple of wineries around the place. It was a good day. Dan finally got a haircut and is on his way to building up a Mohawk – once in a lifetime I guess...I hope. The weather was really nice on the East coast, really blessed. It rained a couple of times and we rode in it, so refreshing.

We then flew to Vancouver and arrived late at night. We gained another 3 hours of our life. Jetlag from the East to the West wasn’t as bad. Dan had booked the accommodation the morning we flew out and so we got this hotel room on East Hastings street, it was fine – we were entertained and vibrated to sleep on the weekend nights by the 2am music in the pub downstairs. It was a decent walk into town and walking down the street caught me off guard. I guess I wasn’t expecting it. There are a number of troubled people who hang out on this street, mostly to do with drugs. I was scared walking down it in daylight. I cried for them as I thought about their lifestyle, habits and the things they were bound by – so much freedom to be had. I really hate seeing the effects of drugs and alcohol, it’s so damaging and no-one is immune from it – no matter how much money and “happiness” you have. So Holli came and celebrated Dan’s birthday with us at the Salmon House, a really nice restaurant. It had beautiful views of the city and the full moon was a real treat. We drove to Stanley Park and ate berries straight off the trees. Holli is a horticulturist and told us which ones we could eat – so cool! Later though I could feel them all processing…ahem. We saw a raccoon and seagulls eating starfish – whole. One day while we were walking downtown there was all this drumming noise, a whole bunch of people (like 50) gathered with their drumsticks and were (trying) to make a beat by hitting poles, chairs, anything they could in the streets…odd. There are novel people in Canada I’ve found…all so different.

We went inland to Chilliwack to stay with Janine and her family – sooo cool. It was only a couple hours bus ride in. Had our first Tim Horton Iced Cap (Cappuccino), WAY better than what I got in downtown Vancouver – American Iced coffee is cold coffee with sugar, and you put your own milk in it…blah! I was after a slushie, oh the Middle East do a good Nescafe Slushie. She took us to see the landscape and cool streams and waterfalls. It is so luscious and green. Mountains covered in trees and still a little snow left on the tops. We went and visited the cow farm next door to her and watched them getting milked, very compliant ladies they are. We roasted hotdogs over the fire, with the combine harvester collecting already cut grass in the background. I had a slight migraine for the time I was there, but managed to get rid of it quickly enough…grrr. Prayer and authority works wonders.

We then ferried across to Vancouver Island and stayed with Holli and Bob in Victoria. Oh how we’ve been blessed with hospitality. They doted on us and we were so grateful. We went to watch the Canada Day fireworks the night we got in, which were BRIGHT! We were really close to them and some of them I missed because they were so bright. Some I hadn’t seen before, so cool. Friday was to be beaver Friday. We went and bought the biggest sandwich I have ever seen and had a picnic at Beaver Pond – but didn’t see any beavers. Most of the time we were on the island I had allergies from the air, and Ginger – Holli’s cat, but I still couldn’t stay away from her. She is the most friendliest and lovable cat – jumps up on your lap like queen bee, I loved it! But got stuffy sinuses from her – oh well. Their dog Kimchee (not sure if I spelt her name right) is really smart too, blew my theory on dogs…what? I’m a cat person! We visited Salt Spring island markets and had a round of Disc Golf – 18 holes. I sucked at first, then got a little better (even beat Dan on some holes …tehehe). We missed the ferry going back by 4 cars and had to wait for the next one…hmph. Dan and I found this cute church on Sunday – Conerstone Christian Fellowship, they were celebrating 22 years and ordaining some elders. It was full of joy, friendship and warmth. John Wason (a YWAMer) did a drama on Jonah and practically told the story word for word from the NIV translation – impressive! We bought some of his stuff, entertaining for all ages. We had a BBQ afterward and got to know some of the people there. So welcoming. We then went for a walk into town and tried to find “beaver tails,” which Dan claims exist. We got distracted in a bookshop (surprise surprise) and missed the kiosk by 5 minutes, so no beaver tails for me. I’m sure they’re bad for your health anyway :o)

So things about Canada I picked up on:

- their toilets are low in height and a lot longer in length. Some use a lot of water and the automatic flushing freaks me out (which are found more in public areas)

- there is anti-bacterial hand wash in many of the shops, or automatic-starting fountains, wash basins so you didn’t have to touch a button or handle.

- it was annoying to have to wait until I got to the counter to pay the full price (they don’t add the tax to the shelf price) because even by the end of our visit I still couldn’t work out their money

- I have picked up on saying “right” or “yeah” at the end of my questions, and even on the end of statements. I met one guy who would say it after every sentence when describing something, it was used more than “like”

- they put maple syrup on everything, or maybe that’s just Dan

That is all. Until Mehiko…ciao…or adios amigos!

Liz