Fiesta Inn Orizaba Veracruz

For my last day in Mexico - and my birthday - I decided to treat myself and not to return to the Centro Historico. Insteat I went to the more upscale Zona Rosa. A nice place, really, with dozens of good restaurant (and not that expensive), clean pedestrian streets, pink-colored pavement (hence the name) and a friendly, lively ...

... a.m. on Friday morning and it's Community Impact Day for Up With People. I have to go get ready!

Have a great day and a fabulous weekend, everyone! Go and conquer something this weekend... something you've always wanted to do. It may not be as tall as the Pyramid of the Sun but you'll feel just as accomplished :)

Video of me at the Pyramid of the Sun
Video of a very friendly squirrel at the Grand Canyon (before arriving in Chino Valley, Arizona)

... was a completely different story!

Wow. Could they ever dance! And their smiles and their eyes were all the thanks that we needed. It was hot, we were all sweating, and it hurt to move as many of us were still sunburnt from our day at the beach. We didn't care. It felt so wonderful that, in spite of their current physical states, they wanted to dance and move like they probably hadn't in a long time.

And when we were done and about to leave, many of them stood up and gave us ...

... from Phoenix, AZ to Mexico City. I'm not going to sugar-coat it as it was a very uncomfortable flight. Oh well! That's why I have a stack of electronics to keep me occupied!

We arrived in Mexico City around 9:30 p.m. and were greeted by local media (we all looked awesome after flying in a hot plane all day), alumni with a "Viva la Gente" sign (that means Up With People in Spanish) and food! Wonderful croissant sandwiches, fruit, chocolate and juice boxes :)

Then I ...

... with their larger genetic appearance combine to cause this. But that New Zealand guy was just a toss.

Friday, 21 August, Day 210

Mexico City, Mexico

There was so much left to do in Mexico City, I had hardly scratched this culture filled cities surface, but I just couldn’t be bothered doing anything today. Instead I just walked around eating different tacos from different shops. I had green tacos, deep fried tacos and tacos that ...

... morning. I unpacked a litle and made the bed and then headed down to the restaurant at 10. I considered this early compared to other places I had been recently. The restaurant had just closed which seemed odd to me. I went out to try to find somewhere else open but it seemed the entire city was closed. Or at least the centre. I was more tired than hungry anyway so I grabbed some snack food from the 7/11 (just like a movie) and went back ...

... sed. Seems Sunday in Mexic* is quite similar t* Sunday in H**vey Bay - **** all is *pen. Aft** s*me walking ar*und we headed t* an*th** h*stel/restaurant and had s*me sh*ts *f rum, tequila and be**. We w**e *nt* *ur sec*nd l*ngneck *f C*r*na (by the way, standard C*r*na's h**e c*st a d*llar. They c*st at least $7.50 in Melb*urne. I'm m*ving h**e) when this Japanese l**king y*ung c*llege Mexican dude came up, seemed like he was v**y drunk and wanted t* try ...

... slutty sister city..or vice versa, nice huh?..It felt like home..so of course I missed my old bag ot Oats...Dina babe..I looked for you the other day. So I walked the harbor ordered fish soup and was still surprised to see a whole fish in my soup..Eye balls and all, so I went for Bear Grylls style. Then I got drunk and saw the ...

... and I was pulled into a bar by a cover band rocking out to Pearl Jam. Oh and the 4 for 3 yards of beer, the Tequilla didnīt help though. Fast Forward French Chicks are plastered, Im not far off and since I know the most spanish Im in charge of Directions and Money, bad Idea in the States let alone here, the bill was like 500 pesos, which is like 50 bucks but I still though it was outragous holding like a thousand pesos. But I got everbody back safe. Good Start.

... all the people who walk around and bug you while you are eating, from coming up to you and selling you things. It was a good time, then I returned to my house for the night! **Friday, July 14** Today, we went to class from 9-11:45. We had an early day because we were heading to Veracruz for the weekend. We took taxis to the bus station (CAPU). Our bus left for Veracruz at 1:00. We finally arrived in Veracruz at like 4:30ish. Then we took a cab to our hotel. We had 6 people in our ...