I haven’t updated (for realz)  in a while, so I thought I would with photos from Mexico and stories about my trip!

First of all, none of us knew that people were getting sick ALL OVER MEXICO CITY when we arrived. Nobody even told us and we were all too excited to watch CNN! On that first day/night, nobody really knew anything out of the ordinary was going on. Driving through the busy city was really amazing, I couldn’t take my eyes off of everything I was seeing! The buildings, stores, street vendors and smells reminded me so much of Saigon! It was like coming home. My tour manager kept punching me every time he saw a VW Bug! The punchbuggy game. There are like a billion.

A few hours after we landed and got situated in our super nice hotel, Camino Real, in the trendy Polanco district. The place is MASSSSSIIIIVEE and really pink! The pink threw me off but the interior was super classy and nice.  We put our bags in our rooms and 15 minutes later everyone met up and walked to a really quaint restaurant for our first Mexican meal! Only a few of us hadn’t been to Mexico City before so taking it all in was really exciting. TACOS! Holy heck I really wished I still ate meat, because everyone kept raving about the Tacos al Pastor! I had a cheese and mushroom fondue thing with freshly made tortillas and washed it down with a nice glass of Dos Equis. While the boys raged in the hotel’s bar, Will (the band’s manager) and I went on for a good night’s sleep with the intention of waking up early to do work! Pictures of the hotel are not taken by me btw I should have though! It was soo interesting architecturely

Our hotel was massive...and PINK.

Yet really amazing

Inside, it was REALLY elegant

Our first meal. Everyone is used to me snapping away..

Waking up early was an epic…FAIL!

We didn’t wake up until 10:30! We had plans to go to the Pyramids at noon so we barely had enough time to shower, get dressed and head down to find a cute Mexican coffee shop so we could get our fix.

We drove through the mountains and different shanty towns to get to the Teotihuacan pyramids. It was really breathtaking. So different from Mexico City. Since there are no backyards, people put their pet dogs on the roof!!!! It is so crazy! The Mayan Pyramids were amazing, we spent two hours there and probably could have spent longer but the sun was beating down on us and made us tired and hungry! The pyramids are really steep and some of the steps came up to my knees! I almost didn’t climb them because I was afraid but I made it to the top on both pyramids and people helped me down

We were all beat, but came back to eat at the same restaurant we ate for dinner! That night, the boys had a signing before their concert so the entire crew also tagged along and afterwards we went to another Mexican restuarant, one less touristy and filled with more locals. I had cactus and cheese tacos with fresh coconut milk and it soo good! We got appetizers of free fried cheese (a really thin layer of cheese that is grilled until it is a crisp and brown) with an assortment of sauces. For dessert Jules, Janice and I shared a fig tart! So good. So fresh! Afterwards, our guides took us to a Mezcal bar..premium tequila that is supposed to make you hallucinate or something if you drink too much of it! I stuck with one shot of tequila and beer. I’m not a fan of tequila but this tequila tasted more like a scotch than it did tequila. Really smoky and really amazing! The Mezcal bar won’t serve you unless you buy something to eat so we orderd some oaxaca cheese, nuts, and CRICKETS. I can’t wait to post the video I have of people eating crickets. I tried one…GROSS! It tasted like wood. AHHH. Can’t relive that moment! EVER!

Afterwards, our guides took us to Mariachis Square where hundreds of mariachis bands will gather and play and drink and hope that someone will hire them for the night or the next night. We had more beers and drinks at the outdoor bar and danced the night away! Then we got the crap shocked out of us..literally..video posting soon. Apparently, getting small waves of electricity shot up your body, helps cure hangovers. hmm…

Jule's Meal

MY FOOD. Cactus, roasted onions and cheese tacos

group shot

mariachis square!

more mariachis sang us songs

outdoor bar!

double fisting it..and yes, that cup on the left IS a beer! mega!

being touristy

The whole day was a great highlight to the entire tour. The next day was show day and EVERYONE was sick. Stomach problems. Luckily, me and Will did not have any stomach problems! I checked on everyone I could and then decided to take the BUS to downtown Mexico City so I could see the sinking Catedral Metropolitana and lunch at Cafe Tacvba. I made it! On my way home, I even took the subway and did not get lost! I got lost out of the subway, trying to get back to the hotel though, but some man whose name I’ve now forgotten, graciously guided me to where I needed to go.

Catedral Metro. Sinking!!

beautiful organs

I realize now they were probably trying to cleanse the swine flu out of Mexico..

i just remembered she's wearing a swine flu mask.

I rushed back to the hotel (via subway) and then took a car to the venue which was in a different part of Mexico City (so now I’ve been to three parts of Mexico city!!) and everyone was still ailing but people were mainly glad that I was alive since they hadn’t heard from me in like..6 hours! Everyone was still feeling blah and went back to the hotel after soundcheck since the show didn’t start until 1AM! I stayed behind because doors opened at 9 and it was already 8 and it took half an hour to get from the hotel to the venue anyways! Sell merch in a different country, with people who speak a different language (although a lot DID know a few words of english) is ALWAYS really interesting..actually, this was my first time experiencing that but I think I was pretty good at it! ha

Made it back to the venue at 3AM!! wanted to get tacos but then remembered I had to leave for the airport at 6:30AM!! gahh..9AM flight! So I opted not to sleep and wrote notes to the entire band and crew instead since I didn’t get a proper goodbye with all of them since they raced back to the hotel before I was done working.  I bought these cute little Mexican Wrestler photos earlier that day, which I included with their personalized message and the band’s manager said everyone was touched So SUCCESS.

The end of my Mexican adventure

You can see more photos here Flickr.

EDIT: sorry, I am super confused by Wordpress’s gallery option thing so sorry for double posting some of the photos!