Weekend in Mexico

Couchsurfing during our trip has given us some of the most unforgettable experiences and we absolutely recommend traveling like this because you'll get so much more out of your trip. You not only get to meet with locals, you'll see places no other tourist has ever been or go to restaurants no single guide book has ever mentioned. We became member of CS a couple of months before leaving on this trip and we've hosted some amazing people in our tiny flat in Geneva. That's how we met Andrea and Roberto, a couple from Monterrey, that was traveling through Europe in February. We promised them to return the favor whenever we'd go around the world and meet them in Mexico. Additional reason for going to Monterrey was that Benoit has studied there for nine months and he's been wanting to go back ever since the day he left.

So we booked flight tickets from Vegas to Monterrey even though I was a little skeptical about going there; I've read and heard so many stories about the north of Mexico being dangerous and violent but our friends assured me that things were better these days. 

Now I can tell you that I am absolutely thrilled we booked those tickets because we had the most amazing time! Andrea and Roberto took us round the city and brought us to the best taco places in town. Such a welcome change after weeks of hard to digest food in the States! On Saturday night, we went for a Halloween party in an old 'haunted' house in the city together with 2'000 other Mexicans. Let me rephrase that to old 'haunted' villa with huge garden and crazy dj's. The finale of our weekend was definitely the barbecue we had at Andrea's parents' place where we were hardly able to stand up after all the food and drinks we had. Andrea's mum gave us a little course 'how to make real Mexican tacos' but I'm afraid we didn't make her very proud. Our tacos came out pretty square and scary. Well, it was Halloween after all:-)

On Monday, we went to see Benoit's old apartment and visited his boss at the company where he interned a couple of months. Before we left the area, we had (again) great food at the place Benoit went for lunch every single day he was working there.

So when we left on Tuesday morning, we almost felt sad about going back to the US. We took a bus from Monterrey to Austin, in Texas and US customs gave us such a hard time at the border. Our bus driver threatened to leave us there and only after Benoit made a huge scene they gave us the silly green document we needed and let us skip the immense queue. Even though the Mexican passengers on our bus had to wait one hour because of us, they all started cheering and clapping and they were happy we made it, saying Americans were a*holes and all that. Aaah, I love Mexicans and so want to go back for a longer stay and more of their delicious food!

This factory in the middle of Monterrey is now a museum/restaurant and they've created a beautiful park around it. I was amazed about how they've managed to turn something that ugly into quite an aesthetic monument.

Girl celebrating Quinceanera. The 15th birthday of girls in Mexico is a huge thing because it marks the transition of childhood into womanhood. Many girls look forward to it for years and dress up like they're getting married. Also their friends have to stick to a strict dress code. 

Mariachi, anyone?

Getting ready for our Halloween party in an old, haunted house in Monterrey city! Sorry, no pictures of the party but it was fun!

The biggest flag in Latin America? It's the Mexican one in Monterrey...

How to make tacos? Not as simple as it looks....

There was only one person in the house who really mastered it, a real Mexican Mum:-)

Benoit in 7th heaven with his bbq meat.

Best salsa I've ever tasted!

Decoration for Dia de los Muertos (day of the dead) on the first and second of November when Mexicans remember and celebrate friend and relatives who have died.

I don't remember the name of everything in this plate. Fact is that I had to take half of it home, too much to finish in once...But so good!

Sugar skulls for Dia de los Muertos. 

Let's end the weekend with some gordita's:-)

Grand Canyon

Our trip to the Grand Canyon is one to quickly forget. We hadn't quite calculated time and distance to this natural wonder because we assumed it was 'next to Vegas' and that we could easily see it in a couple of hours before dropping off the car in Vegas. Wrong. The Grand Canyon is a six hour drive away from Sin City (and then back of course) so for a moment we considered skipping it altogether.  But that was only a moment, like a fraction of second. There was no way we were going to leave the US without having seen Grand Canyon, that would be like visiting Paris and not seeing the Eiffel Tower, right? Well, not going to happen. The only option left, if we didn't want to get in trouble with our rental car, was taking a bus tour from Vegas...and we're such fans of bus tours. (not) So one beautiful Wednesday morning we hopped on that bus, six hours one way, mandatory stop at McDonalds so the obese bus driver could have breakfast, two hours actually spent at the south rim of the Canyon and then six hours back on the bus with mandatory stop at McDonalds so the obese bus driver could have dinner. Aaaarrrghh...Really, two hours at Grand Canyon is absolutely not enough to enjoy its beauty and I was totally frustrated by having to rush, checking the time and not being able to pose properly with the canyon:-) So even though I have been to the Grand Canyon on a beautiful day, I cannot tick it off my list just yet, I will have to come back here and give it all the time and attention it deserves!

Hoover Dam, one of the biggest in the US. We were actually allowed to get off the bus and take a picture of it:-)

Las Vegas!

What happens in Vegas...?! Euh, not that much actually when you're visiting as a couple, apart from eating, lazing by the pool and a little bit of gambling.

It's never been a big dream of me to see Vegas. It definitely was Benoit's idea to spend four days in gambler's paradise because he wanted to practice his poker skills. But when I saw the hotel he'd booked, my prejudices about Vegas kind of faded. Four days of sleeping in a king size bed (with at least six pillows), our own bathroom and a swimming pool is more than heaven after 17 days in the Jucy van. For those starting to wonder about our budget: hotel rooms in Las Vegas are ridiculously inexpensive, especially this time of year and we stayed in a four star hotel that was way cheaper than your average shabby roadside motel.

Las Vegas is a mid size city with about half a million inhabitants but all tourists want to see is THE STRIP, the area that has all the bigger than big hotels, casinos and shopping malls. As we're not different from all the other Vegas first-timers, we didn't really leave the strip during our stay. (Except for a trip to the Grand Canyon, about which I'll tell you in the next post.) I even had trouble leaving the hotel some days; yes I was that happy about having our own space for a while! Benoit signed up for some poker tournaments, won 130 dollar in the first one and was able to finance  some more games. But his luck turned and the other tournaments sent him back to the hotel empty-handed.

About every hotel in Vegas has its own casino with poker room and a bunch of slot machines and you should see the people playing there; lots of old ladies with big blond hairdos, long painted nails and cheetah blouses, cigarette in one hand, the other hand frantically pulling the  handle. It's just hilarious! We tried the slots once too but didn't really get into it.

We did get into eating though, very much! Lots of hotels offer (again) ridiculously cheap and very decadent lunches, champagne brunches or dinner and we so took advantage of that! We ate like crazy even though there was no way we could keep up with some of those huge Americans!

Leaving sunny Cali

Very interesting landscapes on our way from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. And a part of Route 66... And fantastic weather... Enjoy the pictures! Next time, you'll see the lights of Sin City!

With the stars in L.A.

A little flashback for today. These pictures are taken on our first day in the US. We had an entire day before my father would arrive in LAX and since we found downtown LA not particularly attractive, we decided to head for Hollywood Boulevard, see the Walk of Fame and try to spot some celebrities. I'll disappoint you right away, we didn't see anyone famous because that Walk of Fame is so damn long and looking down at the pavement for almost two hours not only made us miss out on anyone that might have passed us but also made us desperate for a good shoulder and neck massage:-)

Only picture taken downtown LA, in front of the impressive Walt Disney concert hall.