Arriba Guadalajara!

My flight left Phoenix at 7:55pm and I had a 3 hour layover at LAX (surprise, surprise). I’ve been spending a lot of time at LAX lately. Interestingly enough, my flight to Guadalajara wasn’t due to depart until 1:00am—yes, 1:00am—and the flight was booked! I spoke to a sista waiting for a flight and asked her if she was waiting for the flight to Guadalajara or Memphis (one was preparing to board) and she said “Guadalajara.” I didn’t realize that she was joking until I got on the plane to find out that I was the only one that didn’t look like I didn’t belong on the plane.

As was the case with China, the 3-hour flight to Guadalajara was my introduction to full immersion of Spanish language and culture. I had an in-depth conversation about TEFL with the Flight Attendant Fausto who was gracious enough to offer me FREE DRINKS the whole flight. Needless to say I was quite tipsy when we set down in Guadalajara! :P

Chicken Bus

One of the first images that I have of taking a bus in Mexico is of a bus that is broken down, hot, steamy, crowded, passengers carrying chickens in cages (and maybe some not in cages), and the bus driving on the road adjacent to a cliff that drops off into a gorge about 1000 feet. I think I have this image because of HOLLYWOOD and the numerous movies—I mean misrepresentations--of Mexico. It’s no secret that many parts of Mexico is rural.

The bus ride from Guadalajara to San Luis Potosi was nothing like I had imagined. I rode on Primera Plus and it was quite similar to the airline: air conditioned, assigned seating, movies (in Spanish, of course), music stations, and a CLEAN & sanitized bathroom! To my surprise, the bathroom was cleaner than the airlines!

The small towns along the way were quite amazing: simple and practical. Of course there’s a church in every town center. I couldn’t believe the amount of cactus that I saw on the countryside. There’s only one other place where I’ve seen as much and that’s Arizona.

I suppose if everyone listened to HOLLYWOOD, I’d have gold teeth, be a baby daddy, and listen to hip hop (oh--I do that sometimes) ;-)

10 Common Challenges...

...for Spanish Speakers Learning English: http://tiny.cc/4srly

香港 (Xiānggǎng, Hong Kong SAR) - Ngong Ping 360

Hong Kong is one of my favorite cities on the planet. I spent a lot of time there when I lived in China. This is Ngong Ping 360 located on Lantau Island.