Getting excited for all of the day of the dead altars!

This one was in the bread section at my local grocery store!

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La Gringa y La Yuca's Crazy Adventure: Day 2

The second day of our journey started at 4am, when the MegaBus dumped us off in midtown Manhattan. Since the bus was double-decker, it couldn’t drop us off in the normal bus terminal, Port Authority, because of the low ceilings there, but I was a little confused with the location they chose to unload. If I recall correctly it was on 7th Ave., but about 4 or 5 blocks down from Penn Station, which looked a bit deserted at 4 o’clock in the morning. I’d gone on and on to Grace about NYC being the city that never sleeps and that corner where we were left didn’t prove my point at all. All of the businesses were closed and a good number of bums were roaming around and were literally asleep on the sidewalk. Once I spoke to a cab driver to get my orientation, I assured her we weren’t far from the all-night diner that I’d promised her, Tick Tock; we just needed to lug our suitcases a few blocks to get there. We put on our “don’t mess with us” faces and walked the few blocks past rows of meandering and sleeping homeless guys up to Penn Station and, with the help of a public service worker, found the diner on the next avenue over. I remember the neon sign reading Tick Tock looked like a glowing beacon when I finally saw it because it meant we had a safe place to sit for the next few hours and would have something to eat in the meantime.

Once inside, I was disappointed to learn that they didn’t even have outlets at the tables that we could use to charge up the mini-laptop, but we were able to settle into a nice comfy booth, so that almost made up for it. I ordered the “Novi Plate” for the whopping NYC price of $10.50 for us to share so that Grace could experience her first New York Bagel and lox, which I had also gone on and on about prior to the trip. And her verdict: She liked it!! I told her she passed the test, and could officially be a New York Jew if she wanted, or at the very least, she’d be accepted by my bagel-and-lox-loving family. We also enjoyed 3 free refills on our coffee, and while the prices were definitely NYC standard, Grace seemed a bit amazed that they’d continue refilling our coffee cups even after we paid the bill. Our nice Spanish-speaking waiter also brought us an extra plate of veggies to munch on during the 3 hours we were there at no charge—so I gave him a very healthy tip in appreciation. Another gentleman started to give us a little attitude by our 3rd hour because we weren’t ordering anymore food and taking up room with our suitcases, so we knew it was time to start looking for a friendlier venue.

Around 7am, when it appeared the city was starting to really wake up and get into full gear, I ventured out of the diner in search of a Starbucks so we could plug in and get online. Free WIFI is a wonderful thing!! There was literally one on every corner (sometimes more than one per block) so the choices were unlimited. We picked the one right across from the LIRR entrance to Penn Station, thinking early in the day that we might try to navigate the LIRR and JFK shuttle later on when it was time to head to the airport to save a little money. We sat in that Starbucks for close to 5 and a half hours, and amazingly they didn’t give us any trouble about it. We ordered one drink each and hunkered down for the hours of sleep-deprived waiting with our luggage. The caffeine didn’t help one bit. Grace and I stared at each other and laughed as each of us had our boughts of falling asleep sitting up or in the middle of our sentences. Also I found it super convenient that there was a Kmart right across the street, and I was able to pick up all of our last minute items at fairly low prices (things link travel-size shampoo, inflatable neck pillows, an extra voltage and plug converter, medicine and contact lens solution, and the obligatory travel snacks)…only problem with a store that has everything you need in one place and everything you don’t really need, but looks like too good a deal to pass up, you buy it all…$70 later, and I felt good to go. I returned to Starbucks and announced myself as the conquering hero to Grace, who I’m sure was excited on some level for my new finds, but her tired factor was off the chart, so I think I may have gotten a little “oo” out of her before she went back to leaning her head against the wall, understandably.

When it came time to finally go to the airport around 12:30pm, we were so tired that I just couldn’t even fathom trying to navigate the public transportation system, which I’m sure is very efficient. My brain was officially mush, so we opted to take a NYC cab at the flat rate of about $50 to the airport. In the end, it only worked out about $15 more than taking the trains, and it felt more than worth it. Our cab driver, Francis, was nice enough, kind of deaf, but became very articulate in reminding us that the tip was not included in the $50 rate. I opted for the 15% tip on the credit card screen when paying, which he didn’t make any comment about, but his choice to not get out of the cab and help remove my 50 lb. suitcase from the trunk expressed his opinion of my tip loud and clear. Oh well…I’d had my fill of New York attitude at that point…15% tip was a completely standard amount. I have to schlep that suitcase around China, so one lift out of a trunk didn’t hurt me one bit. It did make me miss the kinder nature of Merida taxi drivers, who help women with heavy items no matter what…chivalry is still alive in Mexico. New Yorkers could learn something from them!!

So there we were, standing on the curb outside the JFK entrance for Air China. I think that’s when it started to sink in for Grace and I that our journey was really finally getting us to CHINA!! We looked at each other, exchanged a smile, and proceeded inside to check-in. I had been a bit worried that I would need to find a way to really consolidate my bags because the Air China website seemed to indicate that only one checked bag and one carry-on (no personal item listed) would be permitted. Instead, we found out the international flight permitted two checked pieces per person at no cost, and that domestically in China they generally allow both bags as well on domestic flights if you show them that you’re part of a tour and traveling internationally before and after the flights. That made dropping off our luggage totally stress-free and alleviated a few of my worries. I do believe I even bragged a bit to Grace that in the end I didn’t need to edit my packing choices. I know I suck at packing the right amount of stuff, but at least it sounds like the airlines understand, somewhat, maybe…I’ll keep telling myself that at least.

We were fully checked-in and had boarding passes in hand by 2:30pm, so we had a few more hours to wait until boarding. We grabbed a wonderfully airport priced lunch at the food court—two sandwiches and one bag of soy crisps—just $18.90!! Seriously, I miss Merida prices; here’s hoping prices in China will make me smile again. We proceeded through security and did a lap of the little shops, which I encouraged Grace to do because we’d be sitting for 14 hours on our flight so it was a good idea to walk around the airport for a little bit beforehand. She only complained a little ;) In typical Cara-fashion, I splurged on a stress-relieving massage at the mini-spa next to our gate and let Grace take advantage of the “free” massage chair time that was provided as a bonus for booking the massage. Totally worth it, but warning to Jardiel (Grace’s boyfriend), she now wants her very own massage chair. I think those things run like $3000US. The lady ended up letting me try it for free as well, and it was very very nice. My lower back and shoulders were very happy. It was hard to pry ourselves out of the chairs, in fact, when they started announcing boarding for our rows. I seriously wanted to take the chair on the plane with me. Unfortunately they said that wasn’t possible. Bums!

And that pretty much wraps up the events of day 2 for La Gringa y La Yuca´s Crazy Adventure. We boarded the Air China (mega) plane and found our seats. Thankfully not as small as I was thinking they might be, but without personal TVs for movie viewing, c’est la vie! So here we are cruising at like 35,000 feet somewhere over northern Canada en route to our first city in China: Beijing. This post will likely be posted at the first place we can plug in and find WIFI, but stay tuned for tales from our first days in the far East…

La Gringa y La Yuca's Crazy Adventure Begins...

Ok, folks, I have 21% battery on this mini lap top, so let's see how much I can crank out about day 1 of our trip before this thing shuts off on me here on the MegaBus...hurray for WIFI on the road.

Sooo, the adventure really started last night when I finally finished packing after days of procrastination, not wanting to even think about the packing process—my least favorite part of traveling. I left my house and headed over to my friend and travel companion's (Grace's) house around 10:30pm. I was supposed to be there around 8, but Grace and I have a wonderful understanding about "ish" timing; she's really the one who introduced me to the concept of Mexican Standard Time and even Grace Standard Time, so the 10:30 arrival with the 8ish plan, was definitely still on time.

Once there, her boyfriend, Jardiel, helped me weigh my bag to ensure it was close to the 20 to 25 kilo limit, which I was right at and verging on the maximum, so it required a little rearranging. I also decided it was necessary to add an additional carry-on to distribute some items. Even with those efforts, I still had to remove two pairs of jeans, much to my chagrin, this morning at the airport because I was just over the limit on their scale. Grace's mom promised to take good care of them for me. While I am an avid traveler, packing is my achilles heal because I like options and back-ups for clothing AND I have a wonderfully large suitcase that does not encourage me to edit my selections at all. I still have my fingers crossed that my bag will be allowed on our internal flights in China where Grace has read the weight limit is 5 kilos less...here's hoping a big smile will get my bag on those legs of the trip. We shall see!

I had a brief 4-hour sleep in Grace's pink hammock, which is becoming our pre-travel tradition now since our trip to Mexico City earlier this year, before waking up at 4 am so we could take showers and get to the airport by 5:30am with the help of Grace's parents. Everything went smoothly with check-in besides having to give up my 2 pairs of jeans and we got on the plane on schedule for the 7am departure. Everything looked good, until 7am came and went and we continued to sit on the tarmac and not pull away from the gate. The pilot informed us about half an hour later that there was a mechanical issue with some part of the engine being stuck open, but they were getting a mechanic out there and we should be pushing off in "10 minutes". I don’t know if it is just me, but I hate those kind of announcements. I wish they’d just lie to me and tell me that there’s a family of bunny rabbits blocking our way and we need to wait for them to move before we can depart. I don’t want to know anything is wrong with my plane…ignorance is bliss! Well fast forward 2 hours and 5 more "10 minutes more" announcements, and we were still sitting on that plane. Well, I admittedly had been dozing, but we hadn't budged an inch, and it was evident that the passengers were getting antsy and hungry. At that point, the airline offered to let people get off the plane and have a snack in the waiting area while they continued to work on the issue. We knew at that point our connection to Boston out of Houston would be missed because we had a 2- hour connection time scheduled, so we accepted our fate and disembarked to get our sickeningly sweet, sticky muffins and stretch our legs. Thankfully we planned our journey to the US with lots of buffer time built in for these types of things, and with our flight to China out of NYC not until 4pm tomorrow, we knew we’d be alright.

We got back on the plane about an hour later, and there was yet another small delay while “paperwork for our new flight times and scheduling were being processed and while we got clearance from air traffic control”. That was the story the pilot was telling us at least. My favorite quote of the day came when he got to his 3rd announcement on this delay and finally admitted “ok, I have no idea when we’ll be cleared for takeoff, but hopefully soon.” So for the first time in 3 and half hours, we finally lost the “10 minutes more” message and got a real honest announcement, which at least made us laugh. It was what it was—when traveling, you must expect delays!

We landed in Houston just prior to a downpour and electrical storm, which made for a slightly bumpy landing, but definitely not the worst I’ve been through. Nothing like the landing of our single-prop engine plane during a storm while visiting the island of Mangaia in the middle of the Pacific back during my semester abroad. That landing scared the bejeezus out of me when we had to make 3 attempts at the sand runway before touching down and lost good amounts of altitude over and over again. The worst part of this storm was the lightening hitting the airport 3 times after we got off and knocking out power as well as preventing the ground crew from unloading the plane for an hour. Hurray for more delays! Grace and I sat right down on the floor near the luggage belt and waited patiently. We had already made it through immigration in truthfully record time for Houston since our plane was the only one being processed at that time. All we could do at that point was wait. The Continental Airlines rep also had already given us new boarding passes for a supposedly 3:50pm flight up to Boston out of gate C42. We had just under 2 hours, so we figured we were still golden.

Once the storm passed and our bags came through, we walked through customs and on to talk to the Continental customer service rep to see if they could do anything special for us due to the mechanical delays from the morning. I was hoping maybe in compensation they’d agree to put us on a flight directly to JFK so we could cut out the 4 hour bus ride (Boston to New York) that we already had planned, but it was not to be. My negotiating skills proved fruitless since our tickets were “only good for Boston”, and they were not willing to make a change. Bums! I did insist that they honor the food vouchers that had been offered on the plane, which the rep tried to get out of by saying that wasn’t standard for “weather delay.” I quickly corrected her and said, “no, no, no, it was definitely a mechanical problem with the plane,” so I firmly stated that we were entitled to some compensation. Sometimes, you just have to stand up for your consumer’s rights. PLUS, we were hungry! That 15 minute wait in line yielded two vouchers for $8 each, so about a dollar a minute, not too bad when you think about it. We put those vouchers to good use on some delicious turkey burgers from a retro-style diner in the airport.

By the time the waitress gave us the burgers and conveniently forgot to pack the $3 bottle of water that we paid for in the bag, we realized that we needed to book it through the airport to get to the gate written on our boarding pass (C42) in order to make it there for the boarding time in less than 10 minutes. So off we went, burgers in hand, not quite old-school OJ Simpson-style airport dashing, but definitely hoofing it through the E terminal and on to the C terminal. We arrived at our designated gate just a few minutes late, but we were greeted with a board listing Los Angeles as the destination. So I ran over to the big departures board, and lo and behold, found out our gate had been changed to E10, one of the very first gates we had passed. Cursing under our breaths and stomachs growling, we took off back down the concourse for the new gate. At least all that rushing hopefully burned off a few calories, since we’re doing a lot of sitting during all of our flights & bus rides. Once at E10, we learned that the boarding time had been pushed back 20 minutes due to the storm, thankfully, so we were able to sit down and eat the burgers and did our best not to absolutely inhale them. And let me just say, they were glorious!

Pretty much from there on, things have run smoothly. The Boston to Houston flight arrived around 9pm and my friend Samantha picked us up at the airport. She took us back to her place in Somerville so we could chill with her and another friend for an hour or so, and then she drove us to Boston’s South Station so we could catch our midnight MegaBus to New York (an absolute steal considering is was only $6 for the ticket and the bus has WIFI). Grace and I made friends with a Chilean guy traveling on his own in line waiting to board, and we were able to find the last two seats next to each other on the top floor of the double decker bus(they weren’t kidding when they called it a “Mega”bus).

Now we’re on the road to NYC and should be arriving around 4am. The goal is to get to the 24-hour diner that I know of by Penn Station called TikToc and hang out there until the Starbucks start opening so we can move over to one of those and set-up camp for the day with our luggage in a place with free WIFI and caffeine.
Long story short (already too late, I know), it was an eventful first day of our journey and definitely tiring. But there was nothing this Gringa & Yuca couldn’t handle. We are aware that we still won’t see a bed for over 24 more hours, and there is a 14-hour flight and at least a fun-attempt at communicating with a Chinese-speaking taxi driver to get us to the correct hotel in Beijing before we see that bed. But once we make it to that bed, trust me, Grace and I will be in HEAVEN. Stay tuned for tales from an extremely sleep-deprived day 2…

4th of July Abroad: If you grill it, they will come!

Soooo, 4th of July was this past weekend, and what a glorious 4th of July it was despite being south of the border where that date holds absolutely no signficance and there being no red, white, and blue in sight. I can't really say there was much celebrating of American Independence, but rather a simple celebration of grilled foods, which no one can resist. On a whim, I made the suggestion to a new group of friends that we should "grill some food" for 4th of July and that comment resulted in a gathering of 4 Americans, 2 Canadians, and 2 Mexicans on the beach at Chaburna for some grillin' and boozin' good times on Sunday. When the first thing you drink for the day is RUM, you know it's going to be a good day! As I was shopping with some of my new friends for snacks and "POP" (by request from the Canadians) for our grill-fest, I realized that my "little travel habit" has kept me out of the US on the 4th of July quite a few times. I actually can't remember the last time I was anywhere that had fireworks for 4th of July, which made me a little nastolgic for the fireworks off Jones Beach (Long Island) that we used to watch with my grandparents when I was a kid. I realized that I've spent 4th July in London (where they're not all that thrilled to celebrate the Indepedence of the "Unruly Colony"), Barcelona, Auckland (New Zealand), and Madrid (3 times)...and now I have Mexico to add to that list.

The Canadians contributed "Canadian-style burgers" to the grill menu, which entailed cooking up some deliciousness in the form of bacon, onions, garlic, and mushrooms on the stove, and then blending them into a paste that was mixed in with the ground beef before grilling. So basically all of the yummy stuff we Americans put on top of our burgers, they put inside the burger for a quite nice affect. They even stuffed a few of the burgers with cheese. It certainly made for less mess when eating and all of the yumminess mixed into every bite. My contribution was grilled pineapples, which went quite perfectly on top of the Canadian-style burgers if I do say so myself. We also eventually went and picked up some seafood for the one semi-vegetarian in the crowd. Somehow, despite how late in the day we went out to try to find the seafood, we managed to bring back a big bag of shrimp and a WHOLE shark. Luckily, I was spared the task of butchery the shark, but I ended up being the one to grill up the shark fillets and shrimp kibabs on the BBQ because the other grillers we're fairly boozed by that point. I added my own special touch by dousing them both in lime and pineapple juice and they went very well with a modge-podge tarter sauce that my friend threw together from sour cream, mustard, and relish. Short on-and-off rain delays produced a beautiful rainbow just down the beach, but also left more time for drinking instead of grilling so everyone was toasty by the time we got around to the actual eating part of the day, which just meant that there were lots of laughs to go around in addition to the good eats.

Other highlights of the day included two of the guys jamming together on their guitars (shirtless, which I certainly did not mind), 3 outfit changes by my friend's wonderfully hippy-esque mother, swimming in the ocean right in front of our friend's condo, and endless good conversation. While I'm loving every minute of living in Mexico and all the Spanish-speaking that entails, it was definitely nice to party with a predominantly English-speaking crowd for a small change. I know I must practice my Spanish more to improve, but my brain was thankful that it got to relax a little at this party and did not have to constantly be in translation mode. So the moral of the story here was this 4th of July in Mexico was my best 4th celebration abroad yet simply because the primitive idea of food cooked over an open flame appeals to just about everyone and provided an excellent excuse for friends (new and old) to gather and get their grub on.

Home Sweet Merida

Merida really is feeling like home these days. I was just up in the states last week running around from New Jersey to NYC to Boston then back down to Long Island and Jersey again for the flight home. It was a great week including a big family party for my grandmother's 80th birthday, a food festival on "restaurant row" in NYC, a new broadway show (Next to Normal), celebrity spotting Claire Danes at the Chinese consulate while getting my visa processed, spending time with great friends in Boston, a lovely party celebrating my friend's graduation from Harvard Law, and discount shopping!!!! But after all that running around, it was nice to get back to my little house and my CAR, which my friend drove to the airport for me, here in Merida. I was easily able to slip back into my healthy routine of work followed by an hour at the gym and back to my healthy food venues: Pollo Brujo & GoGreen. I can't wait for the weekend to finally relax...but in the meantime it feels nice to be home! Viva Mexico!

Location:Merida, Mexico

The Cenotes of Cuzama

Playing Tour Guide--Srta.Julia esta en casa!

It's Saturday afternoon, and I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of my best and longest-standing friend, Julia! I've known this girl since I was 12 years old, and I think of her as a sister. We've stayed in touch over the years and even took an Alaska Cruise together last summer. Pretty cool that we got to share an adventure involving glaciers and now she's on her way to spend some time with me closer to the equator--definitely no icebergs here. She is my first American friend to come and visit me while I've been living here in Merida, so I'm really excited to play tour guide for her this week. She flew into Cancun and is now taking the ADO bus out here to Merida, and I'm happy to report she's checked in to tell me she's on the "autobus", so just a few more hours now.

My brave friend accepted a position at a new company, so she has a few weeks off in between finishing up her last day at her previous company and when she's scheduled to report for her new job. I was thrilled when she told me she'd be filling a few of those free days by coming visit MOI! I have a trip planned for us tomorrow to the Cenotes of Cuzama along with 12 friends from work. My local friends had taken me to these cenotes last year when I came down on my initial trip, and I'd told Julia about how great they were, so she'd mentioned that they were high on her list as somethings she'd wanted to see/do. Luckily, these cenotes are popular enough that 12 more people from my office decided they'd join us so we were able to reserve a van and driver for transportation. The only downside is we have to be at the pick-up spot at 9am tomorrow, ugh! But I know it'll be worth it, so I'll suck it up. Sometimes I just wish I was a morning person. We'll be taken to the small town of Cuzama (really kind of out in the middle of nowhere) where we'll get on these carts referred to as "trucs" which are pulled by donkeys or mules along an old track that had been laid down for harvesting the local plant called henequen during its boom era in the early 20th century. Each truc has a local man assigned to it who coaxes the animal to pull the cart and is responsibe for hauling it off the tracks and back on when there's a group of people coming back in the opposite direction; not an easy task, let me tell you, those things are heavy! They take us to 3 different cenotes (subterranean water holes): one accessed by a relatively small hole with a rickety ladder built down the side, one a bit more open with a make-shift staircase and a place you have to duck down really low, and the third is the most open and has a long staircase built in (but the openness makes it the least popular because there are more bugs and bats inside). The first two are definitely the highlight, with cool, clean, crystalline water, shafts of light streaming in from holes above, and roots hanging down from the overlying trees. We're given time to swim in all three for about 30 minutes each, and then taken back to the small town. There isn't much in terms of restaurants out there, so we'll be packing a picnic lunch.

My plan for Monday is to take her to the local beach, Progreso, but I did hear it is pretty crowded on Mondays because that is the day that Carnival Cruises has their ship in port. It will likely be swarming in tourists, so I'm going to try to get directions to one of the less established local beaches where we can swim and avoid the throngs of cruise passengers. Maybe I'll even convince a local friend to come a long--let's see what I can make happen.

I really can't take more than a day or even a half day off right now since I have the big China trip coming up this summer and then time planned for a beach vacation out to Playa del Carmen or Cozumel with my friend Stephanie who will be visiting in August. So my thoughts for Tuesday are having Julia book a day trip through my contacts at the office, and she can pick which ruins she'd like to see--my guess is she'll pick Chichen Itza, but I'll leave that up to her. The lady at my office said all of the day trips run about the same price (~600 pesos), so I just need to take her in on Monday to decide what she wants to do while I'm at work on Tuesday and she'll book it for her.

It's just a short visit, so I'll be putting her back on the ADO bus on Wednesday so she can catch her evening flight back from Cancun to Washington, DC. My goal is for her to at least experience some of the local Yucatecan food, hopefully take in a little local culture like the "baile folklorico" in Centro on Monday night, and just relax and enjoy my little corner of the world here. Let me wrap this up so I can get in a quick workout before she arrives, and get started with playing Tour Guide for the next few days. Wish me luck!

An exercise in learning the art of EDITING!

Sooooo, as a long-time Oprah fan, I was looking around her site today and since it's her last season and all, I wanted to see for which topics they were looking for guests and what ideas they were looking for for submissions on. One of the topics was, "Where in the World Should Oprah go Next?". Well I thought that was a perfect a perfect chance for me to suggest Oprah visit Merida and do a piece on Mexico, specifically about how the US media has sensationalized news stories making it seem like the whole country is riddled with violence when in fact it's only small regions. So I started writing my submission, felt really good about it and then hit "submit" only to get a message reminding me that my submission must be kept to 2000 characters or less. I copied and pasted it into a word document only to discover my original draft was over 3000 characters and more than that with spaces. So I started the difficult task of editing my submission down to 2000 characters. Check out the original version and then the final submission to see how I had to quickly learn the art of editing in order to get my submission down to size. I learned through the process that some ideas work better when stated with fewer words and that it's best to let the location speak for itself. My own personal background on how I ended up here was really fluff, especially since the purpose of the submission was about why to visit Merida, not why to visit Cara in Merida. My hope is that the final version remained persuasive and relavent in the shorter format.
Original Version:
I am a 27-old single American female living in MERIDA, Mexico. After all of the negative press the entire country of Mexico has been getting in the US media about drug-related violence the last couple of years, my friends and family were definitely wondering if I'd lost it and asking if "I was really sure that I wanted to do this" when I announced that I'd be giving up my apartment in Boston and moving to Mexico last August. I work for an American educational student tour company based out of Boston, which happens to have a satellite location here in the Yucatan. After a 6 week assignment last year where I was given the opportunity to work remotely from this office, I decided this was a city in which I really wanted to live. It took me about 5 months to convince the executive team back in Boston that it was a good idea to let me move here for a more permanent assignment, but they finally grated my request. It is truthfully the safest city I've ever lived in; I feel comfortable as a woman walking alone at night; I don't see drug deals happening in broad daylight on the street corners (like I did in downtown Boston everyday on my way into the office); the local daily news is not riddled with senseless crimes and murders; and while I lock my doors at night, I feel like I could sleep with the doors wide open and I would be perfectly safe...from other people at least. The giant bugs are another story, and even the doors being shut doesn't keep them out. I have started an album on my facebook page called "unwelcome guest" to show my friends back home the creepy crawly creatures that have found their way in to my house. 1000 legs nor pinchers are appendages that I like to find on things occupying the same space in which I have to sleep, but I've accepted that that's all part of the adventure of living in Mexico. Viva la cucaracha!

Oprah really must do a story about this city and Mexico in general! The Oprah Show has a unique opportunity, and obligation I believe, to demonstrate to the American public, that the news stories about violence are related to isolated areas, and that Mexico as a whole is an amazing place to live, vacation to, and/or retire. Mexico's tourism industry has taken a huge hit due to the sensationalized news stories that dipict the whole country "under seige" when that is far from the case. There is even a website set up called www.thetruthaboutmexico.com which is written by Americans and Canadians living or spending extended stays in Mexico to give more first-hand point-of-view stories about the conditions within the country. Americans need to get a chance to see what is really going on in their neighbor to the south's backyard.

Merida is a great jumping off point to start the piece about Mexico from because it has everything! It's the capital of the state of Yucutan and has beautiful colonial and European-influenced architecture in the city-center (evoking the city's rich history) as well as an every-expanding area of modern suburban sprawl with strong American influences (TGIFridays, Home Depot, and mall after mall after mall). Here we're just 4 hours by bus from Cancun, 30 minutes from Progreso beach, and within easy day-trip distance from the most famous Mayan archaeological sites such as Chichen Itza and Uxmal. The eco-tourist is also in heaven here with easy access to coastal nature preserves providing the opportunity to see crocodiles and exotic birds of many varieties, including flamingos, in their native habitats.

I'd love to function as Oprah's "local correspondent" giving the inside scoop on living in Mexico from the point-of-view of a young SINGLE American woman. I'd certainly love to discuss Mexico's overall statistics on crime and safety for foreign travelers, due to my interest in helping reinvigorate Mexico's tourism industry. I also think an interesting perspective for a show could be on how in many ways a single woman living on her own is a bit of an enigma here because most women do not live on their own; they stay with their families until they are married and few leave Merida, which creates an amazing web of interconnected familial circles and groups of friends that have known each other since primary school. It's been a fascinating to society to learn to live in, and coming from an Anthropology background in college, it's been a dream-come true to become immersed in another culture. I want to share this culture, the people, and the truth about Mexico with Oprah's viewers. Please give me that chance, you will not be sorry!

FINAL UNDER-2000 CHARACTER SUBMISSION:
Oprah needs to visit MERIDA, Mexico! Having now lived here close to a year, I can say that this is the safest city I've ever lived in; as a woman, I feel safe walking alone at night; I don't see drug deals happening in broad daylight; the local daily news is not riddled with gang violence; and while I lock my doors at night, I feel I could sleep with the doors wide open and I would be perfectly safe—from other people at least. The giant bugs are another story, and even the doors don’t keep them out. But that's all part of the adventure of living in Mexico. Viva la cucaracha! The show has a unique opportunity to demonstrate to the American public, that the news stories about violence in Mexico are related to isolated areas, and that the country as a whole is a safe place to live, vacation, and retire. Mexico's tourism industry has seen a marked decline in visitors from the US due to news stories like “Mexico Under Seige” and “The War Next Door.” A website has even been set up called www.thetruthaboutmexico.com to give an insider perspective on the conditions within Mexico from those of us living here. Merida is a great starting point for any piece about Mexico because it has everything! It's the capital of the state of Yucatán; you have the colonial and European-influenced architecture in the city-center and an ever-expanding area of modern suburban sprawl littered with American chains (and malls galore). We're just 4 hours by bus from Cancun, 30 minutes from the gulf coast, and within easy day-trip distance from the most famous Mayan archaeological sites. The eco-tourist also enjoys access to nature preserves nearby with crocodiles and flamingos in their native habitats. I'd love to function as Oprah's "local correspondent" giving the insider scoop on living in Mexico as a young SINGLE American woman on her own (a unique perspective considering I’m far from the norm here). Please give me that chance, you will not be sorry!

Celestun

Announcement: It's official...I'm going to China!

Holy Moly, Caratheglobetrotter is going to China this summer! My company just approved allowing me and my coworker, Grace, to go on our Beijing, Xian, and Shanghai tour.

Check out our itinerary:

Tour Center - Beijing, Xian & Shanghai

To do list:
+ Decide if we're doing a stay behind (a few extra days in Shanghai sounds cool--there are some villages built on waterways like Venice that are day-trip accessible from Shanghai that we'd like to check out)
+ Get flights booked
+ Get passport picture taken for visa application
+ Get to work on getting the Visa processed (decide whether to use a visa handling agency or hire one of the company's tour directors based out of Mexico City to drop-off, pick-up, and mail our passports back to us)
+ Start reading up on Chinese history--already took a quick look and, man, that country's really old, better get crackin'!
+ Learn Chinese...who am I kidding?? not going to happen, but a phrase book is probably a good idea.
+ Count down...88 days and counting.

There are more worthy Yucatan Beaches than just Cancun & Playa del Carmen!

While Cancun and Playa del Carmen may have the prettiest blue water beaches on the Yucutan Peninsula, there is still loads of fun to be had and interesting things to see at many of the Yucutan's other beaches. I spent this weekend exploring two of my favorites! Saturday, I went on a day-trip tour with a group of friends from work out to Celestun on the West Coast (gulf side) of the peninsula. This wasn't my first time visiting this beach, as I went with my friend Tony when I first visited Merida for my first assignment last year. We'd taken a local bus and figured out everything on our own once we got there, which made it a real adventure that first time around. But since I hadn't been in a year, and the tour was free (hurray for the small perks of working for a travel company), I am never one to pass up a free travel opportunity! Celestun, like Dzilam de Bravo(my last vlog post), is another "eco-tourism" locale famous for its wildlife. Celestun is particularly well-known for the number of flamingos that can be viewed there. Sunday, I was then invited by my friend Grace to go with her family out to Progreso beach to visit her aunt's new house and to try out their waverunner. It was a wonderful beach-filled weekend to say the least!

Saturday: The tour bus/van picked us up from the Holiday Inn in Merida at 9am Mexican Standard Time (so it showed up around 9:30). This was actually lucky for me since we were told to meet at the hotel at 8:30am, and that's the time I woke up since I slept through my alarm clock. I was rushing like a bat out of hell to get over there before 9am, which I knew was the actual pick-up time, but in the end, I made it with time to spare! My friends told me showing up late is actually one of the signs that I'm fully acclimating to life in Merida, so I'll take that as a compliment. We drove west from the city making a short stop in the town of Uman along the way so we could buy water and take a closer look at the picturesque church there. I was psyched because I was able to take a few of my "famous flower-in-the-foreground" photos of the church thanks to a few bright red flowers in bloom right out front. That continued a tradition I started back in Paris a few years ago when I was on tour with a friend from work who taught me the photographic flower trick using Notre Dame as our subject. While Uman's church was not as grand as Notre Dame, it was still quite dramatic with its gothic arches around the main entrance and structure built from the stones of the Mayan pyramid that once stood there. Our guide was a friendly young local guy named Angel who conducted his commentary in Spanish and English since the tour was made up of a group of Mexicans, Americans, and Australians. Once we arrived into the outskirts of the town of Celestun we were taken to get into boats to go down a "brazo del mar" or estuary, I believe is the word in English. The water comes directy from the ocean, so it is saline and not a river, the guide explained. Six of us loaded into one boat and three joined a family on another boat. Our boat driver's name was Omar, and he did a great job of navigating the "brazo del mar" and getting us up close to the flamingos without scaring them away. We asked if we could get out of the boat and walk even closer to the birds, and he said "sure, the water's shallow" in Spanish. I saw the flamingos were all standing well out of the water, so I hopped right out of the boat with all of my clothes on. I failed to take into account that I weigh more than a flamingo, so I immediately sank to my knees in the smelly mud and my shorts and bottom-half of my shirt were soaked! I quickly realized that "walking" towards the flamingos was going to be next to impossible. I tried my darndest, but I got stuck and had to ask Omar to drive the boat over to me so I could hold on to the front and pull my legs out. Somehow I think he knew that was going to happen, a warning sure would have been nice! After snapping loads of photos of the flamingos, both in and out of the water, Omar drove us into a canal cut through a mangrove (or "mangle") where the roots of the trees made impressive cage-like structures at the base of all of the trees. We were also given an opportunity to get out for 15 minutes and check out an "ojo de agua" or water hole with crystal blue water, which we were able to walk to on a wooden boardwalk. I'd swam there last year, so I played photographer for everyone else as they swam and ventured a bit further past the water hole on the guide's advice. Lo and behold, I discovered a small crocodile chilling out in a shallow section of water about 20 meters down from the water hole. After that discovery, I was really happy I'd decided to sit out from swimming! Got some awesome photos of Mr. Croc and possibly saved a limb or two, which in my book is a win-win situation. The only down-side of sitting out was that I had longer to chat with the local vendors who'd set up trays of Mexican candies along the boardwalk, and they talked me into buying some for me and my friends. I purchased a variety of candies that you can't find easily in the US: tamarindo con chile (Liliana's favorite), merengues (Gabriel & Grace's preference), and un dulce de coco (my pick), all for less than $3US. We snacked on these on the way back to the boat's launching site, so I guess is wasn't all bad :) Next, the tour took us to a large restaurant called La Palapa right on the beach where we had a delicious lunch of ceviche mixto (shrimp, crab, and octopus "cooked" in lime and salt and then mixed with tomatoes and onion) and grilled fish with lots of garlic! I also had a local drink called michilada, which I usually explain to people as being beer (tecate light in this case) mixed with ice and all of the spices you find in a bloody mary, and the rim of the glass is coated in salt. It took me a while to get used to all the spices, but now I really enjoy this drink paired with seafood especially. We had an hour to relax on the beach after lunch, which gave us time to digest. We piled back in to the bus/van around 3:30pm and headed back to Merida. I promptly fell asleep on the ride back, which my friends all know happens everytime I'm in in a moving vehicle, and it's become a running joke to see how fast it will happen. I wonder if anyone placed bets. We got back to Merida around 5:30pm, just in time to go back to my house and continue the nap from the bus in the form of a 2 hour siesta in my hammock at home! I have to admit that for the second time, I found Celestun to be a worthy day-trip from Merida and the sight of the bright pink horizon as we approached the flamingo nesting ground still took my breath away!!

Sunday: My friend Grace called me around 10:00am to tell me that her family had decided to go out to her aunt's house at Progreso beach and that I was welcome to join to try out their waverunner. While I've been to Progreso several times, since it is just 30 minutes to the north of Merida, I have never been on a waverunner. I'm not one to pass up a new opportunity, so I quickly agreed and hurried to get ready and over to her house by the time her parents got back from church. I arrived at the exact same time they did, which was impeccable timing! I can't thank Grace's family enough for including me in family gatherings such as this trip to their beach house and even New Year's which I found out most people celebrate with a big meal with family and then meet up with friends LATE in the night...they've been really kind to include me. (Note to self: must find someway to really thank them!) Grace's mom offered me cochinita, slow cooked pork, with tortillas, which is a very common weekend breakfast here in Merida, and since I haven't had any in months, I happily accepted. Its the kind of food that is easier to buy for a family by the kilo, and not something I get for myself on a regular basis, so it was a real treat. After eating, we piled into the car and her dad drove us to her aunt's house at Progreso. We greeted all of the family at the house, and even got to see one of their dogs nursing her day-old litter of puppies (5)! Seriously, the cutest thing I've ever seen. Her aunt's house was a just a few blocks from the beach, but since we were taking the waverunner, Grace, me, her brother, cousin-in-law, and dad got back in the car and drove about 15 minutes to a small beach near the a bridge. They explained to me that this beach was easier to launch the waverunner from because they could back the trailer right into the water. The little beach was pretty littered with trash and had quite a few dead fish, including a blow fish, which I found interesting despite being dead, but they were right about it being the best place to launch and use the waverunner. The water was actually a bay (I think) so it was really calm. The boys handled the heavy lifting of getting the waverunner into the water, and her brother, the mechanical engineer (in about 10 years when he's out of high school and college), took care of tinkering with the motor and getting it gassed up. Everyone took turns going out on the waverunner by themselves or paired up. Grace and I tried to go together, but we couldn't get the darn thing to work no matter if I was sitting in the front or the back. In the end, I went out with her younger brother and got my whirl on the jet ski as a passenger hanging on for dear life to her brother's shirt and praying he wouldn't turn too fast and flip me off (she talked to him beforehand and got him to promise he wouldn't). While it certainly wasn't going the fastest with the too of us on there, I still enjoyed the rush. I just don't know how anyone sees anything on those things, the salt water was splashing all over my face! I'm a bit of whimp so I declined going out again on my own even though they offered. I was too nervous that #1 I couldn't see that well without my glasses or #2 that it was possible that I'd flip off of it far away from shore and not be able to get back on. I promised myself that I'll try a solo-run next time (pep-talk might be needed). I spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying watching her brother and father go out, and when her brother took their cousin-in-law a couple of times he'd be trying to throw him off the back with a fast turn. The cousin finally caught on and succeeded in bringing her brother down with him everytime he'd fall. It was really quite amusing to watch; boys being boys! Grace made a really good showing herself and seemed very impressed that she did a couple solo-runs without falling off. We headed back to her aunt's house and they served up conch ceviche for lunch as a wonderful breeze flowed through the house...natural beach airconditioning at its best! I've come to love the fact that a day at the beach here in Yucatan includes some form of ceviche, which is one of my favorite dishes, so I don't mind one bit! I got to nap for a little while in a hammock upstairs while Grace took her shower, and then we were headed back to Merida. Though clouds had been rolling in all day, we left just in time as it started to rain (drizzle) a little bit on the way home. All in all, a relaxing and exhilarating day at the beach!
Check out my photos from the weekend in my facebook album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2513640&id=908832&l=0c0b180a58

Exploring Dzilam de Bravo!

How to eat at a Mexican "Chilanga" Restaurant daily and stay healthy!

"Comida Chilanga" is food popular in the center of the country, Mexico City (D.F.) to be exact. I have become a regular at the "Chilanga" cocina economica around the corner from our office here in Merida, "Platos Rotos" (Broken Plates), because when it comes to lunch, I fully admit I am too lazy to prepare food for myself at home to bring to work. I love that the food there always tastes so "home-made", is served on chipped/hand-painted ceramic plates, and I can tell it's made from fresh ingrediants. With most full dishes ranging in price from 40-55 pesos ($3-4), it is also super affordable compared to my lunch options back in Boston, where it was hard to get a sub and drink for less than $10, and if you wanted chips or some fruit with that, $13 was the typical daily price tag for a full lunch. Another reason I like eating out for lunch is that I at least have OPTIONS; I find it a bit depressing cooking for just myself because it means I have to eat the same thing for days. Any single person out there can tell you, it's next to impossible to cook ONE serving of anything. Sooooo, with my whole healthy kick lately, I've come up with some rules for myself on how to eat healthy while eating at a restaurant serving cuisine that is notorious for it's delicious oil-soaked, fried specialties and fattening cheese & cream toppings. Here are my rules:
1) Say "no gracias" to the chips and frijoles put on the table when you sit down and ask to have salad with the main dish instead (the local avocado is super healthy!)
2) Choose soup with noodles, pasta, OR rice--only one source of carbs at the meal.
3) Forego the tortillas placed on the table; use the knife and fork provided even though the local custom is to use the tortillas to pick up the food--you don't always have to follow the local custom. Your knife and fork still do the job!
4) Choose items cooked in salsa verde, which is low in fat and calories compared to cream-based and mole sauces.
5) If all of the daily menu items are fried, request "pechuga a la plancha" (grilled chicken breast), which is always available but not always on the daily list.
6) Ask a day in advance when you know they'll be serving fried fish for them to set aside one fillet to be grilled instead of fried. (This time a year a fish dish is always served on Fridays because Catholics observing Lent do not eat other meats that day of the week; so that means ask on THURSDAY for the piece of fish to be set aside.)
7) Opt for water instead of high-calorie, sugar-loaded fruit juices and horchata. "Un vaso de agua" is always free, so it's healthy and economical. (And much contrary to the American traveler superstition, water served in a glass WILL NOT KILL YOU in Mexico. I drink water WITH ICE daily, and my stomach is juuuuuust fine. They pour the water into a glass from a big bottle of water, NOT the TAP. Restaurant owners in Mexico are not out to kill American tourists, promise!)

And there you have it, the rules to healthy "Chilanga" dining!

The Chinese: Feeding the Non-Christians of the world on Christian Holidays!

So it's Good Friday, I'm told, and with 90% of the Mexican population registered as Catholic, that means most people do not work in Merida today because with the Catholics making up the majority, today is recognized as a national holiday. Perhaps, the title of this post gives it away, but I was not raised Christian, so I am bit clueless when it comes to Christian holidays. Ok, I'm a bit clueless in general, my mother had to call and remind me it was Passover the other day and I still have not called my grandparents...shoot! (Must remember to do that this weekend.) My dad was raised Christian but always told me he just recognized himself as a "Christmas-tarian". He encouraged my mother to raise us Jewish because she was more religiously inclined. I was that lucky kid, envied by all her friends, because I got Hannukah and Christmas--double the presents! But back to Good Friday, I didn't even know it was a special day until my friends from work told me that most businesses would be closed today (except for our office of course because the American company that we work for does not recognize Mexican national holidays). I'm still confused why this holiday is called "Good Friday" though. I asked my Catholic friends what was being celebrated and they said this holiday is observed to remember Jesus being nailed to the cross, so I scratched my head and said "what's so good about that?"...I didn't really get a response to that one. I did quite enjoy when one of them went on to say, "and Easter Sunday celebrates Jesus miraculously coming back to life and exiting the cave he was buried in with a basket of chocolate eggs and a bunny hopping behind him." Now it all makes sense! I decided since most of Merida had the day off, I'd take today off from work as well as a planned "mental health day", something I think everyone needs to do once in while, especially after a stressful month at work!

I started the day by first going to check out a new gym and trainer that I heard about in a Yucatan Today facebook post. The gym itself is located in this brand new boutique hotel, called Rosa y Xocolate, on Paseo Montejo, which is a really uniquely refurbished bright pink mansion. I really liked the small gym facility (brand new machines) and the fact that the 1500 pesos (a little over $100) per month rate would include 24-hour access to the gym, the full services of the personal trainer during his scheduled hours, and 1 massage per month from the spa (even though the spa probably won't open until next month). A personal trainer who you can see everyday and a gym membership to a small exclusive club in the US would run HUNDREDs if not THOUSANDs of dollars a month, so I'm definitely giving it some thought even though it's more than double what I've been paying for my current gym. I'm thinking that having a trainer would help accelerate my weightloss efforts by giving me a more effective routine and discipline. My current work-out routine is 50 minutes on an elliptical machine 5 times per week, which definitely burns calories, but I'll fully admit that I make a b-line for the locker room and avoid the weights and resistance machines after I'm done with my cardio because I'm intimidated by all the cables and doohickies that have to be clicked into place. I'm guessing the trainer could help me with that.

After checking out the new gym, I wanted to get in a full work-out, so I headed over to my current gym at the Fiesta Americana, one of the big hotels in town, and did the elliptical for close to an hour. I then indulged myself by having an 80 minute massage at their spa (20% discount with my membership)...pure bliss! By the time I was leaving, I was beyond relaxed, but HUNGRY because my refrigerator was empty this morning. I had planned on going over to my favorite salad joint, GoGreen (an American chain) on Prolongacion Montejo, for a hearty & healthy late-afternoon lunch, but when I got there, I realized they'd closed for the holiday much to the dismay of my grumbling stomach. I quickly scanned my brain for other places I could try, but I knew my normal lunch joints, which include the "Chilanga" cocina economica (Mexico City style food) around the corner from my office, called Platos Rotos, where they know me so well that they're willing to make me a grilled chicken breast with salad and soup (not on the menu) any day I can't find something healthy in the daily specials and Pollo Brujo, a delicious local grilled chicken chain restaurant a block and half down the road from my office, would both definitely be closed for Good Friday.

So I did what any person raised in a good Jewish American household would do...I tried a Chinese restaurant! And sure enough, it was open. Thankfully, Chinese food is one of the few foreign foods popular enough in Mexico to have restaurants scattered around Merida. I had the thought to look for a Chinese restaurant because my Jewish family often went out for Chinese on Christmas (the one Christian holiday given as a day off to all Americans) when I was growing up. It is a tradition for a lot of American Jewish families, in fact. With nothing to celebrate other than a free day off from school/work/etc. for us (not a holiday that we feel we need to be at home with family for), and the Chinese restaurants being the only ones that open for business that day--it's a natural fit. If you don't believe me, walk into an American Chinese restaurant on Christmas and I bet you'll find the majority of tables will be occupied by Rosenblums, Steins, Goldbergs, and Silvermans! I am grateful that I had that American Jewish "survival knowledge" for where to eat on a Christian holiday to tap into; it meant that I did not go hungry in Mexico today. I was even able to make a relatively healthy meal out of wonton soup and mooshoo gai pan chicken with steamed white rice. The little extra container of Chile included for the Mexican palette was a pleasant addition as well. I am starting to appreciate the Yucatecan concept of if your mouth isn't burning after a meal, it really can't be classified as "rico". I'd like to tell Chinese restaurants owners that they're doing a great MITZVAH (good deed) for the hungry, cooking-resistant non-Christian populations of the US and Mexico by being open on all holidays! Gracias Chinos!

Weightloss Epic: (Current Chapter) "Losin' It in Mexico"

This post is not about losing my mind, but rather losing weight while living in the land of "everything is better with 'queso y crema' on it!"

I am the self-proclaimed Queen of Weightloss, when I want to be, and the Queen of "Meh, I'll do it later!", the rest of the time. I've struggled my whole life to have my seriously focused healthy-lifestyle mentality, which I can be really good at, be my dominant mindset, but it has been in constant battle with my "I'll do it later" tendencies and weaknesses through adjusting to life changes and disappointment.

Quick History on my weightloss successes and struggles through Childhood, High School, and College:

I was always a chubby kid (impulsive eater) but I always played sports, which kept me active and able fend off morbid obesity during childhood. I played soccer through 8th grade, and then volleyball and softball in high school until I messed up my shoulder Junior year. I had a brief moment of "thinness" in high school at age 16 due to a successful 40 lbs. weightloss on the Atkins diet. I landed my first boyfriend shortly after that, which I credited to the weightloss and improved self-esteem that it brought (boys finally noticed me). I never had good eating habits and that Atkins diet didn't teach me any maintainable weightloss skills--it was definitely a short-term fix. When that first boyfriend moved away to attend college out-of-state six months later and I lost my positions on the high school sports teams due to the shoulder problems I was having, I started my biggest weight gain trend during Senior year (depression-driven "life sucks" weight gain) and graduated from high school extremely overweight, not my favorite photo album to say the least. I can't say how much I weighed at graduation because I avoided scales like the plague.

I'm sure I gained the "freshman fifteen" that first year of college and then some, to put it mildly! The adjustment to moving to Boston (over 8 hours from home) and living on my own was hard enough without the constant access to unhealthy food in the university dining hall, which didn't help my waistline one bit. I topped the scale at over 300 pounds by my Sophomore year of college, which I finally had to face when I was forced to get on a scale for a class assignment and could not believe the number I saw staring back at me. That was the tipping point that led me to lose half of my body weight, 150 pounds, over my Junior and Senior year through dedication to exercise (going religiously 4X per week for an hour of cardio; nothing stopped me from going, not even 2 feet of snow) and healthy eating following the weightwatchers online program and cooking my own food. It was a HUGE accomplishment, which I now wish I had not taken for granted after reaching "goal".

The LAST 5 Years!

I can look back over the last 5 years since college and see all of the major events in my personal timeline that led me to being incredibly overweight again by 2008 and now seeing some significant progress here in 2010. The progression of how everything happened seems so clear in retrospect. Sometimes I can't believe it took 2 years to take off that incredible amount of weight and really 2 years to put the majority of it back on, never hit 300 again, but got frighteningly close. There was one year in there where I kept the weight off (even dropped a bit below that goal weight), but life got complicated and I recognize that I didn't create good routines for weight maintenance through several major life upheavals and changes.

Let's examine my personal timeline of the last 5 years:
2005
May Graduated from Boston University at 150 lbs.--GOAL WEIGHT!
June Moved to Virginia Beach and started living with with 6 foot 5, 280 lbs., boyfriend (same boyfriend who had moved away during high school--thought it was "meant to be" after we reunited). **PROBLEM: He ate every healthy snack I bought for myself before I even got a chance to open the boxes.** Happy, nonetheless, and trying to start my "real life."
June-Dec Worked 2 very active jobs with odd hours (bartending and "dressing/undressing" sets for a television production studio) which gave me the ability for the first time in my life to basically eat whatever I wanted and not gain weight--this led to bad eating habits again and much decreased usage of the gym. Dropped to about 145 lbs. at some point in there and remember having people tell me I looked "too skinny" and "unhealthy." Got very confused over how to feel about my body. Always had been a curvy girl, and no longer had any curves at that weight. Boobs had disappeared. Going from a generous D cup to hardly filling a B cup was devastating, and didn't know what to do about it.

2006
Jan Got the first "dreaded office job" sitting on my ass 40 hours a week selling cruises tethered to my desk by a telephone headset. Again hours were weird, sometimes 4pm-1am, and my eating and gym habits had already deteriorated. The pounds started piling back on...
July 4th Broke up with "meant-to-be" boyfriend (PS, it wasn't meant to be), moved out. Pounds continued to pile on, but didn't notice and remember at least liking that I had a few curves back.
Fall Dated two guys at the same, a bad boy and an older man, living rebelliously... they both liked how I looked so continued to not watch my habits closely. Was attempting to go to the gym regularly and see a trainer (I was trying), but wasn't serious enough about it and definitely wasn't eating well. Pounds continued to pile on as the whole "weight" issue was ignored and scales were conveniently avoided...
Dec Got new job in Boston, packed up and moved back north to get life "back-on-track".

2007
Jan Started new job and moved in with new 6 foot 3, 230 lbs. boyfriend who's eating habits were even worse than mine, but he was almost a foot taller than me and had been an athletic swimmer before hurting his back...should have known better. Happy nesting period with lots of eating out and enjoying unhealthy food at home. Pounds continued to pile on...
Fall Looked at scale and could not believe I was over 250 lbs. again--remember shame in weighing more than my boyfriend and letting myself gain back 100 lbs and not even realizing it...unhappy with myself led to unhappiness in relationship...
Winter Started getting some healthy habits going, back at the gym, and finally lost a little bit of weight (first downward trend in a while).

2008
Jan Despite problems with boyfriend, planned New Years Skiing Trip to Killington, VT to celebrate healthier lifestyle and try to patch up relationship....TORE ACL on last day of trip, ruining all hope for continuing exercise upon return home, unhappiness returned and pounds started to pile on again.
Feb/Mar Recouped enough to walk and go on trips to London & New Orleans for work, but good eating habits had gone out the window without consistent exercise as motivation.
April ACL reconstructive surgery, working from home and stuck on the couch for a month...relationship continued to be strained as boyfriend had to "take care of me" and felt that he resented my incapacitation and the assistance I needed.
May Rehabilitation started and took all of my focus outside work, eating habits were not improved, self-esteem was LOW. Weight was back up around 280 lbs. after 4 months of barely walking and feeling completely defeated...this was the frighteningly close moment to being all the way back at square one!!!
July Moved out of apartment shared with boyfriend once I could walk on my own (tired of being resented), and moved in with immature college-age roommates that nearly drove me insane as relationship crashed and burned through seperation. Weight was the last thing on my mind...
Sept Moved into 1 room studio without roommates (hallelujah!) and started attending weightwatchers meeting with coworker, also joined gym across the street from apartment.
Dec Lost about 20 lbs. by the end of the year! Back on track...I thought.

2009
Jan-Aug ZERO progress on weightloss front, was again going to the gym 1-2 times per week and seeing a trainer, but couldn't get eating habits under control for long enough periods for progress--lots of 2 week starts and stops. Spent heaps of time questioning future and life prospects and feeling a bit lost, and FAT! Planned as many trips as possible as escapes (6 weeks in Mexico for work, 1 week in India for friend's wedding, 9 days in Belize, and a week-long cruise to Alaska), at least my passport was getting a workout.
Aug-Dec MOVED TO MEXICO for work!! Fulfilled life-long dream to live/work abroad. Shaky adjustment period of finding an apartment, a car, and finally a gym...once that piece was found, finally felt like progress was being made, BUT frustrations about work led to more uncertainty and ZERO progress on weightloss front. PLUS, lots of yummy new MEXICAN foods to try didn't help matters. At year's end, weight was exactly the same as it had been at the start of the year. AT LEAST THERE WAS NO UPWARD MOVEMENT ON SCALE, this was recognized as small success.

2010
Jan NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION: Lose this damn weight! New life-style routine started with 4-5 visits to the gym per week to do 50 minutes of cardio on the elliptical machine, no excuses. New eating habits: always eat breakfast, less carbs (no chips/beans with lunches), no fried foods, low-calorie snacks kept in drawer at work, larger meal eaten mid-afternoon, smaller dinners. Tracking what I eat on weightwatchers.com more often.
March (Today) 20 lbs. LOST!! (40 lbs. down from 2008 post-knee injury weight) Back on track...

So there you have it, the EPIC tale of Cara's on-going weightloss journey. I'm pretty damn proud of myself at the moment for getting myself back in a losing pattern despite being in a foreign country and surrounded by some of the most delicious, unhealthy, inexpensive food in the world. I keep reminding myself right now, it's all about creating a sustainable healthy routine and not making excuses. I'm also working very hard on not beating myself up for momentary lapses in healthy eating, which have derailed me over and over again during the last 5 years. I remind myself that tomorrow is another day and another chance to make better choices. Staying single is also helping! (Men, geesh, who needs 'em?) I don't want to speak too soon...but I think the Queen of Weightloss is asserting her dominance again. I think she's been missing her thrown, and maybe, just maybe, she's been able to crush the Queen of "Meh, I'll do it later" into submission.

Los Provincianos Van a la Ciudad

"I'm sorry, I just can't risk my 16-year-old's life..." Really??

For the last four years I've worked for an educational travel company sending American teachers and groups of their students to tour countries around the world. While Mexico has never been our #1 destination, it has always been one of the most affordable travel destination for Spanish teachers and generally viewed as safe and educational from a language and historical perspective (as long as the itinerary didn't include Cancun, understandably due to prejudice many parents felt towards Cancun and its association with booze-filled Spring Break stories). As long as a teacher did her homework and presented all of the learning opportunities of visiting archaeological sites, like Chichen Itza, and cities with interesting colonial history, like Merida, the low tour costs made it a pretty easy sell to most parents. That was up until early last year when it seemed like every US media outlet was publishing or doing an evening news report on "Mexico: The War Next Door." School boards and parents started to go on edge, and I started to get a steady stream of e-mails from clients expressing concerns that their Mexico tours were going to be cancelled due to complaints being brought to administrators about the destination they had chosen. Parents were accusing them of "endangering" their students lives. Many good-intentioned teachers, wanting to give their students an international experience at the lowest possible cost, were facing tough battles to recruit travelers for the same trips that would have filled quickly with 20+ students the year before. I'd say I really saw the first signs of problems with Mexico tour recruiters as early as January of 2009 stretching through to March, when teachers were still willing at least to try to promote Mexico itineraries but were being met with serious opposition to their recruitment efforts. The failure rate was much higher for a teacher who chose Mexico as her destination than any other location, which was sad to see.

My own friends and family expressed serious concerns when I informed them that I'd be headed to Merida, Mexico myself for a month long work assignment during the months of January and February. You would have thought I told them I was going to go walk a tight rope without a net considering all of the "are you sure you want to do that?" and "be careful!" warnings that I received. I was seriously surprised that no one bought me a bullet-proof vest as a bon voyage present (I mean what were they thinking letting me go to Mexico unprotected like that?? Didn't they care?). I arrived in Mexico via Cancun and bussed out to Merida, a single 25-year old female all on her own, I know, gasp...the horror! I remember settling in and looking around the city and thinking to myself, what the heck is all the fuss about?? The size of the guns that the police force carried and the somewhat poor conditions of the roads were the scariest things in the entire city/region (and I did a lot of traveling throughout the Yucutan in the form of weekend trips so I can legitimately claim to have explored the region extensively). I never once saw any form of crime while I was there, and who'd want to try anything stupid when the police are toting around semi-automatic weapons and patroling the streets regularly as they do in Merida? I was able to walk anywhere in the city at night and never once felt threatened. I mean on my short walk from the T stop to our office everyday in Boston I'd see on average at least 2 drug deals go down in broad daylight. There was none of that in Merida. No stories of creepy stalkers following girls home like I'd hear about on a regular basis in my Somerville neighborhood. Merida, Mexico was a far safer place to visit/live than any city I'd ever lived in in the US. I tried to use stories of my first-hand experience from visiting Mexico to help my recruiters working on Mexico trips to calm the fears of nervous parents, and it helped some, but it was already a losing battle.

As if Mexico wasn't receiving enough bad press as it was about the escalation of violence in border areas, the US Travel Department went and issued a Travel Alert against Mexico while I was here visiting, and parents freaked out! They didn't understand that a Travel Alert is just that, an alert, advising Americans to use common-sense when traveling in a country and to avoid the areas of escalating violence. I was writing 1-2 e-mails a day explaining what the Travel Alert meant for travel to Mexico to help group leaders put to rest worries from principals, parents, etc. Many schools thought it would mean that our company would cancel the trips and issue full refunds back to the students enrolled on those trips. Since thousands of dollars was tied up in group flight space being held for these tours, we weren't likely to do that. It didn't seem to matter to these parents that the areas of escalated violence were THOUSANDS of miles away from where their children would be visiting and that the violence was in fact occuring in areas close to the US border due to the drug cartels trying to get their goods past Mexico's armed forces and into the US. To give an American comparison, it was as if people were concerned about traveling to Kansas because of gang wars taking place in LA. No one would cancel a trip to Kansas because there was an escalation in violence in LA, but that's what parents were calling for in regards to Mexico.

It was during this period that I received several different communications from parents informing me that they'd be cancelling their children from Mexico tours. Now, I generally deal only with the teachers planning the trips and the parents are directed to our customer care department so I can focus on the group-level questions of our planners, but distraught parents always found a way to let me know their intentions of cancelling their child's account. I tried my best to help retain the travelers but it was an impossible battle with emotion always winning out over reason. One of my favorites was the father who yelled at me for a good 20 minutes asking how could we possibly think of sending his daughter to Mexico?, it was a war zone, and added "don't you watch FOX News??" He didn't even want to hear it when I told him that I'd just spent 6 weeks there and it was definitely not a war zone, contrary to what the news reports wanted him to believe. I really did my best to stay professional, but I think I may have actually chuckled at the Fox News comment, which I'm sure he didn't appreciate. I promptly forwarded him on to the customer care department when I realized there was no reasoning with him. I also received an e-mail from a mom informing me that she'd be withdrawing her son from his planned tour to Mexico and even though he was quite furious with her, she knew it was what she had to do. Against my better judgement, I wrote the mother a very nice e-mail back discussing my recent time spent in the country and encouraging her to take some to time to think it over because it would really be a "rewarding experience" for her son to travel with his schoolmates to Mexico. She responded with an equally cordial e-mail expressing that she already had done some serious soul searching and boiled all of her thoughts down to "I'm sorry, I just can't risk my 16-year-old's life..." and then concluded the e-mail with a series of not one, but 3 different photos of her son in question, so that I would get a "clear picture" the life of the son she just could not risk. After those two parental interactions, I knew the battle was lost.

The final nail in the coffin came for Mexico tours in April of 2009 when the outbreak of the H1N1 (swine) flu epidemic was announced and the origins of the new influenza strain were traced to Mexico. Even the group leaders who muscled through the first few months of the year to keep students enrolled on their 2009 trips to Mexico were all but forced to change their destinations. A few brave souls stuck with their Mexico plans, and due to Mexico's quick and thorough reaction to containing the spread of H1N1 by closing business and public arenas for a week, the Mexico tours that ran during the spring and summer of 2009 were overall very successful. Most of the other groups ended up changing their destination to Costa Rica, a country which has plenty of its own internal crime problems, but a better reputation in the US media. A group that had already started enrolling for a 2010 trip to Mexico was even forced by their school board to change the destination to Costa Rica during the H1N1 maddness much to the disappointment of the teacher organizing the trip. A year later, and there are next to no new cases of H1N1 being reported in Mexico but it's still making rounds through US schools.

The ramifications of all of 2009's bad press for Mexico has resulted in a serious decline in student travel to Mexico for business year 2010. Now that I'm living full-time in Mexico and can really appreciate all it has to offer in terms of history and culture, I definitely am sad to see how few groups will be visiting this year. Here's hopin' that Mexico makes a strong return for 2011!

WEEKEND SPOTLIGHT: Dublin

It almost seems appropriate that to write a weekend spotlight on Dublin since I spent a weekend there about 2 years ago. It was summer, and I was visiting a friend from college in London, who had moved there for graduate school and never left. July is pretty much dead at my company, so I'm allowed to take as much leave as I want. I'd decided on spending time at this friend's house before and after my 10-day European tour of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Italy (my yearly "staff tour") that summer because it meant I could catch up with my old friend as well as prolong my time in Europe without spending anything on accommodations. My friend was working very hard at the time at a new job as a paralegal so she wasn't able to take leave during my visit, which I completely understood. While she was at work, I entertained myself by watching wonderfully horrible British Television (if I recall correctly, there was a documentary on the "tele" by a pop singer who wanted to know where the hair in hair extensions came from: DNA testing and trips to various countries and she finally had her answer..."bloody" fascinating), photographing her house and garden, as well as exploring museums like the Dali Museum (which I'd never been to on my previous visits) and taking a cruise on the Thames just to get that great view of the city from the water. My friend did, however, get the weekends off, so we decided to book a flight on the cheap-o airline Ryan Air to hop over to Dublin for one of the weekends I was there since neither of us had ever been to Ireland.

I can't recall how we picked the Trinity Capital Hotel, but it turned out to be a really eclectic boutique-style hotel with really fun over-sized whimsical furniture as well as strange statues scattered about and showcased in a cloister-like sculpture garden at the center of the first floor. I imagine we picked it because it was within easy walking distance of Dublin's main drag and night-life area, Temple Bar, but we were pleasantly surprised. We both appreciated the fun decor as well as the deliciously soft beds, pillows, and comforters in our room. We found it hard to get ourselves out of bed once we laid down, in fact, and we both agreed that we could have enjoyed ourselves by just spending the whole weekend in those beds.

Somehow we found the will to pull ourselves from the down-heaven of our mattresses to do some exploring of the city. Since we didn't have heaps of time we picked a few key things to check out and mostly just ambled about taking pictures and getting ourselves lost, my favorite past-time in any city. We had actually met each other in an Archaeology course, so we were in agreement that the Archaeology museum was a must-see stop for us. I particularly found the section with preserved human bodies pulled from Ireland's famously anaerobic bogs quite fascinating. While most were quite deformed and the skin was darkened like leather, you could see very clearly that they were human. We'd learned about them in our course, so it was really exciting to see them upclose. Some even had tattoos and large sections of their ancient clothing in tact. After the archaeology museum, we had intended on checking out Trinity College, but I believe it was closed while we were there, so we headed over to Dublin Castle, which was quite impressive especially since it was right in the middle of the city. We missed the tours to go inside, but we still got some fabulous photos of the outside. I felt satisfied that I'd seen an Irish castle, and that's what matters.

For our second day, I did some asking around to find out what made for traditional Irish breakfasts, and most items sounded overly heavy for my sensitive morning stomach(bangers and mash, for instance) but fruit tarts sounded wonderful, so we made a special excursion to a small shop called the "Queen of Tarts", which we were told had won numerous awards for their tarts. We were certainly not disappointed. All of their tarts were so beautiful in the case, and I could have ordered one of each, but somehow I found the restraint to order just one, a berry assortment, which dazzled my taste buds. For the rest of the day we split up to do some exploring on our own. In my opinion, no trip to Dublin is complete without a visit to the Guinness brewery even though it is a bit out of the way, but my friend wasn't a big fan so we agreed to meet up later. This suited me just fine because I do enjoy exploring by myself and having time to walk slowly and take photos without holding anyone up. Somehow I managed to figure out which bus was going in that direction and got myself there before noon. The part of the brewery that you actually tour is designed to mimic the shape of a Guinness pint glass, how clever, right? You work your way up the circular structure from floor to floor exploring exhibits on the brewing process and the various marketing campaigns they've used over the years. They even have a station set-up to allow you to learn how to pull your own pint of Guinness. I'd spent a year as a bartender after college, so I didn't think I needed any training in that arena. Now if they'd been showing us how some clever bartenders make cloverleafs in the foam in the top, that I would have waited in line for, but just filling a glass, that I could do with my eyes closed and an arm tied behind my back. I let everyone else play make-believe bartender for a moment while I gloried in the fact that I'd actually been paid to do that. Last but not least, the top level of the brewery was a completely glass-enclosed circular bar, of course, but the 360 degree views of the city were really the highlight. It didn't hurt that you were able to take in the vistas with a "free" pint of Guinness in your hand, but since it was barely noon, I don't think I even finished it (I know, the horror!).

Now, I don't want to leave out the night-life because that is really what Dublin is famous for. While neither of us are huge partiers, we made a good showing taking in various Pubs around Temple Bar. The highlight of the evening out included spying on all of the horrendously drunk women prancing about in tiaras and sashes and ridiculous costumes proclaiming that they were celebrating someone's "hen party." A "hen party" is the British equivalent of a Bachelorette party. It turns out groups of English women fly over to Dublin when one of their friends is going to get married so they can have a raucous night out without the worry that what they did might get back to the groom. There was a definite and very real saying "What happens in Dublin, stays in Dublin!" and I could definitely see why. The behavior of these ladies was less than demure. I even saw a mother-of-the-bride (so identified by the bright pink that sash she wore) try to start a fight with a bouncer when she was being asked to leave a pub for pouring a pint of beer on a bride-to-be in another party. On a positive note, there was a bride-to-be with an amazing voice who was asked to sing at one of the pubs we were at and she dazzled the crowd. Now this pub was devoted to the traditional-Irish-style with a "lovely lad" singing Irish folksongs accompanied by a guy on a guitar opposite the massive bar. The bachelorette's friends kept telling the singer to let their friend sing and he finally obliged, the only problem: she only knew modern songs and the guitar player only knew traditional folksongs. Didn't stop her one bit though, and she powered out some awesome songs completely acapella. My favorite sight of the evening was the bachelorette whose friends forced her to collect signatures of every man she crossed paths with on a gigantic blow-up penis. Dublin's night-life was quite colored by these hen parties to say the least, but I still found it refreshing to see that old and young alike spent their saturday nights at traditional pubs singing along to folksongs. I love to see that some traditions live on, even if it's just a show for the tourists.

I'll leave you with the lyrics of the only Irish folksong I recognized having heard before my visit (which made me happy because I could sing along to that one at least), and which had a statue dedicated to the namesake there in the city of Dublin: Molly Malone...

In Dublin's Fair City
Where the girls are so pretty
I first set my eyes on sweet Molly Malone
As she wheel'd her wheel barrow
Through streets broad and narrow
Crying cockles and mussels alive, alive o!

Enjoy my pictures:

Click here to view these pictures larger

Be Light vs. Xtralife: No Competition!

I'm quite the fan of sugar free drinks as my last post about the sugar-free, non-fat, decaf vanilla latte probably dropped a pretty big clue. I just figure that I'd rather spend my calories on food than on liquid, it's a personal thing, but at the same time I still like a flavorful drink! While, water is okay, I just have never been a person to crave water. I know I should drink more water to stay hydrated and flush out toxins, but I just can't get my brain to send the right signals to make me think, "hey, you, DUM DUM, drink water NOW!" (I'm not sure why it seemed appropriate that my brain should talk like the big Polynesian head statue in the movie A NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM, but you get the idea.) Only when I'm working out do I really remember to drink water (thankfully I'm doing that 5 days a week now), but I could go all day at the office or home on the weekends without drinking a sip.

I find I can only really get myself excited about drinking something that has a really good flavor. And I'd like to argue that diet drinks can fall into that category...well,sometimes. In the US, there are a bajillion varieties of diet sodas, diet iced teas, sugar-free flavored waters, etc., you name it, they've got it. Well here in Mexico, I've discovered, that while there are a few varieties of sugar-free drinks, most people REALLY like their full sugar (or extra sugary) sodas, flavored "aguas", and juices. In fact, one of the most popular local drinks, horchata (a beverage made from water, sugar, rice powder, and spices like cinnamon) packs a whopping 100 calories per 8 oz. I have to admit it's delicious, but I finally got myself to stop ordering it at restaurants once I looked up the nutrition facts and saw that calorie count. I can't justify sucking down that many calories on a drink, and the normal glass that most restaurants serve horchata in holds far more than 8 oz. The warning from the french wife of one of my coworkers also helped me kick the horchata habit when she told me she gained several kilos when she first moved here even though her diet hadn't changed, she'd just started drinking horchata every day. That did it for me, horchata was no longer my go-to drink.

So, a few months ago, I decided that I needed to find a good replacement in the form of a sugar-free beverage. I've always been a fan of lemonade, and back stateside I could usually find a good lemon-flavored diet beverage in the form of crystal lite or something like that, but crystal lite was no where to be found here, so I had to do some taste-testing. I discovered there are two main brands providing a lemon (or limon) flavored sugar-free bottled drink: Be Light & Xtralife. Well, the whole point of this post is to sing my praises of BE LIGHT. There is absolutely no competition. Be Light makes an acceptable pleasant tasting substitute for real lemonade, Xtralife tastes like battery acid. There's no nice way to put it! I'm not sure if it's the artificial flavors they use or the artificial sweetner that makes the difference (I'll have to check into that), but Be Light gets two thumbs up from me, and Xtralife, well two thumbs down really doesn't even cut it, I give it, two thumbs, toes, head and nose down. I'd sooner pour Xtralife into my car than into my body.

Fun Related Recent Event: I walked into a local restaurant near my work this week, Pollo Brujo. I'm not a frequent customer, but I go there for lunch about once a week or at least every other week because the serve yummy grilled chicken at cheap cheap prices. Well on this visit, as soon as I sat down, the nice waiter recognized me and brought over a Be Light Limon without even asking remembering my preference for the drink, I'm guessing from my past visits. He got a nice extra tip from me, yes siree bob, and I got to start sipping on my Be Light without even the slightest wait.

Moral of the story: When in Mexico and you're looking for a good drink but want to spare the calories, choose Be Light. When looking for a liquid to clean your car engine with, choose Xtralife.

**Even though it may seem to the contrary, I was not paid by Be Light or Starbucks to write these last two articles. My personal search for the perfect sugar-free beverage provided the inspiration. And yes, I was drinking a Be Light that I picked up at Oxxo (Mexico's most popular convenience store) on the way home while writing this piece. SLUUUUURP!

Sugar-free, non-fat, decaf Vanilla Latte: No, I'm not ordering air!

Thank goodness Merida has a Starbucks, well a few actually! While, yes, the whole idea of living in another country is about getting away from everything you're used to and learning to live like the "natives" in your new country, Starbucks thankfully now crosses all boarders. It wasn't my idea, I swear, but some girls from my office had the weekly tradition before I even moved here last year of meeting at Starbucks on Wednesday evenings to work on Masters Degree and scholarship applications, and as soon as I heard about this, I quickly started to join them. Supposedly this tradition was a carry-over from their recent college years when they'd meet at Starbucks for study-sessions...I guess some things are really becoming universal! I know we had serious cram sessions at Starbucks during my years at Boston University (2001-2005) as well, thousands of miles and half a continent away.

It really was music to my ears when I learned that Starbucks had already taken up shop in Merida because, really, where else was I going to find my favorite coffee drink: the sugar-free, non-fat, decaf vanilla latte, grande, of course? I learned quickly that if I wanted to ask for this in Spanish I needed to say: Grande "Sugar-Free" Vainilla Latte Lite con cafe descafeinado. Always important to know how to ask for the necessities, right? I will admit that I always feel a little silly asking for this drink because it has so many descriptors, and it sounds like I'm just saying "no this, no that, no, no, no!" But the result is my personal crack...warm, coffee goodness, without all the sugar and fat that most coffee drinks have. I've recently added the decaf request to the drink order because when you already have insomnia you don't need two shots of caffeine fueling it even more just a few hours before you're supposed to be attempting to sleep. I look forward to that overpriced cup of fake sugar, processed milk, and chemically altered espresso every week. I start thinking about it on Monday, in fact, and my Starbucks daydreams get me through until Wednesday. The prices are the only downside to my Mexican Starbucks coffee, and I am personally a little surprised that anyone actually buys them here. I guess the Starbucks brand is just that powerful that people are willing to pay for their overpriced coffees no matter how much they make. My grande coffee costs 45 pesos, which is about the same (maybe a little less) than the same drink in the US. You can get a whole meal at a cocina economic for that price in Merida, so they've definitely not scaled the prices to match the local economy.

I am a little amused because I've become a bit of a "celebrity" at the Starbucks we frequent (the one near the Chapur department store) because just like at American Starbucks, the staff has to ask your name, yell it to the barista, who then writes it on your cup along with your order, and my name is really quite odd to most Mexicans. It took them a couple of tries, misinterpretting my name as Carla or Clara, more common Spanish names, until I finally got them in the last few weeks to realize that no, in fact, my name really is CARA, which translates to them as "FACE". I guess I can understand why it took so long for them to catch on that that was actually my name and not a joke because I don't see kids in the US running around with names referring to body parts either. Me responding "hola, me llamo Cara" would be like someone saying "Hi, my name is Foot" in English, and if someone said that to me I'd probably look at him weird and ask him to repeat that again just to make sure I had heard him right. And even if he assured me that was his name, I'd still probably think he was yanking my chain. When I walked in to order my drink this evening, however, there was instant recognition from the guy behind the register who greeted me with "Que le puede ofrecer CARA!" What satisifaction...victory was finally mine!