Esme and crew were in El Greco again and so I watched the show for a while but wanted to explore more and so I went out walking around and found some really cool wristbands and a puma hat. After I returned, I watched the show for another hour and then went walking again. When I came back, my teacher friends from school arrived (Katy and Kaitlin) with their boyfriends just as Esme and crew were leaving. I decided to stay and hang out with them and we went to a bar called La Playa which was a lot of fun. They had a show where there were 4 very attractive women dancing. The next show they had 5 guys from the crowd compete to see who was the most seductive dancer. I knew that if I got on stage, it would have been unfair so I didn't enter the competition.
Esme and Ale were going to take me to the Procession of the Virgin (where they march the statue to the basilica) around 7 am (it starts around 6 and people from different states come in to see it) but the night before they told me 8 am. We didn't end up going until 10 am and that was to get breakfast hah hah . And then we were almost there and we heard this cracking sound while we were driving. Esme pulled over and the wheel had rotated into the axle because when they fixed the brakes they didn't put all the bolts on. There were some really nice guys there on the street that fixed it for us but we didn't want to ride in it in case it should happen again. So we went dropped off the car at Ale's mom's house and then took a cab to Esme's mom's house. Then we went out to eat at Sirloin Grill which is a lot like Ryans where there is a really big buffet or you can order what you want. Unfortunately, I was still full from "breakfast" at 11 and so didn't eat that much. But it was great because a lot of Esme's family was there - her mom, her uncle and aunt, her grandmother, her nephew Emanuel (who is like 8 years old and full of energy) and others. Her uncle Raphael told me a story of when he went to Taiwan and he tried a lot of food there. One of his friends or work associates told him about a delicacy that they only serve at one restaurant in all of Taiwan and so they went. The delicacy was Bull's sperm. Ewww, but funny and intriguing. Apparently it tastes like rice.
The first thing I noticed when we entered Sirloin Grill was that there were so many tables for big groups. And by big groups, I'm talking about tables of at least 20. It reminded me how much more family oriented the culture is here.
I was really tired after all of that and from the night before and went to sleep immediately when I got back. Mary Carmen was having her bday party that night and Mariela was going to pick me up to go there around 9:00. Well, I have no reception in my room and so my phone never rang ...and I was asleep and didn't wake up until 10:00. By that time she was already at the party and so I asked Fernando (my flatmate) if he could drive me there which he did. The party was a lot of fun - I karaokeed 4 or more songs and danced while I sang. I got to talk with some teachers that I never really have time to talk with because we are always in class. Apparently Mary Carmen is turning 60...at least that's what the numbers on her cake said hahah.
I got back around 3:30 - my boss wanted me to stay out longer can you believe that!?) :-P and I had a soccer game at 8 am. I really was looking forward to playing and the other team never showed up. So we played "gol" where we had to get past each other with the ball and score and the person that scored would be the new goalie. We ended up playing for like an hour and it was a lot of fun. Add a little bit of rain to keep us cool and that's all you need.
Sunday, I met Monse (the high school gym teacher and my yoga instructor) and her friends Pablo, Ramon aka Big Foot, his girlfriend Ale, and Nacho at Minerva. On Sundays, they close Avenida Vallarta (one of the main streets in Guadalajara) and people from all around bring their bikes, rollerblades, etc. My bike is the one that Esme is letting me borrow until I leave Guadalajara and is a small BMX bike. So when I ride, I am pretty much standing the entire time or if I don't it is really uncomfortable because when I pedal my knees go up to my shoulders.
Monse told me that we were going to meet at 9 am and since I don't have a car, I needed to leave my house earlier to get there by bike. And so I left around 8:30 and got there exactly at 9 but they weren't around. I texted her that I was there and while I was waiting for a response, I stretched. After 10 minutes, I thought they weren't coming and so I started riding on my own. It was really cool to see the city like this. I think I was most impressed when I saw a park where they had a really big chess board on the pavement with 2 feet tall chess pieces and you could play against other people.
So after riding for about 20 minutes, Monse called me and told me that they had arrived. So I turned around and went to the start. There were 3 of us riding bikes and 3 of us rollerblading and we did the whole course. We ended up getting back around 1:30 so by that time I had been riding my bike for about 5 hours. I was really hungry and tired and now I have a farmers' tan. Monse's boyfriend, Marco showed up as the others were leaving and we decided to go out to eat. Afterward, I biked back home, showered and fell asleep. It was such a good sleep. Now, I will go to sleep again hahah.
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