Dia Uno

I imagine trying to fill everyone in on my little trippy-poo to Mexico might be a little daunting so THANK YOU BLOGOSPHERE for making my life easier!

Day 1 in Valle de Bravo: success!

Notables from the day: 

• Cab to the airport was 30 minutes late. I showed a really nice side of myself to Yellow Cab Incorporated.
  
• Rest of the travels were smooth and I scored a window seat with no one next to me - excelente! I started Audrey Neffenegger's second book (after Time Traveler's Wife) and it's a page turner. Yep, I just said that. 
  
• After getting pulled over by the police in our van (yes), we got to our hotel and were greeted with fresh guacamole and margaritas! ARRIBA! I don't know what it is about Mexican guac but they know how to do it right....and in industrial-sized bowls, at that. 
  
• The town is situated at the bottom of a mountain, which made for a nauseous ride for most of the girls, but the trees are tall and beautiful - very Colorado-esque - and we're excited about our horseback ride up the mountain later this week. 
  
• I may have bitched to some of you about how I was assigned to a bedroom of 3 girls that was made for 2. I've been a little pissy and apprehensive about this, but when we arrived hey there were 3! One of our professors had lectured us about not being boisterous, obnoxious, etc., but I still ran out onto our balcony and yelled TRES CAMAS!!!! because I couldn't help myself. Hi, I'm American and locals hate me.
  
• We had a rather disgusting-o dinner that started with cucumbers/carrots marinated in jalapeno juice, which burned right through my esophagus, and then we moved onto appetizers of fried grasshoppers, ant eggs, and worms. Straight up, on the plate, with a chip and a side of guac. Our client (who's a native here) just scooped a bunch of all three up into a tortilla and gobbled it down. And I gagged. I did, for the record, try the grasshopper, but it ruined the rest of dinner....because it felt like we were on Fear Factor. 
  
• One of our professors brought a guitar, and I discovered a set of bongo drums, and Hotel California ensued. 
  
• I knew no one knew about my birthday being on Friday, which was fine (albeit a little sad to "enjoy" your self-absorbed day all by yourself!), but today one of the girls mentioned that her birthday is tomorrow, so now the cat's out of the bag about all the birthdays. Which better mean some tequila shots are in our future. 
  

All in all, a good beginning. Our meetings start tomorrow, and I can tell it's going to be a really long week but hopefully I'll get a few blogs out of it...