Mexico!

My almost two week long trip to Mexico, Twitter-style (straight to the point):

Sunday, 14 Dec, ~9PM - An 'are you kidding me?' moment at DOH - the passport control lady closing her booth for a 15 minute break when I was the next to go...and the passport control supervisor man would not let me switch lines. Losers... Thankfully, I had plenty of time.

Sunday, 14 Dec, ~11PM - The diversity at airports is a cool thing and so airports are one of my favorite places to watch people. People from all walks of life in every frame of mind (from excited to nervous to mad) crossing paths. And one of my favorite elements is the shoes - shoes say a whole lot about a person. I recommend just sitting back and watching people the next time you are at an airport.

Sunday, 14 Dec, ~11:30PM - Surprise upgrade to business class! "Ummm. Is this really my seat? I thought I was supposed to be back there." Pays to be kind to the check-in peeps!

Monday, 15 Dec, ~7:30AM - Literally run into Questlove from The Roots at a WH Smith in LHR TERMINAL 5 (I say it that way because British Air is obsessed with promoting it). "Woah...I am...WOAH! I watched a YouTube clip with you in it just yesterday! You said Twitter is going to be the new blog!" and then then I walked away without waiting for a response. Weird girl...

Monday, 15 Dec, ~9:00AM - Check out the 'I do not kick it with the commoners' lounge (thanks to my business class status) in TERMINAL 5. Chat with Questlove a little more.

Monday, 15 Dec, ~10:30AM - Another surprise business class upgrade! The travel gods are totally looking out for me!

Monday, 15 Dec, ~3:00PM - Arrive in America, specifically Dallas, TexASS. Why is the line to clear customs usually longer for U.S. citizens than the line for non-citizens? I do not get it! This is an observation I have made many times during my travels. Also, why do all border control people look alike? And, people, GET OFF YOUR CELL PHONES! YOU ARE NOT THAT IMPORTANT! It is like an addiction for folks. First thing after getting off a plane: call people and have dumb conversations that everyone around you can hear.

Monday, 15 Dec ~9:00PM - Arrive in Cancun. And my amazing travel karma comes to a crash! Dollar, the rental car company I had a reservation with, decided to close early for the night. Great customer service, losers. Therefore, I had to scramble to get another car. After a couple hours of haggling with rental car companies (so they would not take advantage of my perdicament and make me pay a fortune), I had wheels. But then I had to drive to Genesis in the middle of the night......

Tuesday, 16 Dec ~6:00AM - I have developed a fear of cars thanks to my time in Qatar. I do not trust drivers and thus I do not like driving, being a passenger or even being near a moving vehicle. I never know what they are going to do. BTW my tiny rental car, a Chevy Aveo, does not like to go into reverse and consequently I have had to get quite creative (driving in yards when no one is looking, moving big rocks out of the way...) to turn around.

Tuesday, 16 Dec ~11:00AM - As much as I am looking forward to a few days of relaxing and doing a whole lot of nothing, I am looking forward to Saturday. I miss my family. And I want some company. Being on your own so much is no fun.

Tuesday, 16 Dec ~4:30PM - Rain! I love the smell, the sound, how it feels...

Tuesday's book: The Tenth Circle - 5/10

Wednesday, 17 Dec ~7:00AM - This is fucking (sorry...) animal planet! BIRDS (some are annoying while some are pretty), dogs (love to bark like mad around sunrise), cats, chickens (flat out annoying), turkeys, pigs...

Wednesday, 17 Dec ~2:00PM - Another chill day. This place is very peaceful once the animals quiet down. This is the real Mexico! A world away yet only about two hours from Cancun.

Wednesday, 17 Dec ~7:00PM - The old VW bus that cruises around town selling homemade bread is dope.

Wednesday's book: Love in the Present Tense - 6/10

Thursday, 18 Dec ~3:00PM - I spent today wandering around Ek Balam, the Mayan village I am staying in (BTW I thought the Mayan civilization was extinct...). This place is great! The people are so friendly with such easy smiles. And life here is different than almost anywhere I have ever been. They, really the women, cook most of the day - once they finish one meal, they are on to the next (the smell of fire is constant). Or they are doing laundry (by hand...). Also, nearly all food is made from scratch and the vast majority of everything used comes from local sources - the wood they use to make their homes (the men are usually out in the woods during the day looking for wood...all on old bikes) to the corn used to make the tortillas to the hammocks that they sleep in. I cannot get over how self-sufficient this place is. They simply bust their asses!

Thursday, 18 Dec ~4:30PM - It takes a month to make a double hammock! A month! But only costs a person buying it, someone like me, 480 pesos (~$45). However, it costs 202 pesos (~$18) to drive one way on the toll highway between Valladolid and Cancun. The road is almost always empty because the vast majority of Mexicans cannot afford to drive on it. Not cool if you ask me.

Friday, 19 Dec ~8:00AM - I have a new BFF and he is a 3 year old from the Netherlands named Morris. Little motormouth constantly talks to me in Dutch, but I speak nor understand no Dutch. However, I do recognize one word: pussy. He loves cats and there are a lot of cats in Ek Balam and thus he frequently yelling, "PUSSY!"

Friday, 19 Dec ~12:00PM - I am wearing shorts and a tank top in public! Haraamilicious! I borrowed a bike this morning to check out the local Mayan ruins and cenote. The ruins are amazing! I felt sort of like I was on to something because there is still a lot of excavation work being done and there were very few people at the site. And the cenote was great...but creepy! I was the only person there. I have seen enough horror movies to know that I should not venture into unknown waters by myself. I might be brave, but not that brave.

Thursday and Friday's book: Little Earthquakes - 7/10

Saturday, 20 Dec ~10:00AM - I get to see mi familia today! Cannot wait to see them!

Saturday's book (before I head back to Cancun): My Sister's Keeper - 6/10

Saturday, 20 Dec ~7:30PM - It is never easy for the Anderson clan! Car rental ordeal. But we are together!

Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday - Sun and swim!!! All I want. And, of course, family drama and waiting around. Not what I want. But great morning runs in shorts and tank tops!

Wednesday, 24 Dec ~11:00PM - We went on an ATV tour to two cenotes this afternoon. It was probably bad for the environment, dangerous and tiring, but definitely loads of fun! And I could have, and probably should have, died. I literally did a somersault off my ATV and landed on my back among a dense mess of rocks, sticks and trees. However, I walked away with just some scratches on my face and back. According to my mom and sister, my dad moved like lightening to come to my rescue. Arika also cried. I laughed a 'holy shit' laugh because otherwise I would have likely cried too. I am definitely super lucky! Maybe the travel gods still got my back. Jayson and Bryan also fell off their ATVs, but not to the grand extent that I did. And the cenotes were amazing! I loved, loved, loved jumping into them! The higher, the better! I wish we had more time at them. We then had to rush back for the Christmas Eve Dinner with the whole Anderson group. I totally got a kick out of the power surges because it reminded me of Christmas Eve in Acapulco over a decade ago and it was fun telling lil' Miranda and Malcolm it was all Santa's doing.

Thursday, 25 December ~10:30PM - Merry Christmas! But it has been just like any other day. I have spent the vast majority of it alone in my room watching CNN and the amazing Rock of Love on VH1 because of a rash that developed on my back from yesterday's accident. Overall, it was a rather underwhelming day. I feel like we have sort of lost our sense of wonder. What happened?

Friday, 26 December ~10:30AM - The long journey back to Doha starts today.

Saturday, 27 December ~9:45AM - Back at TERMINAL 5 for the fourth time this month.

Saturday, 27 December ~11:55PM - Back in Dohaha...