(Written Dec 15, 2013)

I love Mexico.

And to my pleasant surprise, my Spanish isn’t horrible. I mean, I speak pretty horribly, but I understand WAY more than I expected!! I guess my Houston Spanish radio paid off 🙂

I held a fairly ongoing conversation with our cool driver on the 2 hour drive from the airport. So that was cool.

Everyone we’ve met so far has been incredible. On the plane we sat across from a couple from Mexico City who now work at Texas A&M. One is a professor and the other is doing research. They were really cool to talk to. And they were so nice. And I was impressed with how quiet their 7 month old was on the flight!

Then when we were getting off the plane, we met some guys coming to film a documentary called Golden Boys showing in March on the Mundial Fox channel (or something close to that). We had seen them earlier with all their gear but hadnt talked to them.

As I went to get my bag from the overhead compartment, one of them leaned over to me and said, “You have really beautiful hair.” and somehow, he actually didn’t come off as creepy. It was weird, sure, but not creepy. And that’s new for me for sure. I just smiled and said, “Oh, thanks.” instead of giving my usual, “You’re a creep” glare. So anyway, we ended up in line next to the three of them in customs and chatted a bit. They had all kinds of helpful tips for us. Everyone we’ve met has had a thousand tips for us to make our trip the best it can be. So nice.

At the airport, the customs lady asked me all her questions in Spanish and i ‘correctly’ answered them. I also successfully ordered food and understood everything they said except when the guy asked “ketchup?” in a Mexican accent.

So far, I like this place, granted that most of my experience has taken place in the airport and inside a car.

We are the only ones here for the cooking class this week. Our hosts have been wonderful so far. They showed us to our room with a fire in our fireplace and greeted us in the dining room with margaritas (and a coke for the pregnant Sophie) and the best quesadillas I’ve ever eaten. Tomorrow we start our cooking class and a little exploring. YAY. I already can’t wait to come back again sometime and visit Mexico City.