最后一个学期了，相处了两年的室友Dustin说春假一起去旅行吧，从南加州、亚利桑那州、一路向德州的国家公园road trip，讨论要买哪种睡袋才够保暖，到真要暖和的话不如飞到墨西哥吧，到申请墨西哥签证好像很麻烦（毕竟Monterey实在太小了，最近的墨西哥领事馆也要跑到一个多小时外的San Jose）、我势必得跷课一周（我春假只有一个礼拜但我们觉得要去就该去两个礼拜）及旅费将激增的难题，到最后想想花个800美金上下玩墨西哥好像也很不错，就在连墨西哥签证都还没申请好之前就买了来回机票（而且买机票又是另一个故事了，由于Dustin想太多搞得我们自己占了好机票的空缺，被迫买转机重重的烂机票…不过好处是我们原定10天的假期也就这样阴错阳差变成了14天长假）。

It's the last semester. Dustin suggested we spend the spring break together. At first we were thinking about going on a road trip from southern CA to Arizona all the way to Texas, visiting lots of national parks and state parks on the way, and discussing what type of sleeping bags we should get to keep us warm at night. Then someone told Dustin that it's gonna be freezing at night in the states that we planned to visit. If we really want to be warm, we might as well go to Mexico. But then as a Taiwanese student holding an F-1 visa in the US, I needed to apply for a Mexico visa, which is a pain in the ass (because Monterey is too small and doesn't have a Mexican Consulate; the closest one is more than an hour away by car, in San Jose). Also, I had to skip a week of class after spring break since MIIS only had one-week spring break, and I didn't want to fly all the way to Mexico with just one-week stay. And the expense might increase dramatically compared to travelling in the states. I wanted to give up. One day Dustin got drunk and tried to persuade me going to Mexico with him (since he didn't want to go there alone and claimed to want to see Mexico through my eyes), and I thought spending around US$800 to visit Mexico wasn't a bad idea (I spent around that much to visit China and Hong Kong 3 years ago), so we bought round-trip tickets even before I applied for my Mexico visa. Purchasing flight tickets was another story. Dustin was thinking too much and worried too much, which put us in the predicament of having to give up the flights of better itinerary and get the ones with two connections and late arrival in Oaxaca, for we took up our own spots by trying to purchase the tickets first on priceline.com and then on Mexicana airline website. But it turned out to be a good misfortune because it prolonged our original 10-day trip to 14-day long vacation.  :)

 

前天晚上住在位于SJ的Dustin父母家，隔天一早Dustin的妈妈就开车载我们去搭飞机，从SJ到Guadelajara的途中很顺利，机上供应一餐brunch，我选了quesadillas，但份量没有想像中的多，一方面是因为我肚子很饿，另方面是因为在美国生活太久直觉以为所有餐点都会很大一份（美国的越南菜跟墨西哥菜都超大一份，但根据可靠消息表示越南跟墨西哥当地的份量根本没有美国餐厅那么多）。

The night prior to our flights to Mexico, we stayed at Dustin's parents' place. Early morning the next day, Dustin's mom drove us to the SJ airport. Everything was fine from SJ to Guadelajara airport. Brunch was offered and I got quesadillas, but the portion was smaller than my expectation, partially because I was really hungry, and partially because I had the dillusion that Mexican meals were big because I had stayed in the US for too long. Like Vietnamese food, Mexican food is not served with that big portion in Mexico either. It's just that Americans like it big.

 

搭飞机还是穿拖鞋最爽！

Sandals/ Flipflops are the most comfortable for flying!

 

Guadelajara机场看起来很新，连厕所都颇有设计感，但是我们马上发现靠腰机场里没有饮水机…因为在墨西哥饮用水是要用买的，连机场也不例外。

Guadelajara airport looks very new. Even the bathrooms seem to have been designed and well maintained. However, we soon discovered that there was no drinking fountains in the airport... because people have to buy drinking water in Mexico, and airports are no exceptions.

口渴的我们走了半天，Dustin换了40美金买了以为会很清凉的柳橙汁（结果女服务生表示没有冰块…），并且还一直吃本来要当作紧急口粮的牛肉干（虽然他一点都不饿），这不是会更加口渴吗…我则决定撑到下班飞往Mexico City的航班跟空姐要水喝。

Despite our thirst, we still walked around for a long time before Dustin changed US$40 and bought a glass of orange juice, which he had imagined to be very icy, but the waitress said that they had no ice... And Dustin kept munching on the beef jerky he brought, originally as emergency food, although, as usual, he wasn't hungry at all. I just wondered wasn't eating beef jerkey make you even more thirsty? As for me, I decided to wait until boarding the next plane to Mexico City to ask water from the flight attendents.

到了Mexico City机场就发现机场比较老旧，我们逛来逛去比对各种速食餐厅跟美国相比的价钱，最后选了一家看起来人很多又经济的taqueria吃了晚餐。

Mexico City airport is much older. We walked around to see the price differences between the fast food restaurants here and the US. And we (Dustin) picked a taqueria that looked popular and economical to have dinner. After dinner before we boarded the plane, Dustin was going to buy a bag of potato chips in 7-11, but the clerk was just hilarious... he kept checking this and that and disappearing and showing up but still wasn't done with the first customer in line. After about 10 minutes of wait, Dustin decided to give up.

晚间九点半左右终于抵达Oaxaca，因为机场很小，所以上下飞机是直接架一个楼梯，出机场时安检人员让旅客按钮，如果绿灯就可以直接通过，如果红灯就要打开行李让他们检查。机场门口站了很多计程车司机想拉客，不过我们问过机场工作人员，只要走出去到大马路上再拦计程车就会便宜很多，所以坐在机场外面的路边等Dustin抽完烟后我们就拖/背著行囊穿越一片黑暗，当时已经感觉到热带气候的温暖，浑身血液似乎都蠢蠢欲动起来。

Around 9:30pm we finally arrived in Oaxaca. It's a small airport, so they just put a ladder for passengers to board and unboard. Before our exit, the security personnel asked us to push a button, and if it was the green light, you could pass; if it was red light, you needed to get your luggage checked. Lots of taxi drivers were standing at the door and trying to attract (lazy? stupid? rich?) customers. Dustin asked around, and one lady working at the aiport told him that if we just walked out to the main raod, taxis were going to be a lot cheaper. So we sat outside, took in some first breaths of the Oaxaca air while Dustin had his first cigarette, and then we dragged and carried our luggage to cross a swathe of darkness. We could already feel the warmth of the tropic. Something in my blood was already excited.

走了大概10~15分钟才到大马路，不过叫了计程车以后司机说只要50 pesos，跟机场外面的100 pesos相比真是划算多了。在车上我就已经兴奋地开始左顾右盼，一路很仔细地观察这个跟我去过的所有国家都截然不同的地方。途中突然发现左前方一台卡车后面站了好几个持枪黑衣人，顿时吓得我不知如何是好，再看发现卡车后面写了警察，就想起曾经读过的墨西哥腐败警察敲诈旅客的新闻报导，又想到如果此地需要警察全副武装四处巡逻治安不知会是怎样，就更加担心了。

About 10 to 15 minutes later, we got to the main road. It only cost 50 pesos, a lot cheaper than the 100 pesos called by the drivers waiting at the airport. I was very excited and looked around in the taxi, carefully observing the place that was totally different than all other countries that I had visited. At one moment, I was so scared to discover a truck with several people fully covered in black clothes carrying machine guns on our left slightly ahead of us. Then I saw "police" on the back of the truck, thinking about the articles I had read about how corrupted Mexican police blackmailed tourists, and that if this place needed the presence of such police force... I got even more worried.

不过司机顺利把我们载到市中心，马上看到非常有欧洲风味的建筑物，还有类似咸酥鸡摊位的小贩跟顾客，觉得又陌生又亲切。

But the driver took us to the downtown without any trouble. I soon saw buildings of European style and some street stands that look like the fried salty crispy chicken stand in Taiwan with busy vendors and lots of customers. I felt strange and yet familiar.

但我们订的pochon hostal太偏远，司机绕了好几圈才找到，要求多收30 pesos。进了hostal以后发现我们身上的peso不够，所以把行李放下来后就出去找提款机了。刚到的第一个晚上就跑出去其实让我不大安心，好不容易看到提款机我们看著外面围了好几个本地人，就也不敢贸然提款，在市中心的广场zocalo晃了一圈又一圈，终于找到一个看起来比较安全外面又没人盯著的提款机。

However, the pochon hostal we booked is kinda far from the downtown where the driver was familiar with, so we didn't find it until the driver had made several detours, and he asked for 30 more pesos (but it was still reasonable). After checking witht the lady on duty, we realized we didn't have enough pesos with us, so we put down our luggage and went to find ATM. I didn't feel safe just going out on the first night of arrival. We decided not to pull out money from the first ATM we saw, for many locals were surrounding that single booth which was overly lighted. After strolling around zocalo, we finally found a safer ATM booth.

之后我因为好奇买了一根玉米，玉米跟台湾的一样没什么甜味而且带点嚼劲，煮熟了以后先沾一层美乃滋，再抹上粉状queso（墨西哥乳酪），再洒上辣椒粉，相当特别，Dustin买了一份很难吃的热狗。

Afterwards, I bought elote out of curiosity. The corn tasted like that in Taiwan, not sweet enough and kinda chewy. Mexicans first boil the corn and then put on mayonnaise, and then roll it in queso powder, and then sprinkle some chili powder. It was very special to me. Dustin ate a hot dog that wasn't delicious at all...

我们边吃边观察四周的人群，最后终于回到hostal稍微打理。因为时差的关系并不感到疲困，所以直到凌晨两点才睡。

We watched people around us while eating our night snacks and finally went back to the hostal. Due to the time difference we didn't feel sleepy and didn't go to bed until about 2am.