Tacos, tiquila and random times in Mexico!

I know, i know. It has been a while since my last blog update :( That just means I've been having too much fun!!!!

The past month has definately been an adventure and a half. A few eye opening moments have passed by, many new friends made and I've been witness to so many amazing things!

If you haven't clued on yet from the title of the blog, I've actually been in Mexico for the past 4 weeks. Much to my delight. I have honestly loved this place and am finding it hard to move on. So many great things to see and do, its hard to limit myself to only just a few experiences. So far i have been to Mexico City, Oaxaca, Puerto Escondido, San Cristobal de las casas, Palenque and am currently in Cancun!!!!

As i have had so much fun and there is a lot to tell you all, i will break this down into a few blog posts so as not to bore you all too much in one sitting.  

 MEXICO CITY

After initially thinking i would spend one night and then get the hell out of there due to safety concerns from friends and family, i found Mexico City to be wonderful. I ended up staying for about a week.Although, i didn't really do a lot there. My days were mostly spent chilling out and recovering my previous 2 months. As much as i loved catching up with all my friends in Canada and the States, i was utterly exhausted by the time i hit Mexico. I did manage to successfully navigate the crazy metro system and then the public bus system to make it out to Teotihuacan Pyramids for the day. Well worth the effort as the Pyramids are amazing. Even if i didn't speak a word of Spanish at this point either (im not so sure it's actually any better a month later).

The rest of my days were spent mostly going for a wonder around downtown, followed by a nanna nap in the afternoon (something which i am very fond of now) and then a couple of beers at night....Yes BEER! Strange things happen when you  are on such a tight budget and beer is cheaper than even a soft drink. Even for a spirit drinker :) There may have been one night where my friends and I almost got arrested by the police. Just maybe haha. Well actually the story goes; My new Aussie mates Ricky and Shane and I rounded up a couple of people to come out with us to the bar district for a few drinks. There ended up being about 6 of us all together, including an Irish and English guy and a German girl.
We headed out to Condesa but it was all a bit too much to even try to get a drink. Waiting at the bar for 20 minutes is not my idea of a fun night out so we all decided to head back to the hostel for a few drinks there. Everything was fine and dandy until the police siren came on. Not thinking we were actually doing anything wrong, we all just stood around waiting to see what they wanted. With our lack of Spanish skills, we assumed they were asking us for ID. Little did we know that they were actually trying to arrest us for having LITERALLY one foot outside the hostel door. Before we figured this out, i had gone upstairs to get my ID. As i come back down the stairs i see all the boys get loaded into the back of a police car. Now as nice as they guys were, i had to do what was best for me. In this case, that meant NOT going to a Mexican jail, so i went and locked myself in the bathroom hahaha. I thought it was rather brilliant AND it worked. By the time i got out, the boys had negotiated a bit of a `side payment' to the police and were allowed to walk away.
That was probably the most exciting of all things that happened in Mexico City.
I did venture to the Museum of Anthropology and also the local markets. Lots of neat things, yet i managed to resist the urge to buy EVERYTHING. So far, so good. 
I must say though, i found it safe and interesting. Not nearly as scary and full on as everyone had made it out to be. I would definately go back in a heartbeat without hesitation. Maybe next time round i might actually explore a litle more rather than spend most of the time chilling out. Ah well, that is the whole idea of a holiday!

Anyway next post will be up in a few days i guess, with all the details of my wicked times in Oaxaca state.
Feel free to send me a text sometime. I miss you guys!

Lots of love,
Tam xoxox 

NAWLINS!!!

More commonly known as NAWLIN, New Orleans is my kind of town ;)

Austin Skye, her friend Lily and myself took off for an adventures weekend road trip to New Orleans. It was my last weekend in the US and also Lily´s b´day so we had many reasons to let our hair down. Considering this, i think we behaved ourselves pretty well.

We left at about 6pm Friday night and drove through the night (about 8 hours) to our destination. Ofcoarse not without a few stops along the way. Our dinner stop proved pretty entertaining with the teenage guy stuffing up our orders several times.. im thinking he was pretty stoned and honestly just didnt give two hoots! I also did some backwards driving. No accidents and lots of bullshit talk later, we arrived in New Orleans in the wee hour of the morning and decided to hit the town. Within an hour we were all feeling pretty drunk, im going to blame it on the tiredness and not the gross amount of alcohol consumed in a very short time ;) Here i successfully ticked a box on my lifes to do list; drink a bourbon on Bourbon street, New Orleans. With that taken care of, we partied for a couple of hours and then crashed out so we could be somewhat functioning the following day.

Up relatively bright and early, we started the day with a walk around the French Quarter and down to the river, a couple of stops along the way in a few touristy shops and we made it to Cafe Du Monde for a Beignet or two!!!!! Absolute heaven! It was pretty much a day of cruising the streets, followed by a little nanna nap and then the night began.......

It all started off with a bang with us girls going on a ghost tour of town. We were fortunate enough to have an awesome guide who was very passionate about the supernatural phenomenas. Im finding that no matter where in the world i am, the tour guides have the same corny jokes and same mannerisms... i guess we really are just a one of a kind group of people. A little disappointed we didn´t experience any craziness but we did hear a lot of cool stories and find out some interesting FACTS.



We followed the ghost tour with a trip to Preservation Hall (as you do)....For those of you who don´t know what this place is all about, just think this is the heart and soul of Jazz/Blues. Amazing band playing there and such a good vibe. LOVED IT!!!!!

A few drinks along the way to warm us up and off we went to Bourbon Street where the real action took place. It was like a full moon party in Thailand but on heat lol  So much fun had but we had to keep it real as we had a 9 hour drive home on the Sunday morning. That didn´t mean we didn´t have fun though. Loved every moment in New Orleans and will definately be back in the near future.

Suffering Texan-itis!

Hmmm this is a tricky blog to start. So many awesome memories made, some that i should probably forget but on a whole Texas is AMAZING!!! Well maybe it was just the company but i loved it all! I'm pretty sure I got to live out all the texan stereotypes whilst there....yes there was dancing on bars, hanging in a country music dance hall,riding bulls and ofcoarse I got to shoot a gun or two!

Austin!

Thanks to Skye and Casey a million fold for taking care of me and showing me an awesome time. I feel like an Austin local!
Highlights include;
-Well I wouldn't call it a highlight but definitely something to remember was the first bar we all went to after I arrived, there was a giant snake around this ladies neck as she was dancing on the podium.For all of you that know me well, you can imagine just how much I shit myself!
-Second night out and met my future husband ;) Dallas,well actually David but Dallas suited him more.His over the top hospitality, flirtiness and impressive mechanical bull riding skills had me hooked.Unfortunately I only got to see him one more time before I left :(
-Amys icecream = best ice cream ever
-Uncommon objects = best store ever. They had the weirdest things i have ever seen
-Lucy in Disguise- best costume store ever
-I rode around on a mechanical bull (well the term riding may be overstated lol)
-Danced on the bar at Coyote Ugly
-Met some nice police men :)
-Hiking out in the parks with Skyes mum Vicky and Allison. Definately had some cabin fever prior to this day out. It was so great to be in the outdoors again, especially that the weather behaved
-Lots of awesome food. I was a gluten for punishment. Ofcourse i had to atleast try everything ;) Man they know how to do barbeque in Texas, thats for sure
-Visiting the Capitol Building in all its glory. Geeked out on the history of Texas. Really interesting. Such a proud State. The star is on absolutely EVERYTHING too, including highway overpasses
-Ghetto rollerskating night out. I still have it lol. After thinking i was going to fall flat on my ass since i havent even had any skates on in atleast 10 years, i actually did alright.... no broken bones
- The Allamo Drafthouse= best cinemas ever. You could order food throughout the movie from your waiter, inlcuding and heres my favourite part, alcohol
- Highball for brunch- There was an awesome jazz band playing as Skyes mum joined us for lunch after Sunday church
-Church- so im not much of a church goer, however this service really changed my perspective on things. It was more of a non denomination place of worship i guess. They take parts of all different religions and discuss the core principals of whats behind them. I was really interested and i think no matter what you believe in, there was value in the service for everyone.
-80s night groove fest. The girls and Casey hit the town for a bit of hip popping grooving. After a stumble down to a few bars we made it back to the Trophy Room for some more bull riding. Skye and Kristina gave some double riding a go.....the result.....Skye having badly bruised ribs for days :(

Anyway so they are just some of the awesome memories made in Austin. Such good times shared with such good people! Thank you to everone who made my stay so special.

Fort Worth/Keller adventure!

So for those of you in the know, Keller is where my awesome friend Lacey lives. We used to work together at the YHA before she up and left us :(

Ofcoarse the first thing we do once i arrive was have a yarn, catching up on all the goss.Always good fun! Then, holy moly, Lacey´s sisters boyfriend owns a bar and it was on! A few drinks down, a bit of bootscooting and catching up with a mate was a perfect night out.. .oh and IHOP at 3am lol.

In the week i was there, Lacey spoilt the crap out of me and i never know how i will be able to thank her enough!!! I watched my first American football game (where everyone was very patient with me, explaining the rules),spent Australia day, getting a pedicure, shooting guns, eating at Outback steakhouse and drinking in a seedy dive bar, i also got to know Lacey´s family who are super nice and accommodating. I felt so at home! Ofcoarse the trip wouldn´t be over with, without a little bit of shopping and a RODEO.... Yeeee Hawwwww! Lots of cowboys around and lots of giggles! This time i tried to curb my laughter when the anthem came on, not like in D.C where i thought id get deported (see D.C blog). I was really surprised how much i thoroughly enjoyed it. I guess i shouldn´t be, booze, coyboys and friends, what more could i want.

The next day was a teary farewell to my new friends and to Lacey, followed by a 6 hour greyhound bus back down to Austin. I guess the light at the end of the tunnel was that it wasn´t a 15 hour journey which im so getting accustomed to!

Thanks again Lacey!!!! You rock my world!!!! Mwah