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ashleeelle-blog · 8 years ago

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Oaxaca

I think after that bus ride I am well prepared for airport delays and long flights. It was supposed to be 5 hours, getting in at 1:30pm, but with all the road block protests from teachers still happening across the country we made it to Oaxaca at 5:30pm. It was raining and our taxi went round and round in circles looking for the hotel. I can easily say Oaxaca was my favourite place so far but the hotel was by far the worst! The casa Arnel, home for 2 nights was dirty and gross. The shower head was caked in lime and build up it sprayed every which way and there wasn't any signs or labels for the rooms. The keys said anything from A - E, 12A-E or 79-89. It was confusing as all hell! We went for dinner in a nice restaurant that served fresh food and heap of veggies and salads with every meal! Yay! After belize and my poor diet there, fresh food was amazing! Although I have been disappointed that everyone wants to eat in restaurants all the time, I want to eat more street food but we pretty ugh have every meal together which is nice but also a tad annoying. Our orientation walk ended for some of us when we decided that we were too tired to go on a "15min" walk of the city centre and surrounds at night in the rain. I wish I wasn't so tired. Those that stayed had an awesome night out. Despite the rain the locals were dancing in the street as part of one of their several festivals happening at the same time. Katie and daisy ended up being a part of the dances and they all got ad drunk afterwards but found an awesome upstairs downstairs bar with salsa dancing and packed with aussie and poms. The next day was another day of market shopping. Still can't tell you anything I got cause I don't want to ruin the surprises! But it was great! Even watched some locals in the ain square dancing to a full brass band in there masks and uniforms! It was amazing. After the disappointment of being told there was a bunch of things on the itinerary that wasn't available on our trip including mexican wrestling. Katie insisted on making Erhard google these things and give us the right information. Turns out there was a match on!!! It ended up being amateurs but it was hilarious! The atmosphere was terrible, maybe cause it was amateurs or maybe the rain kept them indoors but it was pretty enjoyable none the less. Right before the last match the whole group got up and walked out. I thought the thing was over but apparently some of the girls were just finished watching it. Erhard is hopeless when it comes to taxis (among many other things). After 1 minutes he managed to flag down 2 taxis so 2/3 of us could go back to the hotel. As we were getting in we found ot some were actually staying to watch the end of the match. If I had known I would have stayed. It turned into a brutal and very real match. Probably by accident but 1 guy ended up getting hit in the head with a metal chair and bled everywhere and the few that stayed got a bunch of great photos in the ring and with some of the wrestlers! We ended up getting stuck in the taxi for ages as they were trying to nagate the street parades. We saw glimpses and what we saw looked like fun. Dinner was at the closest place which was pizza. Mexicans shouldn't try to do Italian food... some went in to watch fireworks on the city centre but we're back at the hotel an hour later dripping wet. Our last day in Oaxaca before the overnight bus to San cristobal has been by far.my favourite day! It started with an early morning a checking out & trying to get my washing back from the day before! Our first stop was the farthest away, the natural mineral springs in the mountains. What an amazing view it was, thank god the hike around the pools was optional because the fit people that did it got to the pools knackered! We had 2 hours to enjoy the pools which were refreshing & a little cold, and sunbake and relax for a while. Our tour guide was called Malam and he was brilliant! He knew everything about oaxaca, telling us about how it was the first place for silvering and how the valley is a 3 leaf clover shape, with each "leaf" having different environments that provided loads of different resources to the region. Our next stop was the Zapotec ruins where we could go into the underground tombs.. they must have been short people cause the entry ways to temples and tombs were really low! But this civilisation was incredible in there architecture, there was an incredibly destructive earthquake in 1931 which had people coming to research the ruins as they weren't even slightly affected. As a side note apparently the oaxaca region has 300 earthquakes a year. Most as just so weak you don't feel them! After the ruins we stopped at the zocalo factory for lunch and mezcal tasting. It takes upto 6 weeks to.make a batch of mezcal cause the plant is smoked and baked before being mashed with an old fashioned donkey and rolling Stone situation. Straight mezcal is crazy strong and bitter but the fruit and cream flavours you could easily drink a bottle... then pass out! Second last stop was to a local family textile Workshop where they wash & dye the wool by hand with natural ingredients from the environment. Red is the most expensive colour because they use the bugs on the cactus. There blood gives the red colour so they wait for them to dry out then grind them up to make a red powder. Blue is a flower that is dried and grinded and the addition off limestone changes the shades of the colour. We watched as the native zapotec woman continued weaving the rug she was working on. It takes between 1 week to several months to complete a rug. And they are truly stunning at the end. Knowing what goes into it is amazing and they pass it down through the family. The 4 year old daughter is learning to weave this year. Last stop was the small town of El Tile where a 2000 year old tree stands. There was a festival street parade so we stayed to watch that, with all the woman in traditional dresses either Dancing or carrying baskets. The tree is not the oldest but it is the widest in the world with a the single tree root having a circumference of 58m. We just got dropped off from the tour and we are dragging our bags to the bus station and stocking up with subway for the overnight bus shortly. Fingers crossed it goes well! 11 hour trip is long enough!

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ashleeelle-blog · 8 years ago

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Puebla

We started our adventures with a much needed lunch on arrival at 3pm. The restaurant the tour guide had picked out only served pork on different kinds of breads and tortillas. By this point I knew this was his first tour group through mexico, he had previously shadowed the tour group/guide before us. His knowledge was incredibly limited of the places we were going but he had been a tour guide from cancun through Guatemala for several years before. I have to keep reminding myself he is new on the mexico tour cause everyone was so dissatisfied with the restaurant. Some people didn't eat pork others didn't get what they had ordered (or at least what they were told by Erhard they were ordering). The whole thing was a big kaffuffle and took 2 hours because the bills took so long to sort out. Still tired from our trip (with a very knowledgeable and almost fluent English speaking guide at the ruins) we did an orientation tour again which instead of the 10 minutes it was supposed to take it was 40 minutes in the hot afternoon sun. Puebla isn't a very big place but it is pretty. Finally making it back to our rooms meant, at least for me a massive headache. Erhard thought it would be good to swap roommates at every destination so I'm with a girl whose sense of humour is ridiculous and childish. We don't get on at all. I tired really hard but it's like nails on a chalkboard. I thought she was British but turns out she's just been around some brits on her tour in USA before joining the Mexican tour.. in actual fact she is bogan Australian.. like really bogan. After the ordeal at lunch we asked for places with more choices and lighter choices. So for dinner we ended up at an expensive Italian restaurant where the salads cost so much for only 100g that no one ordered them. Most of that day was spent relaxing in the afternoon and enjoying the big lumpy pillows each bed had. (Lumpy is 100 times better than the flat pillows of mexico city!) The second day in Puebla was spent at the markets and I also went solo to an art museum. This morning was when I realized that Mexicans truly function on island time. It was 9am when Gabby, Ashalay and I went out for breakfast. The only place open was a bakery. We walked around the town but with all the shutters all day roller doors closed we went back to the hotel to wait for the some of the others to wake up with their hangovers. When we finally made it to the markets it was wonderful. It was in the historic art centre where they have been painting and creating ceramics for centuries. There was even a corner of cafes that i imagine would fit in well in Italy. I can't tell you what I bought cause it would spoil surprise presents for some of you! But I did well I think considering its all hand crafted! That night we went to a neighbouring town for dinner and drinks... well that was the plan anyway. Erhard went to Cholula that day to check it out for us. I think I'll be nursing my feet for a few days after last night. We went an hour earlier to see the city centre before dinner. When we first got out of the taxis all dressed up for dinner and dancing we were told we had to go up to the top of the famous church. Only 2 minutes he said. Maybe if we were all fit and not wearing nice shoes (mine had a small wedge heel) we could have done it in 5 instead of the 15 it took. It was beautiful up there. You could see the whole (not so small) town. Erhard started pointing out where the bars and restaurant area was which happened to be a bit of a walk from the town centre. The town centre consisted of a park with more market stalls opposite the oldest Catholic convent in Mexico. It was all really lovely. However...! This is where our tour guide really started to piss me off. Cholula is split into 2 halves by the mountain top church. Well actually the church is built on the biggest pyramid foundation in the world. Anyway, there are 2 zocalo's (city centres) one is in the historic tourist area, the other is more of the local suburban area. We walked all the way to the other city centre thinking that's where the restaurant was only to find another, more modest church that was full for a graduation ceremony and a water fountain that had no water. We legitimately stayed there for 90 secs asking where the restaurant was. We got to cholula at 5:30. By this time it was 7:30 and we were absolutely starving! Little did we know that the halfway point where we were climbing all over the 3-D sign of cholula and admiring the mural of Frieda Kahlo was nearest to dinner. Someone actually had an app on there phone and figured out we walked more than 6km on our "relaxing dinner and drinks" adventure. Needless to say a few of us were pretty pissed. Especially as he never mentioned even in the lobby about our extra long pre-dinner hike. This morning was another early morning to catch the bus to Oaxaca.

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ashleeelle-blog · 8 years ago

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Mexico City

I'll start when my tour officially started; at orientation on the Tuesday night. Just so happened to start 20 minutes after my exam and of the 4 places that were all empty and would easily fit the group, the tour leader picked the lounges in the business area... Right. Behind. Me. My exam proctor even told the guy what was happening and to be quiet or find somewhere else. On top of this I left a note with reception for him explaining what I was doing and with all my information that was asked for in the itinerary. My view of Erhard was definitely tainted from that night when he didn't have the consideration to relocate even 3 metres into th enclosed conference room or to keep the noise down. It made my exam extremely stressful and I had to email the uni to tell them so. Reading the same question 3 times is not ideal! Anyway, breakfast day 2 was crowded but nice, no one really seemed to know the plan so we all over ate and had pastries that were being bought to the table.. if I knew then that we were going for churro's after I would have saved room! Following breakfast was an orientation walk to to & around the zocalo (meaning city centre) mexico city is so big it was a fair walk, but great. I had already seen the city from the 44th storey of the Latino Torre lookout the day before & knew that most of the zocalo was walled off for an archeological dig. The ruins by the cathedral is where the aztec first saw the eagle with the snake that has become the emblem of mexico. They took it as a sign to build their city there and expanded over most of mexico. Our 30mins orientation turned into 2 hours so by the time we were released to explore and do our own thing it was already midday. Half of us decided to catch the hop on hop off "turi bus" around the city. The idea was great and I got to see monuments scattered throughout the city but the 2 circuits we were going to do would take 6 hours. Little did we know that the traffic in Mexico city is so awful that our bus was at a standstill constantly. We ended up making it around 1 circuit instead of the 2. It was a long day and I missed out on seeing museums and most of the city but it was still an enjoyable day exploring and getting to know some of the other girls on the tour. By the time to bus dropped us back at the zocalo (a 20 min walk from the hotel) it was clouded over, only a few blocks from the hotel we were pummelled with rain and ended up trying to wait it out in a store front. After 20 minutes of intense rain we gave up and tried running through it to the next lot of store fronts until we made it to the side streets by the hotel. We ended the day with dinner at a restaurant somewhere I can't remember. All I know is that it was a good end to a sunburnt and soggy day of exploring. The next morning we were up early with our bags raiding the 7-11 in the corner for snacks and water for our trip to the Teotihucan ruins a few hours away. The Teotihucan people hid there temples and houses in with the hills and remained undiscovered, they lived for over 2000 years and every 52 years with the solar eclipses they would rebuild there city. There were 2 pyramids we climbed. First the moon temple, in which the moon sits directly over the temple every year on a certain day in June. The sun temple was a bit of a hike up but I made it! Our tour guide said it was 73 metres tall but I'm 99% he meant 173m. At the end of the tour our private van took us all the way to puebla.

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ashleeelle-blog · 8 years ago

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Different definitions of a Medicine Internship

Starting day 1 I had not even the slightest idea of where to go or what to do. I was up at 6am trying to catch one of the other interns and get some information. Enter monica. Tiny girl with long brown hair and a fairly big personality. In the end I came to like her but the stereotypical sorority part was difficult to swallow at times.

Monica was good enough to give me the keys to the clinic and show me that the clinic was across the road.. Whoopsie missed that important piece of info. Her and clay were off to Guatemala for 2 days. So first day already sucked seeing as I was doing this alone. I was keen to meet the vets and get working and learning though. Enter Elianne. (Pronouced Ellie-arnie) Big Cuban woman with a personality just as big. She was great for the most part but it was that first week of sitting around that I started to realize that I’m doing noting other than scrubbing cages and feeding animals. Oh and there was only 1 vet not the 3 that were listed and only 1 visiting veterinarian not 2 that was teaching the students. By the end of week 1 I met the dozen students that were taking the wildlife and small animal course cause it was easy, it was a holiday and meant they got credit for it and didn’t have to study full time the next semester. I also learnt that day that their lectures were conducted in the kitchen dining area of the tiny clinic.

My first weekend I was given off. I wanted to check out the markets and finally had a chance to buy some actual food not just hotdogs and bread which I spent most of the week eating because being stuck in the orange gallery meant I was nowhere near anything and even though I was doing jackshit at the clinic we weren’t able to leave until we mopped and cleaned at the end of the day so the buses stopped running and taxis were too expensive! My first weekend was the failed Guatemala trip. Made it as far as the San ignacio markets with monica. Then 10 mins in it started pouring and never stopped. The whole town flash flooded and I had to fork out for a taxi to get back to the motel. Completely drenched and never even made it anywhere near the border!

The start of week 2 the students were at the clinic and not only got to see the ocelot be anaesthetised for its health check and xrays but also were apart of it…. AND GOT PREFERENCE. NOT THE FUCKING WILDLIFE MEDICINE INTERNS! It’s still a sore point for me. I got to inject subcutaneous fluids and that was it. Even the prevet intern clay who was supposed to be out at the research station in the chikabul rainforest did the Xrays - all he knows is to push the button! As week 2 was ending I was told I had to spend my weekend at the clinic… just incase someone came in. But with the front gate locked, elianne having the clinic phone for exactly that purpose and no small animal vet ofcourse nothing was going to happen! 16 very long boring hours wasted at the clinic on top of the long hours during the week.

At some point during week 2 I was walking to the airstream trailer which was our “kitchen” and was stalked by a massive tarantula.. ended up sprinting and jumping into the trailer and did the same in reverse to my room!. By kitchen, I mean was supposed to have a kitchen instead it was a microwave and a fridge. A lot of 2 min noodles, Mac n cheese and hotdogs. No wonder I was feeling so aweful all the time!

Week 3 saw the arrival of 2 new Americans (everyone was American!) One was laid back and great the other hated the world and complained about everything. They too were supposed to be at the research station for their post grad research assignment on Scarlet Macaw DNA. Oops. No one got what they were supposed too - they are spending 5 weeks interning at the clinic and using samples from macaws collected over the last 5 years that were sitting around the clinic instead. I was so excited to be in my last week the finish line was near and I could put it all behind me in Mexico. I jinxed myself. Right when I needed all the free time to study I was working 10 hour shifts doing extra husbandry stuff and helping out with the students. There was a surgery the previous week on a bird that didn’t go as planned.. thays putting it mildly. The surgery was unsuccessful in pinning the wing bones back together but the bird survived. I was glad to have 1 day off again on a Tuesday were I was able to go to the zoo. I will freely admit the zoo was fantastic. It has very large natural jungle enclosures and all the animals are rescued and rehabilitated that weren’t able to be released. I sat on a bus all day trying to see the most of belize. I made it to belize city then had to pay a taxi to take me to the tourist area before I was kidnapped or robbed. He didn’t speak much English but it was made clear that he would drive me around so I could see the city then take me back to the bus cause it was a dangerous and dirty city and even the tourist area wasn’t much to see. The organiser of my internship was trying to screw me out of what I had paid for. It was supposed to include a “weekend excursion” so my zoo entrance was paid for and his mention of a guided tour was nothing more than another lie. I later found out that normally a horse back riding adventure or a tour of the mayan ruins is what is usually organised. My 2nd last day was a spay clinic. It was long. It was stressful and the students were not at all prepared. I’m pretty sure one of them was stupid enough not to tell everyone her dog had a contagious venerable cancer and passed her thermometer around to others… basically the students managed to infect a whole bunch of dogs with a cancer because 1 girl didn’t let anyone else know.

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ashleeelle-blog · 8 years ago

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My home for 3 weeks

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ashleeelle-blog · 8 years ago

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30 Hours Long

Setting off from Sydney I was squeezing every last drop of excitement to make it to my seat on the long haul flight to LA. So much exhaustion and stress was still clouding me from the semester and a chance to sleep seemed like a godsend. Little did I know at the time a toddler would be kicking me every few hours interrupting any chance of actual sleep. Got to admit for a toddler, little hunter was well behaved for the most part, I doubt I would have been at his age. Landing on the same date and a few hours before you took off is really off putting. The idea of checking out downtown LA seemed great but at 7am I knew it was fruitless. I've never been so happy to have a shower and sleep in a hotel room until my late night flight. Fast forward several more hours and airports and I'm landing on the runway in Belize. I had a mini heart attack thinking I had got on the wrong plane. It resembles Fiji immensely! In fact as I was going to find out that belize is essentially parts of Malaysia and Fiji mixed together. Even down to the Asian supermarkets dominating the country with "Island time" being applied to everything! Little did I know that the orange gallery was where I was staying. So when the taxi driver pulled up instantly got out to unload my suitcase I was so confused! Definitely not the address I was given and even with the heavy rains I knew there was nothing in either direction for miles. Luckily the taxi took my stuff into the gift shop in front of us, otherwise I would have stood there in the rain waiting for the other interns that were supposed to meet me there. I was handed a key and pointed in a direction.

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