Vacation travel

I just got back from a trip that was *shocker* for fun!! 😮 

Not that travel for work isn't fun, but it is different. I mostly see hotels, church buildings, and airports. I meet a lot of people, but don't see a lot of the country. And while it is a work vacation (no meetings, just me, my team, and the work!), it is work.

Anyway. This was personal travel AND not to visit family. I did go with family, but we went somewhere where we had no relatives. So, like, a for realsie vacation. And it was a different travel experience: 

• I didn't have to pack half a suitcase full of work equipment.
• I didn't go through immigration or customs. Not even once! (That was originally on the table, because we had planned an international trip, but things happened, and there's a baby coming, and plans changed).
• It was way easier to change the schedule. Not completely doable, because some things we had to book in advance, but there were lots of things we could shift around.
• We actually used the hotel swimming pool.
• And I took a swimsuit (2 actually, but ended up only using one).
• I did share a hotel room, and that doesn't happen on work trips...
• I didn't have to carry around paperwork everywhere I went.
• I slept better than I do at home, which is weird. But it was amazing.
• One hotel for the whole trip! (That has happened on a few work trips, but not often).
• And I only visited the airport to arrive and depart. Twice! Admittedly, I was in 6 different airports, because I left from one, had a layover in another, and arrived in a third, times 2 (for there and back). But on my last work trip, let's see: 12. In 8 days. And I was in some airport on 5 of those 8 days. This trip was 7 days and I was in an airport on 3 of them (and only 3 because I had a redeye flight home, so that trip extended over 2 days. Technically). 

Honestly, it was kind of amazing. I had forgotten/didn't know travel like this existed, and might become addicted. Or I might just decide staying home is where it's at. Depends on the day. I still like the work travel and feel really lucky, but this was definitely a nice change!

Parque Nacional do Iguaçu, Brasil

The thing about Iguaçu (or Iguazu, or Iguassu) Falls is, pictures don't do it justice. You really have to be there to appreciate the size, and the sound, smell, and feel of the water. Even just to see what it looks like actually moving--I don't think photographs or video can ever do it justice. And, they definitely don't let you experience butterflies landing on you and hitching a ride, or the feel of a coati brushing against your leg (they are very soft).

Travel part 3: Hotels

There was a fairly small one in Montevideo, just enough space to walk around the bed. But otherwise, not bad. 

There was the one in Peru with a jacuzzi right in the room. Like, right in it.

And also the one (maybe the jacuzzi one, I don't remember now) with the steam feature in the shower that everyone raved about, and I did not try.

There was the super lux Marriott in Buenos Aires, with a great view from the balcony. I only got to enjoy it for about 6 hours, because we left at 3 in the morning. 

The shared room in Guatemala which wasn't 4 star for a hotel but definitely would have been a posh summer camp stay.

The cabin in Tikal. It was fitting for a jungle, but if I'd known that the early morning walk-into-Tikal-as-the-sun-rises wake up call was going to wake up everyone, I would have gone ahead on the walk. 

The hostel housing with a shared bathroom that could have used an improved design in the shower area.

The ranch-style stay on my latest trip, where I somehow ended up in a double room: 2 beds, 2 baths, but one door. How's a girl to decide which room to use? 

There was also the hotel that was hidden in a mall. It took a while to find the hotel, and was very hard to know which floor was the main floor on the elevator.

There was the Best Western in Tula, which was stuck right in the middle of the block. Pros: Very close to tacos. Cons: zero parking, and the rooms were crammed in everywhere. No two rooms were alike. I fortunately lucked out and avoided any cucaracha visitors, and had a decent sized room (no worse than Montevideo, and I spent even less time in it). Others had a living room, but at least one person had essentially a broom closet.

In contrast was the architectural wonder we stayed at on our last night. Just check out that interior: 

Hotels: all part of the adventure.

Travel part 2: Shotgun

While in Mexico, I ended up being the navigator (lo, the responsibilities of being shotgun). Which, google maps does work in Mexico, but you have to get used to the roads. For example, you'll have a big multi-lane road and one of those lanes will split off into a side street that runs parallel, but right up until you are supposed to be on that road, it looks like it is all one road. And then before you know it you are on the wrong road because either you were supposed to get off or you were supposed to stay on and thank goodness there is more than one way to get somewhere and back tracking is an option.

I also have this tendency to look away right at the critical moment. Because, I want to see what I'm driving past and so if I'm the solo navigator, my mind just wanders too much. Fortunately, I had some help from the backseat (backseat drivers can be helpful!!) and my backseat driver had my back. 

By the end of the trip, I was getting better at navigating or asking people to have eyes on the map with me, but I still never made it without missing at least one thing (although not all of them ended up derailing us). Which, to be honest, feels like something for that life resume. And we made it okay and no accidents, so I'm counting it a success. 

Whoopsie

I kind of accidentally learned how to make chiles en nogada last week. 

I know. How do you accidentally learn how to make anything, let alone chiles en nogada?!

Well, it started with a deal made who knows how long ago between my boss and a teammate, who weren't my boss or teammate at the time, in which the teammate promised the boss chiles rellenos. This was followed by what must have been at least several years of ribbing for not delivering on the promise. 

Fast forward to last year, when I found out that one of the reasons there had been no chiles rellenos was because Teammate needed a place to make them. Which I mentioned the next time ribbing was happening.

And so, this year, during the training seminar, there was an offer of a place and so the chiles rellenos were going to happen.

The place ended up being mine (which is fine--it was only for the cooking, not for the eating) and the chiles rellenos were switched to chiles en nogada (they are more fancy), and long story short, I now know 3 ways to roast chiles, how to make en nogada, that pomegranate seeds do not last very long, and it's a good thing because I have roughly 4 pounds of meat filling in my freezer, so all that info will come in handy. 

Just goes to show, accidents happen.

Tikal

One thing that there is a lot of in Latin America is pyramids and ruins, sites of native civilizations. Which, to the best of my knowledge do not exist in the places my ancestors are from. But I really, really love visiting these places. It is incredible to know you are standing on a site that was a bustling city 2000 years ago, and to see how incredibly intelligent and advanced they were. It definitely changes the way you think about things. And I always want to come home and learn more about them. 

Also, Tikal is in a jungle. Like, a legit jungle. My second wake up call was from the howler monkeys. So, double the fun: ruins and monkeys!

 

Even in the jungle, there are motorcycles.

View from Temple IV.

Ruins that feature in a scene in Star Wars.

Close up of the one of the temples.

Main plaza.

Coatis playing.

Spider monkey.

Main plaza.

Main plaza.

One of the temples (don't remember which) in the morning mist.

Hiking in Tikal.

Palace of Grooves.

Palace of Grooves.

Palace of Grooves.

Palace of Grooves.

The Jungle.

Favorite vacation

A couple of weeks ago, we were hosting a boot camp at work and to introduce ourselves, we were supposed to tell about our favorite vacation.

Favorites are not my favorite.

How do you pick a favorite vacation? There's the vacations from my childhood, which have the bonus nostalgia factor. I remember a particular campground where we went. It had a nice creek that would freeze your feet off. Many good memories. 

There's the whimsical vacations. Like a 4th of July in a small town or the labor day weekend whirlwind tour to Kirtland, Ohio; Palmyra, New York, and both sides of Niagara Falls.

I've done a couple of solo trips, where I've enjoyed the solitude. 

And most of my vacations are to visit family. How do you pick a favorite Christmas or summer in the midwest? It's not possible!

On top of that there is all the world travel, which isn't always technically a vacation. Some of my work trips have been every bit as fun as a vacation. Get the right people and it's a vacation waiting to happen. No travel required (I had a great vacation last October working a normal schedule and in my own city). 

You can see why favorites are hard. 

I have had some interesting vacations (three days on an island with an active volcano). Classic vacations (Disneyworld with my sister's family. Again--the people make the vacation). Family reunions traveling across the country. Family vacation across the state, where kids sank up to their knees in muddy sand and we fell in love with some kittens. I've even had the disaster experience. Peru, well, it wasn't a disaster per se, but it sure was a bumpy ride. 

Really, the best vacations are about the memories and there are sure a lot of ways to get them. So I say, love them all!

Teotihuacan

 

Mexico City

Since college, if you had asked me where I wanted to go in Mexico, my answer would have been Mexico City. And finally, after 20 years, I made it.

Why Mexico City? It's a city on a city on a lake!!! Why would you NOT want to see that? A city built by Aztecs about 700 years ago, on a lake. And then, 200 years later, the Spaniards come, and decide to build their city on top of Tenochtitlan. And it's still there!!! On top of the city on the lake!!! And it's kind of sinking in places (yeah. I did mention it's on a lake, right?) but it's STILL THERE!!! How amazing is that?!  

Anyway, one thing off the bucket list. 

Basilica de Guadalupe

Meat cooking

Templo Mayor

Metropolitan Cathedral

Palacio de Bellas Artes

Museo Nacional de Antropología

El Caballito