April 24th 2007- Ixtapa, Mexico

I’m writing this in the lobby of the Tesoro Hotel in Ixtapa, Mexico; A very nice all-inclusive hotel that is currently enjoying Karaoke night- Mexican style. It is so cool! They are all singing away at songs that I have never heard of. It seems to be a vacation spot for wealthy Mexican families, there are only a handful of Americans. It is really neat to be so immersed in the culture and the language. It really helps in learning it.

We left Cuyutlan yesterday after stopping at the internet café, then drove a few hours to Ixtapa/Zijuatenejo. The road from Mismaloya to Playa Azul was along the coast and through the mountains, so it was extremely windy, but with beautiful vistas of the cliffs and ocean below. Unfortunately, it is still the dry season, so the whole country has not been as green as it usually is. There are beautiful flowering bushes and trees, but the majority of the trees are still bare. It’s amazing the miles and miles of gorgeous, undeveloped beaches, which had only a few habitations of locals. By the time we were off that road all of us were quite sick though, I’ve never been on such a windy road.

This is the less touristy part of Mexico, so the roads are smaller (but mostly in great condition still), and the villages are authentic, many of them without cars, running water and sometimes, electricity. It is such a neat experience. I often wonder what it would be like to grow up and live the lives these people live. What is it like for them, what experiences have they had, what thoughts do they think? I am so grateful to have available to me all the opportunities and blessings that I do, and to have been born into such a land of abundance and prosperity. The stereotype is that Americans are rich, and now I know that that is true. Even the poorest of us are still wealthy compared to a vast majority of the world.

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