Un Gran Viaje a México (day 1 of 27)

Solo Trip to Mexico - September 1

When my daughter or mi hija (say mee-eeha) started at a 4-year university last year, I decided to challenge myself by giving myself 4 years to master Spanish. So, last year I took Spanish 101A/B at Ohlone College and I ace-ed the classes while meeting some most interesting people. May I recommend our professor's Dr. Lemon's online material, providing high ratio of learning quality to time spent. 

This is year two towards the goal, and I am making a 27 day trip to Mexico for Spanish immersion.

Plan - Itinerary fly into Mexico City International Airport, and then immediatly proceed to the city of Cuernavaca for a 3 week language immersion program. Tail of the trip is 5 days in Mexico City, D.F, the capital of Mexico, for culture and shopping. In Cuernavaca, I will do a homestay with a host family, and attend ALSI language school, 9am-3pm Monday thru Friday. 

Budget - I estimate $3000 for 3.5 weeks. Includes round-trip airfare and vehicular transportation, food, school tuition, Cuernavaca homestay and Mexico City hotel, excursions and museum/theatre admission fees, and more food. I am keeping the receipts, and at the end of the trip I will add up and see how well I estimated. Currently, the exchange rate is

 $1 USD= $18 MXN Pesos. 

Cuernavaca Homestay - My host familia Gonzalez Lagner gave me a private bedroom and bathroom and a patio terraza. The live in a very nice middle class neighborhood or colonia, in a custom built house. The rate or tarifa $30 USD per night including good breakfast or desayuno, and a large mid-afternoon meal called the comida. Amazing deal! Almost too good to be true. Later, upon arrival I find that it is true. Here is a view of the garden seen from dining patio.

End of raining season. Very lush with flowers blooming and mosquitos. There is a nice flowing creek or barranca behind.

Cuernavaca Cityscape - This is a tourism photo of Cuernavaca that has set my expectation. When I arrive, I will find out how my experience compares to the expectation. What I know in advance is that the city is a medium-size metropolis composed of Cuernavaca joined by four other communities. The neighborhoods here are called colonias, rather than barrio.

On my first weekend in Cuernavaca, I aim to find the location from where this photo was captured.

Packed and Ready To Go - I made sure to prepare gifts for the host family, as it's customary in Central America to give gift when visiting. I selected gifts that represent the local area where I am from: 

• See's Chocolate - later, the hosts instantly recognize the brand.
• Apple porcelain mug - later, I tell the hosts that I live in between Apple headquarter (Cupertino) and Google headquarter (Mt. View). I think that amused them.
• Very nice red wool scarf made in Russia (okay not so local) - later, I find that the Señora has Russian and Japanese doll collections.

Let's Go, Vamos - My daughter gives me a ride to airport. I take AeroMéxico Flight 665 fro San Francisco to Mexico City. It is a 4.5 hour red-eye flight. In Mexico they call that a night owl flight, vuelo de buho. I got no sleep, just resting with shut eyes.

AeroMexico logo

Upon arrival at Mexico City International Airport, get a private driver or chofer to transport me out of Mexico City to Cuernavaca, for $90 USD, and I paid him that with US currency. The greenback is still a de-facto standard. In fact, the country of El Salvador had done away with maintaining their own currency, and replaced it with the US dollar, bills and coins, as their currency! I know this from a visit there in January of this year.

More Posts
Next post - Day 2 of 27 Estoy in México