day of the dead...(a bit late!)

So I am going to write about day of the dead even though it was on November second.

We (us and our tutor) started our altar 5 days before the event, but it still looked just as good on the day!
I am going to tell a little about day of the dead, for you to know what it is.
Day of the dead is the homecoming of the spirits, so the Mexicans make paths of petals from the graveyard they were buried in to their house and make an alter with their photo and a gift for them, E.G if they were smokers you put cigarettes.
They also have special breads for you to give them, there are also little statues, food or animals made out of sugar that is incredibly fine held together by water to make an imitation of the real thing.
So we made our altar and it was very beautiful(I will show a photo.)
On the day we wandered around the plazas, we saw a friend and she mentioned something about a crypt in the church in front of us and she said that this crypt is only opened once a year so we went to have a look at that. It was pretty cool, most of the spaces in the floor and wall were taken up but they left a little crack to walk on so you didn't step on the graves, they had very old stone floors but it had recently been fitted with electric lighting in anticipation for day of the dead.

We heard of another crypt that opened a bit more often and went to see that, it wasn't as good as the other but it was interesting to learn that they allowed cremation inthe churches here. If you click on the photo of me in the crypt you will see gruesome skull & crossbones at the top of the headstone

Zihuatanejo

The magical beach folded out in front of us as we drove down the driveway.

As soon as we arrived at the B&B we(us and some of our friends)changed and sped down the beach for the beautiful and warm waters, the rest of the day was spent playing in the water and marveling at the beach.
We spent 2 of our days splashing in the majestic waters, we also saw dolphins and they came about 30 meters away from us!
We had huge breakfasts made by the owner of the B&B, It was delicious!
For the dinners we always went to the locals little shacks recommended by the American owner, every dinner was great!
It was the last day in Zihua and I was psyching myself up for the spiritual man journey that lay ahead... FISHING!!
We set out in a little fiberglass boat being driven by a Mexican, the crew were my dad, me, nick and a American guy who lent us his rods and is a great guy.
the first fish was caught by nick, the second and third were caught by mua but then nick was sea sick so we went in dropped him off and went straight back out and in no time I had caught my third and forth dad caught his first and so did Phil(the American guy), then we decided to go to some huge rocks that look prehistoric! That is where dad caught his 2nd and I caught my fifth but we had to let mine go, after a while we decided we would do one last loop around the little point then go in, on the way in I hooked my 6th fish and it was my last.
I had the best time ever it was awesome!

Differences between Mexico & New Zealand

In Mexico we can't flush toilet paper down the toilet you have to put it in a rubbish bin in the bathroom.
There are lots of poisonous animals.
You can watch a new release movie at a flash movie theatre for 3 NZ dollars!
There are lots of parties.
Everything is cheaper.
People speak Spanish.
It is really dusty.
Lots of the lollies are spicy and sweet.
The light switches are sideways.
They drive on the other side of the road.
The money is pesos, and a 100 peso note is about NZ$12.
Tare lots of street vendors selling tacos that only cost NZ60cents each(so far my record is 8,
my appetite is curbed by my budget.)
You can see a family of 6 on a motor bike with no helmets.
Almost everyone has black hair, they touch our hair and say muy bonita(very beautiful.)
They don't play rugby.
I won't be writing for 3 days so see you guys!
love abe

Xote

Last Sunday we visited a place called Xote.
It is a very snazzy water park with lots of great slides.
It was loads of fun because we took some friends and lots of others arrived!
We all had a great time on all the slides!
There was one slide that goes so fast you have a choice to just slide or you can swing on the bar,
I had a record of how long it took me to get to the bottom my record was... 7 seconds!
Then there is also a slide that goes a lot slower but you can spin around by putting your hand on the side, that is jazzy fun.
There is also the racer, a slide so funky and fast that you can hit your head on the other end of the pool! What it is, is there are 4 lanes, they are all side by side, you have you try to be more aerodynamic and faster then everyone to win. It is not for the faint of heart. It also may not sound that fun but I can assure you it is awesome!

mexico city

Mexico city.
We visited the museo de anthropology. It is remarkable all the history, the amazing artifacts, the culture, it shows the way of life for ancient cultures, the mud houses the ritual clothing - everything.
It is spectacular!

After that we visited with friends to a posh ice cream parlor that has the best sorbet I have ever had!
The man said it is homemade, I think someone must be very good at making sorbet!

After the great sorbet we went to their apartment and it is on the top floor with a huge view to a helipad on the building next door it is very cool!
At the apartment we played monopoly, & on the computer and we had dinner at their house.
They are coming to visit!(fingers crossed)
We visited a place called kidzania which is a city for kids.
You can earn kidzos (which is their currency) by doing jobs , it is a great idea and loads of fun!
We are looking forward to going back!

Adventures

I went to disneyland while in L.A. and iit was the opening of the finding nemo submarine ride,
we didn't go on it cause the line was 4 hours long at 9 pm!
We went on the indiana jones ride and that was really fun, on the indiana jones ride your on this put put truck and you drive(very sharply)you go across this bridge thats above firey pits, then there is this big boulderthat comes down the tunnel your in and it looks like your going to get squashed then you drive forward and down a little tunnel.
We stayed there till 12:30am and that was great!
Sweden was amazing! But thats another adventure.
p.s. the cheapest meal you can get in down town disney is at Joe's taqueria.

My Story

Hi I am from New Zealand and I have spent the last month traveling around the world to where we are going to live...Mexico.
The countries I have been to so far this trip are:U.S.A, Sweden, Denmark, Germany(just a 2 hour stop) and Mexico.
I am currently in Texas, soon in Mexico.
I had been living in New Zealand for the past 7 years and me and my family wanted some spice in our life.
My mum and dad traveled around Mexico 18 Years ago and loved it and said they would take their kids there.
My mum and dad took my sister and me two years ago and we also loved it so we are going to live there.
My mum suggested getting a blog so I can keep my mates in New Zealand up to date with what's going on, so I did and this is it.