Week 6 and 7 - Prom, San Carlos and the Expo

As the weeks go on here in this beautiful country, I am getting more used to the way of living. Taking it easy, and enjoying the weather, the food and the people. Everything is ‘tranquilo’ and the days go by pretty quick. It’s nice to have no responsibilities except showing up for work every day. So I can pretty much do whatever I want: some beers with friends, taco here, tequila there, almost like I am on holiday (which I kind of am of course).

Friday I was invited to join Fernando, Raul and some others to a prom night of one of their friends. I was kind of reluctant to accept since I was planning to go to San Carlos at 8 am the next day, and I know when I go with them, for some reason, sleeping is not an option. But they insisted and I was curious, so why not, sleep is for the weak. However, I did need a suit. But Fernando asked around and assembled a nice outfit. I have to say I looked quite good.

When we got there I was amazed, a giant room filled with round tables loaded with food and liquor. It was so fancy! My prom was really dull compared to that. The evening was great, I met a lot of new people and spend the evening dancing, chilling and drinking scotch, very classy, I only missed a big Cuban cigar. At like 4am the official party came to end but of course there was an after party. I first thought it was at someone’s house or something, but no, we just went to the next venue, an outdoor dancefloor. Since everybody was getting quite drunk, and I was of course the only white / blond guy, everybody wanted to talk or dance with me, so much fun and what a great night!

At like 7 am the party came to an and we took an Uber back to someone’s place. Since I was kind of in a hurry by then, someone gave me a ride and I arrived home at 7:45 am, exactly 15 minutes to pack my bag and take a shower, before we (my roommates and Fernanda) left to San Carlos. First stop, some coffee! Unfortunately, Fernanda missed to see a speedbump, causing my coffee to fly all over the car. I still have some burn marks on my lap. Luckily it was 1.5h drive so I at least could get some sleep.

San Carlos was beautiful! A very nice coastal town with some great beaches and views. We could crash in a house of one of Fernanda’s friends for free, which was great. After we got settled we went to the beach and just spend the afternoon chilling, getting some sun, eating fresh mango, and doing some swimming. I do have to say though that the water was pretty cold, the sea on the other side of Mexico has a better temperature. In the evening Daniel, Oli and Cinthia surprised me with a text that they also decided to some to San Carlos. So nice of them! So that evening we all went to this Salsa Club called, La Salsa Beach Bar. A super nice place, drinking some beers with your feet in the sand, a live band, and of course: dancing.

The next day we had a delicious Mexican breakfast and after that we went back to the beach. Just chilling in the sun and getting some tan. Since I wear t-shirts all the time my arms are starting to get pretty brown with this crazy sun, however the rest of my body is still way too white. I really need more days on the beach. We concluded our weekend with some delicious local seafood and went on our way back to Hermosillo.

Next Tuesday was mother’s day in Mexico, which is a free day at CIAD. I spend the day with Daniel’s family, who’s mom made some delicious taco’s. Friday I finally went to the Expo with some co-workers. The Expo is this state fair of which every single person told me I should go to. I have to say I was not disappointed. It was gigantic, cows on display, dancing horses, a full on carnival, food everywhere and like 10 stages with traditional music plus a dozen of walking taka taka bands.

One of my co-workers friends taught me to dance the traditional Banda, which kind of easy to learn. The locals really enjoyed seeing some gringo dancing their dance, at one point even a random girl asked me if she could dance with me. Maybe I should consider switching professions and become a professional Banda dancer.

Bart