This is what I did this weekend

Here is Sam and I on the train back in from the airport earlier today. It really is irrelevant to the rest of the posts, but I really love the look on Sam's face, so in it goes.

This is the weekend. This is the beach in Mexico in the state of Michoacan. It was a little random place that rents cabanas on the beach and seemed to be unknown to tourists, really only known to people familiar with this pretty wild stretch of the Pacific Coast.


Here is Sam on the beach, looking the other direction.


We headed to Mexico for my Christmas present on Friday afternoon, and we got back today, and it was awesome. We flew into Guadalajara where we spent the weekend with Sam's foreign exchange student and good friend Ivan and many of his friends--all young, educated, well employed, Mexican hipsters. The first night we went down to the main plaza in Guadalajara and just sort of soaked it in for a bit, then we hit cafe for dinner and then we met up with Ivan's friends at a bar called El Pony. It was strangely like a bar we could find in Bucktown, a little trendy a lot hipster. I wish that I had not forgotten my camera because there was a man in 80's high 'v' waisted over the belt leopard print pants. The belt was bright red, he had pointy gold shoes on and on top was a low v black tank top with a little skinny grey cardigan over it. IT WAS SO MUCH LOOK! I could not handle it all night. The guy worked there so he was always around.

The next day we got up early and drove to the beach about 5 hours away. We drove out of Jalisco (where Guadalajara was) into Colima where I saw a volcano, coconut farms (more palm trees than I ever imagined seeing in my life), sugar cane fields, lime trees and banana plants. All from the car window, with my camera locked in the trunk (yeah, I know, good thinking right). Then we drove into Michoacan and got stopped at the military checkpoint on the border between the states. That was interesting. It was a military check point, and it was very strange but they quickly let us pass.

At the beach, we just hung out and napped in the shade of the simple palm leave covered structure and splashed in the divinely warm pacific ocean. Then we drank under the stars and the near full moon, and then we slept and repeated the next day. The beach was awesome!!!! Late Sunday we drove to the nearby village and had lunch in a little open air seaside restaurant where a parrot was climbing around the dining room, his wings seemed to either be clipped or hurt and he could not fly. There we had ceviche and seafood with fruit salsa, and it was very good. Then we drove back home a few hours later (lunching required naps).

Once home we went to bed, and then got up early this morning to fly back. It was a short trip, but wonderful. I recommend a beach in Mexico as a perfect prescription for the winter blues.