Frustrations…but we’re now at La Playa!

We barely had time to catch our breath from the trip to the US, before we left on another holiday - this time to the beach (la playa) at Veracruz.

We’re tagging along on another conference, taking the opportunity to see a bit more of Mexico while my husband networks, schmoozes and boozes with colleagues and new contacts. The Australian Embassy and Trade Commission will have a fairly large presence at the conference so it will be a chance to meet and get to know some of the other Aussies in the country (all based in Mexico City). As far as I can tell we are the only Australians in our city, so I sometimes feel a bit starved for interaction with “my own kind”!

I was feeling fairly disorganised about the trip but not too stressed. Most of the time I am a real control freak, but I’ve found since moving here that I have been forced to let go of control of a lot of things, mostly because when we first arrived I was hampered by my lack of Spanish and understanding of the Mexican way of doing things, and we had great help from my husband’s colleagues. So when it came to booking flights and hotels for this conference I left it all up to the office manager to tack us on to the company booking. Everytime I asked my husband to check with the office manager if the tickets were all sorted (the control habit is hard to break) he would report back that he said “Don’t worry, everything is organised”. So I tried not to worry, but a few days before we were due to leave, I insisted my husband at least bring the tickets home with him, rather than have the office manager (who flew to Veracruz with us) bring them to the airport for our 6am flight. Thank goodness I did, because when I checked them, there was a minor spelling mistake on the ticket for my mother in law, and no ticket at all for Chiq! So, along with all the things I had to do to get the whole family ready for another holiday, I had to do a last minute dash to the airline office to buy a ticket for the baby (we’ve had lots of issues with baby tickets, so I knew I would need a paper ticket for her and would have to pay taxes, even though the flight is free) and sort out the name change.

We made it here fine after a very early start on Saturday and a tiring day of travelling and have had a lovely day wandering around the local area and lazing by the pool. The weather is absolutely perfect here, not as hot as at home, but still warm enough to swim and lie on a banana lounge comfortably. We’ve never really had a “laze by the pool” holiday before, but I think I could be convinced of their benefits, specially with kids. We’re getting the usual strange looks at the pool, because we’re all covered in sunscreen and decked out in our cancer council rashies and board shorts and everyone else is in bikinis and CJs (even at breakfast!). We’ll probably spend a fair bit of the week relaxing (which is necessary after the busy few weeks we’ve had, with visitors and the US trip) and maybe check out some of the local attractions at a leisurely pace.

So far, Veracruz seems very lively and interesting and although there are lots of tourists, they are mostly Mexican so we still feel like we’re experiencing “the real Mexico”. The seafood is fantastic and apparently the mariachi and danzón dancing is great to watch. For now, it might be time for an afternoon siesta, followed by a margarita and some camarones asadas (grilled prawns). Tough life!