Travel

How quickly did this school term fly by?? It doesn’t seem that long ago that I was fresh off the plane from Mexico, trying to get my bearings and crossing my fingers that Guerita would get a place in Pre-Primary at our local school and now there’s only one week of term left!

I’m very excited about these school holidays, though, because the girls and I are off to Sydney for 10 days to visit family and friends and enjoy the delights the East Coast has to offer. Both my parents grew up in Sydney so all my extended family are there (Grandfather, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins) and quite a few friends as well. There’s always heaps of people to catch up with - I lived there myself, for 8 years, did all my primary schooling there and am still friends with a girl I met on the first day of kindergarten (our Mums are close friends too). Plus there’s a few other Sydneysider friends I’ve picked up along the way and some great girlfriends from my days living in Central West NSW are coming down for a visit.

It’s going to be an action packed trip! We’re also going up the coast for the long weekend, and I am booked to do the Bridge Climb with 2 of my cousins! For someone who is just a little bit scared of heights, it could be interesting.

Anyway, I have been chatting with the lovely Super Sarah and we’ve been hatching a plan for a Sydney meet-up so our munchkins can have a play together and we can meet face to face. I thought I’d put the word out here in case any of you Sydney (or nearby) bloggers wanted to join us…

Here are (some of) the details:

Day: Wednesday 8th October
Time: 10:30am

I decided that just for a bit of safety’s sake not to post the location in the post, but if you are interested in coming along, please email me and I’ll let you know where we’re meeting. The place we’re going has a play area for the kids and a cafe for coffees/morning tea supplies etc and I expect we’ll be there for a few hours (ish).

We’d love to see you if you can make it - just shoot me a message at:

aussieguera [at] gmail [dot] com

And if you’re not in Sydney - then you’ll just have to wait for the photos…

My plan for this post has changed quite a few times since I first started writing it (because it’s taken me so long to complete it!). Before we went to Disneyland I was all prepared to write about the irony of going to “The Happiest Place on Earth”, but when I started drafting my post one night during the holiday I was finding it hard not to feel happy while we were there.

It’s a bit over 2 weeks since we left Disneyland, and life back here is not quite as shiny and happy, but that’s understandable. I am pretty cynical about the Disney “machine” most of the time, but I have to hand it to them, they sure know how to put together an amazing place for a family holiday. I’m sure many people have written many things about Disneyland over the 50+ years it’s been open, so I’ll just add my few observations:

• There is so much to do there! They really pack as much as possible into each square inch and given how huge the Disney District is, that’s a lot of square inches. Not only is there the mega theme park, Disneyland, but also the newer California Adventure Park (opposite Disneyland) and the Downtown Disney District which has shops and restaurants to keep you occupied. Even if you’re not jumping on rollercoasters or rides, there’s still lots of things to look at, like the beautifully manicured gardens and displays, Disney characters to meet and generally marvel at the amount of work that must have gone into building and maintaining it all.

• The attention to detail is incredible! Disneyland is divided up into different “lands” with different themes - Fantasyland, Adventureland, Tomorrowland etc and within each land absolutely everything is in keeping with that theme, even down to the rubbish bins and toilets. The staff on every attraction have a uniform specific to that ride and they are all in character to a fault. Even the “royal squire” quite seriously informed me (and not within earshot of children) that Cinderella and Prince Charming sometimes have royal engagements that mean they can’t always be there for photos. When you line up for a ride (which can sometimes be a very long queue) the area you stand in has little themed decorations and information to look at, so it feels like even the queue is part of the ride.

• They have thought of EVERYTHING (and then some) for making the experience hassle free, particularly with young kids. You can imagine that a massive theme park with the huge amounts of people that come through every day has the potential to be a nightmare with crowds and confusion, but its really not. There are signs everywhere telling you how long the wait is for different rides, on the most popular ones they have a Fastpass system allowing you to book in a few hours ahead and avoid queuing at all, there’s always somewhere safe to park the stroller if you need to, ramps everywhere… I’ve barely heard a cross word spoken anywhere - about the only drama you see is the inevitable tantrums from kids who can’t take all the excitement, heat and sugar any longer. The girls had a few mini-meltdowns, but thankfully nothing too bad.

• This place is SO CLEAN! It’s even cleaner than Canberra! Seriously, I saw almost no rubbish on the ground, the gardens are immaculate, and the toilets are spotless. It has a lot to do with all the staff they have constantly cleaning up throughout the day and the army of cleaners who come in every night at midnight and work till 8am polishing everything ready for another onslaught!

So, all in all, I actually had a good time. I was making a conscious effort not to think too much about what was to came after we left LA (and surprisingly succeeded since we were pretty busy racing round Disneyland) and enjoying it for what it was - a fun family holiday.

Most importantly, though, the kids had a BALL! It was really a dream come true for Guerita in particular and sometimes she was barely able to contain her excitement. The last time I was there (12 years ago) Rocky and I raced round from rollercoaster to rollercoaster and were barely aware of all the stuff there is for little kids. I wondered before we came whether there’d be enough for them to do, but there was actually heaps! We spent a lot of time the first day in Toontown, meeting Mickey & Minnie Mouse, Goofy and Pluto,

then in Fantasyland which includes a lot of the classic rides like Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan and the Tea Cups and then in a new section called Princess Fantasy Faire where you can meet an have photos with Disney Princesses, attend a coronation ceremony and have a story read by one of the Princesses. Guerita was IN HEAVEN! She barely even complained about queuing for an hour to meet the princesses and was starstruck and thrilled when she finally met them. They do a really good job, those princesses, actually - they take some time to really chat with each child and make them feel special. Pocahontas even practiced some ballet moves with Guerita and Ariel chatted away about how much she liked to swim in the Great Barrier Reef. I know I have reservations about the messages in the Disney Princess movies, but it was hard not to smile at the look on Guerita’s face when she was meeting them.

The surprising thing was how much Chiq loved it too. To be honest, I thought it would be all a bit over her head and she would be limited in what she could do, but she was able to sit on our laps on most of the sedate rides (which is all we were really doing) and she really enjoyed the character meet and greets too. Her absolute highlight was meeting Winnie the Pooh - it was amazing how excited she was to see him and how affectionate with him - she gave him a huge hug and wouldn’t let go - I actually had to pry her away from him as she protested loudly.

She was also pretty keen on Pluto and Minnie Mouse and has decided she likes the Princesses too now so today when we had the extra special event of having lunch in Ariel’s Grotto and meeting 4 other princesses (something we booked in for beforehand - Guerita tells me it was the “best thing ever”) Chiq was hugging them too and getting right into the Princess worship like her sister.

For me, the highlights (other than watching the kids enjoyment of everything) were the parades. Firstly we watched one in Disneyland with the traditional Disney characters - princesses, Pinocchio, The Lion King and Mickey Mouse.

We also spent a day in the California Adventure park which had a parade with characters from the more recent Pixar movies - Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Ratatouille and Toy Story. The amount of work and money gone into each one of the floats is incredible, and both parades had about 10 floats so they were pretty impressive.

The California Adventure Park’s main attraction is an ENORMOUS rollercoaster (which we didn’t brave) but it also had a few rides for the younger ones like Monster’s Inc and a Little Mermaid Carousel and of course, lots of characters to meet.

Most impressive though were all the shows on offer at California Adventure - Muppets in 3D, Playhouse Disney and an awesome Aladdin Musical - this was like a 45 minute Broadway Show with excellent performances, beautiful costumes and elaborate sets including a life-sized elephant “puppet” that walked through the audience and a flying carpet carrying Aladdin and Princess Jasmine high above the stage.

We stayed in one of the Disneyland hotels, which as well being very convenient (a 5 minute walk to the theme parks) was also an extension of the holiday, from the Mickey Mouse shaped shampoo bottles in the bathroom to the statue of Goofy in the lobby

to the Character Breakfast in the hotel restaurant. We went to the Lilo and Stitch Hawaiian Breakfast and also got to meet Minnie Mouse, Daisy Duck and Goofy in holiday mode (Hawaiian shirts all round).

So, all in all, it was a fun holiday. I’m confident it was the right decision to stick to the plan and stay on for our visit to Disneyland. Most importantly the kids had a wonderful time and Guerita is still talking about all the great things she saw and did there.

May Day (1st May) is a holiday in Mexico, as is Cinco de Mayo (5th May) so we decided to use the extra long weekend to take a short trip to Alamos, a colonial town a few hours south of us. We have been wanting to go for a while and since time was running out we seized the opportunity.

The drive down was a fairly straight and flat one, passing through a few small towns, but mostly the view was a lot of this:

which was quite nice and peaceful to look out at for a few hours, when the kids weren’t screeching or asking for food.

The traffic was fairly light, but there were a few trucks on the road. We followed this open truck for a while before I realised what was inside

So, after the obligatory ice-cream stop we made it Alamos.

Alamos, founded in the 1600s was once a bustling metropolis, fuelled by silver mines in the region and it used to be the capital of the large province (now 2 states) in the 19th century. It fell into disrepair in the early 1900s following the Mexican revolution but was revived in the late 20th century by American investors who restored many of the old colonial buildings and turned them into museums, hotels and restaurants. It has since become a popular tourist town and an American enclave, many of whom run the tourist industry establishments.

Its a small, quaint town with a large cathedral overlooking the main plaza, cobblestone streets and many, many beautiful haciendas. The houses sit right on the street with arched, full-length windows secured with wrought iron, and open up into gorgeous interior courtyards often with lovely gardens and little pools.

We stayed in a 150 old converted house now operating as a B & B, eclectically decorated and serving yummy breakfasts. (I’ve put some pictures of the food over at my kitchen blog)

We only stayed a few nights so we mostly wandered the cobblestone streets, gawked at the pretty houses and ate. We also spent a fair bit of time in the little pool at the B&B. The weather was milder than at home, but it was still over 35°C every day.

When you’ve been living in a place for a while, you get used to a lot of things that were so noticeable to begin with. Going on holidays in Mexico has often reminded me of some of these things and walking through the Main Plaza and market area of Alamos I noticed again how colourful and alive everything is here. Businesses and families and life in general spill out onto the streets and interact with passers-by, unlike at home where so much happens behind closed doors. People are friendly; they talk to you and smile, and for us in particular, comment on our blonde hair. It’s nice to soak a bit of that up before we leave.

Going to Alamos ticks off another one of the places we wanted to see before we left. Last year we managed to get to Veracruz, Mexico City and Cancun, but I don’t think there’ll be any more holidays now. Of course, there’s loads more places we would have like to visit in Mexico; the train ride in Copper Canyon (said to rival the Grand Canyon) was one we missed out on, but you can’t do everything, I guess.

On the drive home we stopped at the beach for lunch and a dip in the Sea of Cortés. The scenery is always nice there, but after growing up on Perth beaches, we have pretty high coastal standards. A pebbly beach doesn’t rate that high, but the water was refreshing nonetheless. Being in the sheltered Gulf of California, there’s not much in the way of waves, which is great for the kids.

It may well be our last trip to the beach before we leave, so I took the opportunity to visit my favourite Mexican pottery shop to stock up on Talavera, the iconic colourful glazed ceramics that decorate so many houses here (and the house of every tourist who’s visited Mexico).

Whenever I hear the words “Spring Break” it conjures up images of bad Animal House movies and Girls Gone Wild in Cancun or Florida. I’m sure in many places around North America, college kids are killing brain cells, making questionable friendships and doing the walk of shame. Actually it’s (obviously) just what they call the school holidays this time of year so all the kids are off school.

We too have Spring Break here in Mexico so Guerita is off school for 2 weeks (last week and this week) . There hasn’t been a whole lot of drunken partying going on for our Spring Break, but there’s been a fair amount of lounging around in our pyjamas and some over-indulgence - mostly in chocolate over the weekend. Chiq discovered the true joy of Easter and participated enthusiastically.

Even though it is only barely Spring here, already the weather has started to heat up. The last 3 days have been 37, 38 and 39°C. It is only March!

This does not bode well for the real summer when its likely to be over 40C consistently for months with some super-heat-waves of days on end over 45C to look forward to. I am so glad our (tentative) leaving date is early July, so we can miss the worst of it. When the temperature gets that high, there’s nothing you can do. Sure, we have great air-con, so it’s comfortable enough inside but as soon as you step out the door the oppressive heat hits you, saps your strength and burns your skin. We spent the whole summer here last year and let me tell you, entertaining a 4 year old with indoor activities for 2 months of school holidays is no fun!

So, we’re making the most of the “mild” weather right now and trying to get outside - riding bikes and blowing bubbles in the backyard.

Remember when I posted about visiting the park with the Slide of Death for Chiq’s birthday in January? We were at that park because the place we wanted to go to (the Parque Infantil) was closed. We have since managed to visit it twice and the kids have had a great time. It is a cross between a very well equipped and safe playground and a theme park - there are a few rides like a carousel, bumper cars and a little Ferris wheel as well as a fort and pirate ship to climb on. There’s also an undercover babies area with built gym mat flooring and small playground equipment for the crawlers and toddlers - perfect for Chiq.

Normally these sort of places would be reserved for special occasions because at home they would be expensive and a major outing. But at this place the entry fee is just 50c.

That’s right.

50c

And Chiq is free.

We are going to be there every weekend from now on (until it’s so hot that we’d melt). The rides cost another 50c each, but all up Guerita might be interested in maybe 3 of the rides so I’m happy to pay for her to go on them. They are cheaper than those ones outside the supermarket! All up I think we could go there for a few hours and spend maybe $4 if we bought a bottle of water too!

This is something I’m definitely going to miss about living here…

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Happy Easter

by guera on March 21, 2008

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