Mazatlan, Mexico
When I got the schedule of events for Mazatlan I heard there was a day of ziplining. I once did a zipline in Ecuador with my mother and sister.
We had fun but that was enough for me. So when I saw this on the itinerary I immediately asked if I could do something else.
You can zipline anywhere in the world. I’m sure it’s wonderful. But I had already ziplined and you can do it anywhere in the world.
I wanted to see more of Mexico.
Perhaps I really am Princess Bacon because I was given an alternate itinerary to simply walk through Lanoria, a small town outside Mazatlan, famous for its leatherworks and saddlemaking.
But something happened today that made me so proud. I started to speak Spanish, and I wasn’t afraid of how imperfect it was.
I have always struggled with being somewhere in the middle with Spanish, even though I was inspired at Pueblo Ingles, those days seemed so far away.
I talked to some kids and they explained they were on summer break. They were okay with me taking their photo.
I spoke to some adorable kids who were hanging around, content to give me a flower and stare.
I was able to talk to our amazing guide Milton in Spanish, who taught me how hand signals are different in Spanish than English.
I spoke to Rafael who was making sandals. Who offered to give me an animal’s foot even though it gave no luck to him.
We laughed at it and I felt so lucky to be able to joke around with him.
Western Mexico has become really special for me.
I’m able to communicate with people in a way that I never was able to when I first arrived two years ago. People seem surprised and so gracious.
The more time I spend in Mexico the more I fall in love with it.
Lo mas que escribes de Mexico lo mas que queiro regresar a visitar a mi familia en Mexico y conocer mas de Mexico. Que bueno que ya puedes hablar el Espanol mejor y que no tienes miedo. Y me encanta que AMAS a MEXICO. Yo tambien lo AMO!!!
Glad you managed to get more into the spanish! do you want to practice any time? 🙂
I would choose walking around a small Mexican town over ziplining any day.
I would totally choose to walk around town and connect with the locals over ziplining too!
great shots woman.. princess bacon does strike again, but that’s OK 🙂 haha
Love, love, love that first photo of you! Gorgeous!
I had this exact feeling in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. I will forever love Chile because of the strength it gave me to finally break free and feel comfortable in Spanish. Not perfect, but finally not caring what people thought. Glad Mexico is so great!
Wow, and there’s me talking about my fear of Spanish lately. I hope one day I can communicate like you.
Congratulations! I have always said if I could have any super power it would be the ability to speak the language of the place I was visiting. Even better, it seems, is trying and trying and finally getting there!
Awesome photos! Looks like you had a great time meeting some friendly locals and soaking up the local culture. Who need the zipline? 😉
As much as I love zip-lining, your experience was of course a million times better, and what we all crave as travelers. Princess Bacon is a smart cookie.
It’s such a great feeling when you can communicate and share a laugh with locals.
Small interactions can be such rewarding experiences!
I love that breakthrough moment with a place and a language where you realize you can just be, and stop feeling out of place. Sounds preferable to zip lining to me!
How could I not read something with this title?! Ziplining doesn’t really appeal to me much. Like you, I might try it once, but I’d love to see other things too. I love that you’re feeling more comfortable speaking Spanish. I still try to practice Spanish, even while trying to learn German in Germany. Sounds like you had a much more enjoyable experience doing your own thing instead of ziplinging!
It really is just speaking Spanish without worry about imperfections. Days that I just let myself talk without worry, were always my best days!
I’ve only ziplined once but if I had limited time, I would rather get to know the locals too!
What an inspiring story!
I use to speak Mandarin on a regular basis while living in Asia and haven’t spoke it since I left. It’s been about 13 years now!
Interestingly, the first time I spoke Mandarin again was last year, in MADRID! An Asian couple who owned a mini mart surprised me by approaching me and started asking me questions in Mandarin, and I shocked myself that I could understand and reply without much effort – even after all those years!
This post reminds me I need to practice it more regularly to feel more confident!
I figured out a long time ago that if you’ll just try to speak Spanish it is much appreciated. Even though I’m self-conscious of my accent and my verb conjugation, they don’t care. They’re just excited to see a gringa speaking a little Espanol. It’s no different than so many Mexicans in Texas that are self-conscious of their English. I’m just excited to be able to communicate with them. I don’t care about their accent or if they say every word correctly. Adopting that way of thinking gave me more confidence to speak Spanish to native speakers. It turns out that I’m so much better than I thought. Good for you for exploring and trying out your Spanish. 🙂
1. Princess Bacon makes me think you have some sort of magical line of candy bars made of bacon (duh), caramel, and edible glitter.
2. You made the right choice! Of course, if the choice was a terribly dangerous slide instead of a zip line, I’d recommend the slide.
I would have chosen the zip lining. I love it! But I get a great kick out of meeting locals and practising my Spanish too. At the moment I’m finding that the Caribbean coast of Colombia is so much harder than Bogota! They understand me but I’m baffled by the response!
Love the pics – and I, too, would have chosen walking around a small Mexican town over riding a zipline (but that’s mostly because I don’t do heights!)
After reading your post I realise that there is so much more to Mexico to what I have already seen. Congrats on the Spanish language skills!
I am constantly amazed by the diversity of Mexico, there is still so much I need to see.
Princess Bacon! Lol, love it 😀 I think you need a tiara crafted by bacon strips 😉
How awesome would that be!
Born and raised in the States, traveled through all of Central America… somehow have never made it to Mexico. Looks like I am going to have to remedy that!
I find it so odd that many Americans have never been to Mexico – you must go!
I miss Mexico so terribly. Not only did they accept me as one of them (they could tell I was Mexican right away) but I just felt at home… even with my crap Spanish.