San Juan Cosala

SATURDAY (2/13)
Suite was really fun! There ended up being about 10 of us from CEPE and we had a really good time.

I went to a tienges near Parque Agua Azul with Alejandra and Linda this morning. I bought ray bans for me and maybe a few other things...It was really cool and there were a lot of nice, handmade things. There was this really cute purse that was reversible with a yellow and grey flower pattern on one side and plain grey on the other side that looked handmade. I want to go back sometime with more money.

When I got back I took a power nap, packed, and rushed off to meet Linda and Kristen, and then we were off to San Juan Cosala!

We took a taxi to the old bus terminal which is pretty much in the center of Guadalajara. It’s also definitely for a lower income level, one that I like better and eats much tastier food. We had 45 minutes before our bus left so I bought four delicious steak tacos and my new favorite drink, horchata con fresa. It’s a cold milky drink with nutmeg and a few other spices and then this vendor added strawberry. It is heavenly.

Our bus for the hour ride to San Juan Cosalá, on the banks of Lake Chapala, was a step up from the public busses in Guadalajara. We sat all the way in the back in a row that was elevated above the others. We could feel every single bump in the road but for some reason I never got motion sick. I got a special pleasure out of watching the heads of the other passengers bob around in unison with the movement of the bus. For some reason it was really funny and reminded me of chickens.

We didn’t know when to get off the bus so we accidently missed it by about 20 minutes. I finally asked the guy sitting next to us where we were and he told us that we had already passes San Juan Cosalá, so then we went to talk to the bus driver to see what we could do about it and this nice guy pointed us in the right direction. We just had to get off and cross the street to wait for another bus to come by. We were clearly in an area where they don’t see many foreigners so we got to be a special freak show for about ten minutes while we waited on the corner for the bus. Luckily for us our hotel (Villa Bordeaux) is pretty popular, so the bus dropped us off right in front.

It was so beautiful! Villa Bordeaux is the grown-up part of a small water park (Balnearios) which draws all its water from a thermally heated, underground source. It had a pool with an infinity edge that looked over the lake, a hot tub (both filled with thermally heated mineral enriched water), and a restaurant.

We got there around 7pm and immediately went to get dinner. It took us a while to find somewhere to eat and we realized that the only places to eat were in our resort. Luckily, we made it to the restaurant, Toña, in the main water park in time to eat. We all got enchiladas and they were delicious. Unfortunately, by the time we’d gotten back we couldn’t go in the pool anymore because they were chlorinating it so we just went back to our room and fell asleep at 10 or so. We had all had a late night the night before so I guess it was understandable, plus, there was nothing else to do!

SUNDAY (2/14)
Why did we decide to go to the spa over Valentine’s Day weekend? That dominated our thoughts as we ate breakfast and lounged by the pool full of couples. After sunning for nearly four hours we ate lunch and decided to take a gander at the spa in the water park.

The manager came over when he saw us loitering around the spa menu and offered us a tour of the place. It was basically about six different baths with different herbs and things in them, a super hot sana, and what I can only describe as an oxygen cave. After hearing that we would only have to pay 90 pesos (a little under $9) to do all of it we decided we really had to go.

The first bath was Epsom salt, then hydrangeas (which claimed to cure obesity and sadness), then phototherapeutic herbs. I’m not even sure what that last one means but it was very green and they sprayed this icy-hot minty stuff on our hands for a little extra aromatherapy. Then we moved on to the special baths: coffee (with fine coffee grounds floating around), red wine, and finally, mud! For the last one we had to spread mud all over ourselves and then stand there while it dried before getting in to the hot tub and rinsing it all off. By the time we got to that one my sun burn had fully bloomed and the mud was very unpleasant. Also, the sun had just set so we didn’t dry very fast and it had gotten really cold. Unfortunately I have no pictures of this wonderful experience because I didn’t want to ruin my camera, but just imagine us in our bathing suits and then covered in redish-brown mud, even our faces. After the baths we rinsed off and sat in the hottest sana I’ve ever been in. It was this little steaming cave with some herb’s branches piled in the center. After being so cold in all the mud the cave was the exact opposite. We could only bear it for about five minutes and then we moved on to the last stop, the “oxygen cave.” It was so lame we only stayed in for a few minutes. There was a little hole with rocks and bubbling water due to a tube of oxygen stuck in it and it wasn't very hot.

We finished at the spa around 7 and went back to our hotel and sat in the pool for an hour, looking out at the lake and soaking our sun burnt selves. By the time we had gotten out, putzed around our room, and decided to go eat everything was closed. Toña closed at 9 and we didn’t know of anywhere else, so we bought Flaming Hot Cheetos and Cup-O-Noodles at the amusement park’s bar before it closed, and went in search of more food. The convenience store down on the corner outside our resort was closed and so was the little taco stand on the other corner. As we turned back to our hotel with our measly dinner I noticed a sign for a restaurant kind of behind our hotel. It turned out to also be closed but I think I just looked so sad and hungry (and white) when I asked them “¿Está abierta?” that they agreed to serve us. I had three deliciously spicy steak tacos and an Indio and Linda had the same with a Coke. The bill was only 70 pesos so I gave them 100 and told them to keep the change. I thought it was only fair after they had basically reopened to feed us.

Then we went back to our room because there was nothing else to do, and had another early night.

MONDAY (2/15)
We found out that because we stayed two nights at the hotel they would give us another night free. We didn’t want to stay another night because our new classes start tomorrow, but we decided to stay later and take our time checking out. It turns out Mondays are extremely slow at Balnearios and we were the only ones at breakfast. There were probably 30 guests in total, so it was very quiet compared to the day before when it had been packed with families and couples.

We lounged around the pool for a few hours after breakfast. I wore a T-shirt over my bathing suit because my sunburn on my chest and shoulders was so bad. I can’t remember the last time I had to do that. I need to be more careful from now on. Two weekends in a row is enough for me.

We left the hotel and hopped on the first direct bus to Guadalajara around 2:30pm. While we waited for the bus we made a new friend, Carlos, at the taco stand on the corner. There was a little white stray dog running around nearby and Kristen kept googling over it so Carlos picked it up and brought it over for us to pet. I took one look at it and refused to pet it, but Linda and Kristen did. Once we were on the bus Linda was convinced that the dog had given her fleas. I’m glad I didn’t touch it!

It only took us an hour to get back to Guadalajara. I bought another horchata con fresa and then we got a taxi to Centro Magno. New classes tomorrow.