As many of you know most of Latin America tend to celebrate Christmas on Dec. 24th rather than Dec. 25th. This year my grandparents decided that on Christmas Day we would all head out to this little town in Mexico called Valle de Bravo. I had never been to this town before but I had seen a huge billboard describing Valle as a magical town. So yes, I was excited, even after reminding myself I had to sit in a car with my LOUD family for 2 hours.
After planning our one day itinerary, my grandpa stated that he would be at our house to pick us up at 7:00-7:30 am. We all knew that meant 8 am.My grandpa got to our house at exactly 8 am, just as we had predicted. Even though we woke up early, my friend Camila and I still weren’t ready, but as someone quoted before “It’s better to arrive late, than to arrive ugly”.
Finally we hit the road around 8:20 am. My uncle took the wheels as we enjoyed the car ride, that is until we saw the insane fog. We drove through the fog for about 20 minutes before my uncle took of his SUNGLASSES and laughed as he was wondering why it was so dark. I can’t deal. Then around 10:30 am we entered Valle de Bravo. We were welcomed with festivity decor throughout the whole town, and you could really feel the Christmas spirit. Once we found a parking spot, my uncle, brother and I got out to look at the street vendors while the rest of the party went to the restroom.
While we waited for the others we went up to this one street vendor. He sold all organic honey products, from lip balms and mascaras, to lotions and wrinkle creams. He even had this container that looked like butter, but when you tasted it, it tasted just like honey. Then my uncle swore the honey lip balm was the best and he had purchased in the past; so I gave in and bought one. Later on I tried out the lip balm, and I think I could have bought a better one at the dollar store. (Lol but don’t tell him that) He also bought Isaac and I this honey comb to chew on? Apparently you chew on the comb like bubble gum and extract all the honey from it. Then you spit out the comb, which tasted like candle wax. Not that I have ever tried candle wax, but it just seems like that would be the compared texture.
Clearly that honeycomb was not satisfying my hunger, and I was getting grumpy. If there is one thing you should know about me is that I cannot function until I have some food in my stomach. So we headed to the mercado meaning market, where there’s a ton of ladies making mexican comfort food also known as antojitos (little cravings). As soon as you walk in you already have 3 ladies up in your face persuading you to eat in their shop. This always gets me because all the ladies have the EXACT same food and the EXACT same set up.. so it’s like.. which one do you choose? To be honest, you just pick a random one and hope it’s the best out of the rest.
My brother Isaac ordered sopes which I would describe as a thick tortilla cooked, and then topped with refried beans, lettuce, sour cream, and sometimes chicken or beef. I tried a little bit because they looked so good and they definitely didn’t disappoint. I ordered this shrimp stew, which was probably not the best choice for breakfast but those shrimp drew me in!! Lol Once we were done with our meal we headed out to explore the town, and what better way to explore then to eat some more food!?
One street vendor was selling these red things, that I heard her say were potatoes. I’m pretty certain I heard wrong because it tasted like a watermelon rind. Then of course my mother never fails to show her healthy ways as she got the smallest lime water ice cream I had ever seen. So typical of her, I on the other hand got a yummy coconut milk drink that my grandpa later stated was bad for my skin. Oh the shade.
While we were walking around we were amazed at seeing all the beautiful fruits and vegetables. You have to love Mexico for this. I even saw a girl making fruit with this colored chili powder. She was so nice and put all the different powders on my hand to try. I wish I hadn’t been so full so I could’ve tried it on some actual fruit. We were walking around awhile until we decided to head to the lake. Once we got there we realized how perfect the weather was, so we couldn’t say no to the man selling us a boat ride to see the lake.The little ride around the lake was really pretty and relaxing. Hopefully I can come back in the summer and actually swim in it.
After our tour around the lake my uncle took us to the Cascades called El Molino. As soon as I saw them, they reminded me of Dunns River Falls in Jamaica. So then I began to ponder if I could actually climb the rocks like we did there, but with no tour guide in sight I assumed that wasn’t possible. Regardless of the danger the water and slippery rocks may cause I think I will come back and try one day. I mean, sometimes you have to take life threatening risks to get that perfect picture.
Then Puchin came and joined the shoot, that is what we call our grandpa not sure why but we always have. It was pretty funny because he slipped a little, and his foot fell in the water Lol you just gotta love him. I seriously want to come back one day and have the dopest shoot of my life. Who’s down? I can honestly say I enjoyed my mini Christmas trip. We ate, toured around, ate, walked, ate some more. It was a perfect day, but before heading back my gluttonous family stopped for another sope from this lady. I never order anything to quite down my conscious but you know I eat half of someone else’s food. I’m really happy we made this trip and I can’t wait for the next one.
Top: American Apparel
Jeans: Nasty Gal
Boots: Nordstrom
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