Club Member Lydia recounts her recent Rotaract Round Trip:
Hola,
I recently got back from a Rotaract Round Trip and this is my attempt to make you all jealous and hopefully inspire you to apply next year.
The Rotaract Mexican language trip is organised by the Rotaract Club of Vallescondido. Even though it was the first time they ran this trip, they did extremely well. The group was quite small and composed of only 4 of us: Giada (Italy), Michel (Germany), Pascaline (Belgium) and myself from Australia.
Why a language trip you ask? Well we got to learn Spanish with our Maestro, Carlos, a Linguist and talented Musician every morning and also learnt how to sing in Spanish which was very entertaining. You might not have known that Mexicans have a song about Mayonnaise but I have to say that only Mexicans would know how to make Mayonnaise sound sexy.
Our afternoons were spent exploring the cities and attraction like the Museo Nacional de Antropología, Frida Kahlo house, museo Soumaya, Palacio de Bellas Artes, Paseo de la Reforma, Monumento a la Revolución, Basílica de Santa María de Guadalupe and Templo Mayor. Mexico is nowhere short of history and culture. And what an experience to see Las Luchas, a Mexican version of WWF Smack Down. We also explored neighbouring towns such as Cuernavaca, Santa Fe, Tepotzotlán, Tepoztlán, and Teotihuacán. One of the highlights was definitely the Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon at Teotihuacán, followed by some much needed tequila tasting.
During the trip, we also got involved with the project Biblioteca Móvil run by the Rotaract Club of Arboledas which provides a mobile library and educational games for school children.
Mexicans are some of the friendliest people I’ve met and I don’t need to mention how amazing Mexican food is. Tacos, quesadillas, enchiladas, tostadas, zopoles, nopal ( I am not a big fan of this cactus dish) were all on the menu and it is all about lime, salt and chilli in Mexican cuisine. For the first time ever, I had gomichelada which is a beer cocktail with salt, lime juice, chilli sauce and gummy bears. If that doesn’t sound amazing enough, try tequila sorbet with chilli sauce!
If you’re deciding where to go on your next holiday, I highly recommend Mexico. Or even better, apply for this trip next year and experience Mexico from the local perspective.
Adiós
Lydia