Erin Miller

So, I figured it was time for a holiday update. And crazy enough, it looks like it might actually get to all of you in time for Christmas. I had some time to put into it due to the blizzard that shut down the city and given me a day and a half without work. Denver was in a state of “disaster emergency.” The snow total from early Wednesday morning though about noon on Thursday was exactly two feet. I have an easy walk to work in Denver and enjoyed the extra time to keep in touch with friends and family and to get some last minute shopping done.

Graduate School….$60,000, Volunteering in Honduras for 4 and a half months….$8,000. Getting up at 7:20 EVERY morning and going to work…a small bummer, Taking a trip to Mexico with your boyfriend at the tender age of 22…priceless. Dan and I went to Mexico for five days in mid November. We decided on Mazatlan. A historic fishing town, more modernly known as the home of Pacifico beer. The town has both a historic city full of genuine Mexican culture and a nice resort area making it a great compromise between our travel tendencies. We spent the first two days in the city. We spent the first night in a very historic (read: old) hotel that had experienced a hay day during the roaring twenties. It was the first beachfront hotel built in the city. The pool was crafted from imported tiles that were still stunning to the eye. It was filled but the black pipes bubbling along its interior made it less than inviting. One could look over the pool and see the historic scene of crisply clad waiters rushing drinks over the bridges spanning the pool to the thin women in conservative bathing suits longing on the tile recliners taking long drags on their cigarettes. Sometime around the Second World War mayor was assassinated in the courtyard by the pool and the hotel closed for a long time. The city allowed homeless people into the resort in an effort to keep the mice populations down. The hotel reopened during that latter half of the twentieth century and little modernization had taken place. The private balcony with an ocean view was impressive but the colonies of mold in the shower and the dirty sheets caused Dan and I to move to a newer hotel a few blocks away and still on the beachfront for our second night in the city. We concentrated on keeping our mouths closed in the showers, but we took small shots of tequila after showering, just to try to be on the safe side. We ventured to the market in the city. It was built in the mid 1800s in “Old-New Colonial Beach” architectural styling, supposedly the same architectural style as the Eiffel Tower. It was loud, crowded, and full of the scent of slaughtered animals. I made Dan eat lunch there. When the women asked if we wanted fresh vegetables over our quesadilla and we violently shook our heads “no” she and the other woman working the stand laughed hysterically at the gringos. The food was good and cheap; and, we didn’t get sick. We also spent a lovely afternoon at Isla de la Piedra, walking along the nine mile white sand beaches and swimming in the ocean, Dan took me on my first banana boat ride. We ate platefuls of local food with plenty of shrimp, the city’s specialty. We spent our evenings at the plaza eating more delicious food and drinking sodas without ice, though we learned at our last night in the city that all of the ice cubes in the entire city are imported and purified. After two days in the city we took a golf-cart taxi to the resort area where we spent our days lounging on the beach and drinking the fully purified water from the shower. Dan treated me to my first room service experience. We spent one night clubbing until 5 in the morning. While Mazatlan is known as the home of Pacifico, it is famed for its brilliant sunsets and we caught every one of them relaxing and looking out over the ocean as the entire globe of the sun turned brilliant orange and then slipped under the horizon of the ocean in a matter of seconds. The sun’s departure was followed by a brilliant purple glow that caused me to marvel at our smallness.

After the trip to Mexico, I spent several stress-filled weeks studying for the GREs and completing my graduate school applications. After significant preparation, I didn’t do as well on the tests as I would have liked and I hope that schools can find the other strengths in my academic record. I should hear back from programs by the end of March.

Time to move–again. Dan’s best friend has moved into town and last weekend all three of us moved into a bright green house two blocks from Dan’s old apartment. We found a great deal on a 4 bedroom, 3 bath house in the middle of the city (OK, admittedly it’s a bit on the eastside of the city, in an area known and famed as “five-points.”) It is really a charming house and has been a nice change form the 700 sq ft apartment. Spot has enjoyed being the guard dog; she also likes her new fenced yard and running up and down the stairs. As soon as we had moved the couches into place, we threw a rockin’, keg-kicken’ party in an effort to recapture the lost days of our youth. It was great to get to see everyone and nothing warms a new house like 15 people sleeping over the first night in the place.

I leave for Honduras February 4th and I will be volunteering in La Esperanza for four months. I’ll try to send out one last update before I leave. I hope that all is well and merry this holiday season. I send my love to you and yours.