Stick Shift Stretch

There are those days where you wake up and find out it's not going to be anything at all like the day you might have imagined. And then as you go through the day, even what you thought it would turn out to be is completely and utterly different.

Today was that day.

I'll begin my day a little earlier.

The windows in my room don't close entirely and they face the street so I get a lot of the street noise. I actually enjoy it. The life, the energy, the feeling of inclusiveness, is one I like off and on. The cacophony of sounds usually forms a white noise of perfect sleepfulness for me.

This particular location has one caveat however. There is a large, and obtrusively loud dog across the street that is a fantastic guard dog in that every person or car or animal that wanders by the street is alarmed. Most nights this dog is fairly quiet, but last night, it was a torture room in my bedroom. Just as I would fall asleep the dog would bark and wake me up. I would listen for a few minutes and try to fall back asleep. As I'm just drifting into a beautiful deep sleep finally, again, the dog barks. This went on all night long. By morning I could barely talk without yawning and was having difficulty focusing.

This is where the fun began.

My couch surfing host came home from her early morning class and said her mother would prefer me to drive her mothers car to a house 3 hours away to change out a light bulb and hang a curtain. Spending the day driving was the last thing I was interested in. Really, I just wanted to go back to bed.

However, there was a key feature in this request that changed my decision. The car I was asked to drive is a manual.

It's funny to me that the daughter initially told her mother I couldn't drive a manual because my car is an automatic, and as she clarified later, she's never met an American that can drive a manual. Well, now she has.

That's not to say I'm any kind of manual driving wonder. In fact, I'm quite the opposite. I rarely drive them and am extremely unconfident in my ability to do so. However, I didn't want to pass up the opportunity to further develop my manual driving skills, because the chance only comes every few years usually.

So with an exhausted mind and a stiff neck, I got dressed and said, "Let's do this! As long as I can get coffee on the road".

What an adventure then ensued.

Mexico is a country of speed bumps (topes) and so being able to constantly shift gears is a true necessity. I don't have any problem with that, but I had a rather frustrating time with getting this particular car not to kick me out of first gear after each tope. The daughter was extremely patient and kind as I stalled the car multiple times trying to get the gear shift to stay in first gear. After a few rounds though, I got more comfortable with the car, remembering that I've driven manual cars before. I could do this!

And I did.

I drove that car successfully all the way there and back, up and down 45 degree hill grades and managed to somehow instill a since of calm and confidence to the daughter and to the mother for driving her daughter on the busy highways.

I'm still not exactly sure how I did it, but I stepped outside my comfort zone and succeeded.

The success of my drive was not the pinnacle reward of my day though.

I was gifted with a local's knowledge of a small town beverage that people drive from all around to get in a little town, San Luis Soyatlàn, a good hour from Guadalajara. It was (and still is actually) originally a fruit stand and at the end of the day, they would take the leftover fruit and mix the juice of them with some soda, salt, and tequila. The locals loved it and as word spread, the little roadside stall became a sensation for this beverage. Since it started as a fruit stand, the workers didn't have cups to put the beverages in so they just used the plastic bags they had for selling the fruit. They still do that today, so when you buy a half liter or liter of Vampiro, it comes in a plastic bag knotted around a straw.  I can't say it was my favorite (because of the tablespoon of salt added), but it's apparently many people's highlight.

The "Fruit Stand"

Vampiro preparation

Tequila pour. You get to choose your tequila and how much you want :-)

The full Vampiro liter (okay, my new Mexican sister and I split it)!

Then I got to view one of the most beautiful villages just south of Lake Chapala, Mazamitla.

It's so charming and stunningly beautiful. There are hideous hills to drive, and teeth rattling (more like throw you out of your car jarring) original cobblestone streets, but the character of the village is extremely inviting. I enjoyed walking around it for a brief time and seeing the town square.

The road to the square.

Looking up.

The square with the church and a giant catrina. Notice how small the people are behind me standing next to her.

I also used my tall height to help change light bulbs and hang curtain rods, by which I was rewarded with homemade quesadillas with fresh local cheese inside upon my return home.

Ok, maybe I also used my monkey skills in addition to my height to climb onto the window sill to hang the curtains.
Can't say it was a bad view for curtain hanging!

There was no way I could have foreseen such a wonderful reward of local drink experiences, beautiful sightseeing, and some "little sister" bonding time.

I'm so glad I chose to make the difficult choice to stretch my comfort zone and put the pedal to the metal! The bonuses far exceeded the discomfort.