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SHE SAID…
May 18, 2003
The local holidays are over, and
the “megapuentes” (extra-long holiday weekends)
are over too, at least for a little while. At the risk
of annoying the authorities in charge of tourist promotion
for this town, I confess, I am delighted with the fact
that I can once again get from one end of town to the
other, while going through the center, without it taking
an entire afternoon. I guess I’m spoiled.
At this particular time of year,
as a mother, I find it a lot of fun living in Mexico
- with children both here and in Canada… that
way I and others like me get two Mother’s days
instead of one! You know, “double the pleasure,
double the fun…” Sometimes the days coincide,
sometimes they come one right after the other like they
did this year, and sometimes there are a few days in
between. Of course, this is due to the fact that Mexico
celebrates the big day on May 10th each year, regardless
what day of the week it happens to fall on, while both
of our neighbors north of the border celebrate it on
the second Sunday in May.
In any case, my “local”
children took us out to Maximilian’s, one of my
very favorite local dining spots, that Saturday night.
As always, the meal was great, the ambiance, the service,
everything. Then the next day, I got e-mails and phone
calls from up north. I love it.
For the last few years, every time
I would see a beautiful woman walk by, I would think
to myself, “I really should get myself in shape
…while I still can.” And as there are so
many beautiful women around here, the same thought entered
my mind many, many times. It had been a long, long time
since I had gone to a gym. The problem with me (and
I’d like to think that I’m not the only
one with it) is that I don’t like going by myself.
I just don’t have enough will power I guess. On
the other hand, every time I looked at my flabby triceps
and inner thigh muscles, the acknowledgement of what
time, gravity and laziness had done to me and what my
procrastination was making worse all combined to make
me increasingly disgusted with myself. Don’t get
me wrong, many friends of mine offered to go with me,
but their schedules and mine just never agreed…
So, a few weeks ago, when a friend
of mine offered to accompany me - following my schedule
- if I would really, truly commit myself to it seriously,
i.e.: that I would go regularly, a minimum of three
times a week, I gave in. He convinced me. Then came
the part where we had to find the “right”
gym. Not as easy as one would think in this town. Though
there are numerous good, clean, well-equipped establishments
and more opening every day it seems, there’s the
problem of distance (I don’t especially like the
idea of driving two hours to exercise for one) and the
fact that quite a few gyms are for women only and my
friend happens to be of the male persuasion.
After researching the subject quite
thoroughly for a week or so, we finally settled on a
place called “Fit It!” It’s been around
for a while and has a very good reputation. It has all
the latest equipment, it’s spacious, air-conditioned,
and offers all sorts of added attractions such as yoga,
aerobics, Tae Bo, tango, etc., you name it, plus a little
bar where members can buy all sorts of “healthy”
drinks and snacks, attentive personalized training,
plenty of parking space in front and in the Plaza Caracol
parking lot, and it’s open until 10 in the evening.
An extra incentive was the special “2 for 1”
three-month membership offer they had in April. We signed
up.
Need I tell you? After the first
hour, I felt great. Not a problem. This was going to
be much easier than I had anticipated. I felt fine the
next day too, but the day after that …I couldn’t
type. My “triceps” were burning, my arms
felt like jelly. I went back to the gym and begged for
an exercise to make the pain go away. Pedro (my wonderful
not-personal-by-any-means trainer) showed me what to
do, and by the third day, there was no more pain anywhere.
Now that I’ve become a “veteran” again,
I’m actually enjoying myself. I guess some of
us just need that extra incentive …a friend to
do it with. One friend of mine started going to “Curves”
on the south side and another to “Total Fitness”
in the Marina. Both looked absolutely great after just
a couple of months. I’ll let you know if and when
I see any improvement in my own condition… I think
I will also propose to the girls at the Tribune that
someone do some research on the zillion gyms and spas
we have here so that we may publish a comprehensive
article on the topic.
I learned something today. (I just
love it when I find out something I should have known
years ago…) Anyways, in case you’re interested,
here’s your trivia for the week, folks. Did you
know that Guadalajara, the name of the capital of the
state of Jalisco, doesn’t come from any native
Indian language or anything like that? It comes from
the Arabic wad al hadjarah, "River of Stones"
given to it by one of Hernan Cortes' comrades from Spain,
Nuno de Guzman. I didn’t know that. Now we all
know.
Another nice thing: our friend Aislin
who has given us permission to publish his scathing
political cartoons in the Tribune was just promoted
to Companion of the Order of Canada, the country's highest
civil honour. We are truly honored to have him among
us! Among the 100 new appointments to the Order announced
by the Governor-General of Canada is also Leonard Cohen,
the gravel-voiced singer/poet my friends and I used
to visit when we were in high school …before he
became famous.
I hope you all get out there to enjoy
the Cultural Festival. There’s great stuff going
on all over the place, every day until the end of the
month! Have a fabulous week and take good care of each
other.
Hasta luego.
pvmomto3@hotmail.com
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