Having lots of fun in Ciudad Juarez

[MattHanson1990]

I'm currently in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, couch surfing with a 30 year old woman at the 697 hostel, and boy is a trip of a lifetime. After endless frustrations and loneliness in f*** a** Los Alamos, I decided it's definitely time for a change in scenery. At long last I took the plunge and stepped outside the Matrix for the very first time.

Day 1
It was only two and half hours after I arrived in El Paso on the Greyhound bus from Albuquerque that I left the US for the very first time. I was rather nervous at first. Fschmidt and I met in downtown El Paso, and we walked across the Paso del Norte bridge into Ciudad Juarez. Once as we were in Mexico I noticed it was completely different from America. Juarez looked ghetto in places, but it's a lot safer now compared to 5 years ago. Anyways, there was a bit of a rough patch as I did incorrect attempts to get ahold of my couchsurfing host, but I was able to get ahold of her. And we met her at El Mexicano, an authentic Mexican restaurant at Mercado Juarez. Surprisingly enough, our waiter spoke English. And I was able to have conversations with him. He did tell me Juarez is a lot safer to travel in, and he even agreed with me when I mentioned the mainstream media telling US citizens to stay out of Juarez because it's still dangerous. After lunch, we hung out in the hostel and then toured the downtown area and Avenida 16 de Septiembre, and then fschmidt went back to El Paso. Late last night we went bar hopping with other couchsurfers, but the bars were nearly empty as it was Ash Wednesday. And the second bar we went to was a sausage fest sadly. However, the 30 year old woman I'm staying with is so feminine, sweet, down to earth, and easy to start conversations with. Talk about a night and day difference from American women.

Day 2
Around 11 in the morning I decided to go towards downtown. But I approached a Mexican family about a block from the hostel, and they welcomed me. I met five women, and one of them, a 24 year old petite, really likes me. She thinks I'm "guapo" and then I told her she's "guapa". She does have 3 kids, but she's very giggly, sweet, feminine, down to earth, and shows a genuine interest in me. She even asked her aunt about me. Wow, suddenly I was in the game and was finally living. No way this could've happened in America. I was able to speak to her in Spanish despite I'm still learning the language. So I hung out with this family until just after 4 in the afternoon when I headed to El Paso to meet up with my friends in UTEP's InterVarsity chapter. Even in El Paso I felt like I was in the game. Not only I said 'hi' to existing friends such as that one Tejana girl I hit it off with in November, but I approached girls I haven't met. And boy did it feel natural; anywhere else in the Matrix most girls are unapproachable. Then I met two girls outside my hostel, one from Chihuahua City and the other living in Juarez. Even they were sweet, feminine, and down to earth.

As I'm writing here, Ciudad Juarez is truly a paradise for meeting girls, as is El Paso.

[Chrissays]

Glad to hear you took the plunge. Mexican and American women are like "night and day", and they're neighboring countries. That's pretty cool.

[Johnny1975]

Ciudad Juarez. Brings a whole new meaning to "I dodged a bullet".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpaOy8b8X6A

[MarcosZeitola]

Sounds like you are having a blast, Matt! Your first ever "Happier Abroad" experience? And, do tell more of your meeting with Fschmidt; I'm sure you two have had some interesting conversations and he may have opened your eyes to a few things.

[Jester]

Congrats to Matt for getting out and plunging in

+1 to FSchmidt for doing a mitvzah.

[fschmidt]

However, the 30 year old woman I'm staying with is so feminine, sweet, down to earth, and easy to start conversations with. Talk about a night and day difference from American women.

The irony is that she is a hardcore liberal feminist, which just proves that ideology means nothing and culture means everything. Yes she is nicer than 99% of American women, but I still wouldn't date someone like her if I were single. Mexico has better.

[MattHanson1990]

Sounds like you are having a blast, Matt! Your first ever "Happier Abroad" experience? And, do tell more of your meeting with Fschmidt; I'm sure you two have had some interesting conversations and he may have opened your eyes to a few things.

Indeed this is my first HA experience. Anyways here's more of what happened with my meeting with fschmidt. As previously mentioned, I met him in downtown El Paso at 11 in the morning, and we walked towards the border. He told me that Mexico will feel a lot different from America, and right as we were on the Mexican side of the Paso del Norte bridge, I noticed these differences. He bought us beverages; mine was lemonade, and it tasted so different from American lemonade since Mexico has fresher fruit. Then we started walking towards the 697 hostel. On the way there he mentions how America constantly repaves roads but Mexico doesn't and that Mexican highways feel very rough when driving on them. Anyways we got lost on Calle Tlaxcala but then worked our way back towards the hostel. While he and I were walking in Ciudad Juarez, he mentions the reason it's a lot safer now than in 2010 is that the drug war in Juarez is over and the Sinaloa Cartel won the war.

The only downside about Ciudad Juarez was that two of the three bars I went to were sausage fests, and almost every girl I saw at those bars had a boyfriend. I'm now wondering if single men outnumber single women in Juarez because of women getting killed there since the early 90s.

[MarcosZeitola]

Indeed this is my first HA experience. Anyways here's more of what happened with my meeting with fschmidt. As previously mentioned, I met him in downtown El Paso at 11 in the morning, and we walked towards the border. He told me that Mexico will feel a lot different from America, and right as we were on the Mexican side of the Paso del Norte bridge, I noticed these differences. He bought us beverages; mine was lemonade, and it tasted so different from American lemonade since Mexico has fresher fruit. Then we started walking towards the 697 hostel. On the way there he mentions how America constantly repaves roads but Mexico doesn't and that Mexican highways feel very rough when driving on them. Anyways we got lost on Calle Tlaxcala but then worked our way back towards the hostel. While he and I were walking in Ciudad Juarez, he mentions the reason it's a lot safer now than in 2010 is that the drug war in Juarez is over and the Sinaloa Cartel won the war.

The only downside about Ciudad Juarez was that two of the three bars I went to were sausage fests, and almost every girl I saw at those bars had a boyfriend. I'm now wondering if single men outnumber single women in Juarez because of women getting killed there since the early 90s.

Awesome, dude! It really sounds like you had a blast. Maybe you have a Latino soul, and Latin America is where you are supposed to be. Perhaps Fschmidt could help you or give you advice on how and where to get a job in Mexico, and you can move there. Who knows? America seems to have given you a lot of negative vibes and negative experiences, and Mexico may just be the place for you. I'm sure getting a woman won't be too much of an issue for you either. Don't listen to the naysayers or your family's negativity, when choosing your own path.

[droid]

Regarding the sausage fest, the HA concept is also city-to-city, so don't get dissapointed if one single place is bad.
Also i try to stay away from bars and malls since people have a certain mentality im not fully compatible with. but it's harder harder to do since bars are becoming the only places to socialize/flirt.

[Johnny1975]

Excuse me, is no one one going to laugh at my joke that I posted earlier? Where are your manners?

Here it is again :


Ciudad Juarez. Brings a whole new meaning to "I dodged a bullet".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpaOy8b8X6A

[MattHanson1990]

Excuse me, is no one one going to laugh at my joke that I posted earlier? Where are your manners?

Here it is again :


Ciudad Juarez. Brings a whole new meaning to "I dodged a bullet".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpaOy8b8X6A

lol

[ryanx]

Excuse me, is no one one going to laugh at my joke that I posted earlier? Where are your manners?

Here it is again :


Ciudad Juarez. Brings a whole new meaning to "I dodged a bullet".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpaOy8b8X6A

So funny!

[Jester]

Yeah I liked it too
But laughing now at your shameless hustling for applause
+1

[Johnny1975]

Yeah I liked it too
But laughing now at your shameless hustling for applause
+1

I don't care where it comes from, it's all appreciated. Johnny just wants to be loved.

[MattHanson1990]

Update: I am now at the greyhound bus station in downtown El Paso. Just two hours ago, I stepped off the Brio bus, and just as I headed towards the greyhound station, hot Mexican girls in a little white bus threw kisses at me. How mesmerizing is that.

Talk about concluding this trip on a good note.