Shoes on the horizon.

I took my first trip to town yesterday. This was not a trip to expand my horizons and explore my new environment (I'll be doing that tomorrow). This was a trip to acquire some basic necessities that I wasn't able to bring with me in my luggage. Like conditioner.

I didn't pack shampoo or conditioner because I was trying so hard to keep my suitcases at exactly 50 pounds, and the shampoo and conditioner and lotion and sunscreen and bug spray and self tanner and contact solution that I wanted to pack weighed about 6 pounds. I was not about to pay a $100 overweight baggage charge for $40 worth of creams. I realize now that I should have packed them anyway, because the guy weighing the bags didn't care at all if things were a couple of pounds over.

When I got here I asked theoffice to procure some shampoo and conditioner, but I had a feeling that I was going to get 2in1 shampoo plus conditioner. That's what I got from the front desk the last time I came here on vacation. I am not a fan of 2in1 haircare. One step at a time please.

Sure enough, they picked up some Pantene 2in1 shampoo plus conditioner. I suffered with this for a few days, much to my hair's detrmiment. I was so glad to get into town to shop at (of all godawful places) Wal-Mart. Of course, selecting my own shampoo and conditioner was a bit challenging, because everything is in Spanish. I ended up getting some shampoo that was in a pink bottle. I like pink. I think pink is the right formula for my hair.

I also picked up a pair of decent, cheap hiking boots. Apparently these were the only pair of hiking boots for women available in the entire town of Guadalajara. We went to two giant malls and two standalone stores with no luck. We even went to a place called the Shoe Mall...or at least that's what I call it. If I had known a place like this existed, I would have moved to Mexico ages ago.

This mall consists of about 30 stores, and all they sell is shoes. I am a big fan of shoes, and I came to Mexico with FEWER THAN 10 PAIRS OF SHOES. That was not easy. Because I was on a mission for hiking boots, and because I live in a place where I walk on dirt, cobblestones, and grass, I did not indulge in any of the fabulous shoes. I didn't even look at them too closely, so they may not be all that fabulous. But I love just knowing the Shoe Mall exists.

They did have a small selection of very women's hiking boots at one of the stores, but they were ridiculously expensive, and my mission was to get cheaper boots than I could get in the States. Shoe Mall was to leave me unfulfilled in that respect. I also spied a pair of amazing cowboy boots that I might have to go back to get. They were gorgeous, hazelnut colored snakeskin (fake, I think) with green and yellow vines. They zipped up the sides. They had very pointy toes. They had perfect cowboy boot heels.

They were meant to be mine.