Welcome to the Listening Time podcast. Hey everybody, this is Conner, and you’re listening to Episode 35 of the Listening Time podcast.

It’s great to be back in front of the microphone. I say that because it’s been a while since I last recorded a podcast episode. You might not know this, or I think I mentioned it in a previous episode, maybe in the last one, but I spent the last few weeks moving. So, I moved to a different city. I’m going to be living in a different city in Mexico now. So, for the past few weeks, I’ve been moving and doing all kinds of stuff to prepare everything and get everything settled in. In English, when we use the phrase “settle in” or “get settled in”, we’re saying that we are preparing things and putting things in their place and getting everything that we need in order to start our new life in some new place, or something like that.

So, it’s been a little while since I last recorded an episode. The past few episodes that you heard were actually pre-recorded. So, I recorded them in advance. In English, when we use the phrase “in advance”, we’re saying that we did something before, or early. We did it earlier than we needed to. So, I recorded the past few episodes in advance because I knew that I wasn’t going to have any time to record during the move. So, this is the first episode that I’m recording in my new apartment. And I just want to apologize because the sound quality might not be the best. You might hear some ambient noise. In English, when we use the term “ambient noise”, we’re referring to the background noise, the noise that you hear… like cars, and birds, and people talking, and things like that… the noise that you’re not supposed to hear when you listen to a podcast or watch a video, but it’s the noise that gets recorded in the background.

So, I apologize if you hear some ambient noise, and I apologize if you hear an echo because in this room, in my new apartment where I’m recording this episode, it’s still pretty empty. I don’t have a lot here, so my voice echoes when I speak. So, in short, the sound quality isn’t the best right now. In English, when we use the phrase “in short”, this just means in conclusion, in summary, So, I hope to have better sound quality in future episodes, but just bear with me. If you remember, we use the phrase “bear with me” to say be patient with me, have patience. So, bear with me. Hopefully, the sound quality will be better in future episodes.

So, on today’s episode, I’m going to talk about my road trip during my move… my move from Guadalajara to Tijuana, which is my new city. If you’ve listened to this podcast before, you might know by now that I really like road trips. I think I’ve already recorded four episodes, I think, about road trips. So, I take road trips frequently, and I like road trips, but this road trip was different because I didn’t have a choice. It was necessary because I had to move all of my things from one city to another. So, this was a necessary road trip. It wasn’t a vacation. But I want to talk about that in today’s episode. Before we start, remember that you have access to the transcript in the Episode Notes. So, if you need the transcript, just go down to the notes, and you can click on the link there. Also, you can sign up for our one dollar Listening Practice seminars at polyglossa.com if you need to practice your listening skills even more. Alright, let’s get started.

Okay, so I took this road trip because I moved from one city to another, and I needed to move all of my stuff in my car. So, I took this trip alone. The rest of my family flew up to our new city. I drove alone with all the stuff in the car. And this was definitely the longest road trip I’ve ever taken. It took me about five days or so to complete this trip, and I drove about 2500 kilometers, if I’m not mistaken, so it was a very long trip. And in total, I drove for about 27 hours, I think. So, it was not easy, especially because I was alone. But let me talk a little bit about some of the places I saw and went to along the way. In English, when we use the phrase “along the way”, we’re just saying the places… or the things that you did, the places that you saw before you reached your final destination. Right.

So, I stopped in about four or five cities along the way before I finally reached my destination. So, on the first day I drove from Guadalajara to Mazatlán. This is a city that’s on the coast of Mexico. And it’s actually a beautiful city, and I would definitely recommend this city to tourists. I think that it has a lot to offer. It has a very nice downtown area with really beautiful buildings and really interesting colors, and of course, it has the beach. It has a very beautiful coastline, and you can enjoy a nice sunset there like I did when I went there. When I was there, I walked throughout the downtown area around sunset. It was interesting because I was there on a Monday, and in many cities in Mexico, the activity on Mondays is a lot quieter. It’s a lot less than on other days because many businesses, many restaurants are closed on Mondays. This is very common.

So, when I was walking in the downtown area, it seemed like a ghost town. In English, when we use the phrase “ghost town”, we’re referring to some city or neighborhood or area that seems abandoned. It seems like there’s nobody there. You don’t see anyone walking outside. So, it seemed like a ghost town because it seems like everyone was inside or everyone was somewhere else. So, it was very interesting, but it was cool because it felt like I had the streets to myself. In English, when we say that you have something “to yourself”, it means that you have that thing fully for you, not for anyone else. So if I say, “I had the house all to myself”, I’m saying that I was alone in the house. I had the whole house just for me.

So, it felt like I had the whole downtown just to myself when I was there. So, it was pretty interesting. The downtown area is nice because the government redid or renovated the downtown area in the past few years, I think. So, the sidewalks are a lot wider. The word “wide” just means big from side to side. So, if I say, “this door is very wide”, I’m saying that the door is very big from one side to the other. So, the sidewalks are very wide in this area of Mazatlán, and so it’s very pedestrian-friendly. The word “pedestrian” refers to a person that is walking on the street. So, this part of the city is very pedestrian-friendly because it’s very easy to walk around, you have a lot of space, it feels very safe. So, this area is very nice to visit, in my opinion. And then, of course, you have the coast right there, you have the beach, and so it’s great to walk along the beach, and just enjoy the great weather and enjoy a nice sunset, if you’re there during that time.

So, the next day I drove up from Mazatlán to Ciudad Obregón. This is a city in the state of Sonora. This is another state in Mexico. And so I drove for a long time that day, for many hours. I think it was about eight hours that I drove. So, I was very tired. And when I got to Ciudad Obregón, I just wanted to rest. I just wanted to relax and just enjoy a good meal and just do nothing for the rest of the evening. So, I didn’t really do much when I was there. But one thing that’s interesting about Ciudad Obregón is that the streets are in terrible condition. It’s really bad. So, it’s very hard to drive in that city. Even on the main streets it’s hard.

So, you have holes everywhere, and you have to avoid them when you’re driving. And so it’s really stressful, because you have to pay a lot of attention everywhere because if you accidentally fall into one of these holes, it could be very bad for you and your car. So, that was one thing that I noticed immediately when I got to Ciudad Obregón. I didn’t know how the local residents could survive with those street conditions. So, that’s one interesting thing that I noticed.

Okay, and the next day I drove from Ciudad Obregón to Nogales, which is the city on the border with Arizona where many people cross into the US. So, on this day, I had to drive through the rest of the state of Sonora, and I was very nervous because this part of the country is not very safe to drive through these days. So, I didn’t have a choice, I had to drive through there. But I was very nervous, and I was definitely anxious and stressed when I was driving through some of the parts. But thankfully, nothing bad happened, and I made it through the state safely, and it was very normal. So, I’m thankful for that, and I was happy when I reached Nogales. Nogales is an interesting city because it’s a “border town”, as we say. It’s a town right on the border with the US. And so, you see a lot of influence from the US. You see a lot of American influence everywhere throughout the city. And it’s an interesting environment. I enjoyed my stay there. I just stayed for one night.

And then the next day, I crossed the border into the US. This was also a stressful experience, because if you remember, my car was full of stuff. I had a ton of things in my car. And this is not good when you cross the border into the US because the people at the border want to inspect everything in your car. They want to see if you’re carrying anything illegal. So, it took me almost an hour to cross the border because they had to take out a ton of stuff from my trunk. The word “trunk” refers to the back part of your car, where you put things in to transport them. So, they had to take out a ton of things from my trunk and open up boxes and suitcases and things like that, and it took forever. In English, we like to use the phrase “it took forever” to say that something took a long time. For example, “it took forever for him to arrive”. It just means that it took him a long time to arrive. So, it took forever to finish that inspection, but finally, they finished, and I was able to leave.

So, that night I spent in Tucson, Arizona. I like Arizona, in general. I really like it, actually. It’s one of my favorite regions of the US. It has a lot of different terrain. The word “terrain” refers to land… types of land. So, in Arizona, you can find desert, mountains, forest, rivers, lakes, valleys, all different types of terrain, and it’s a very beautiful state, in my opinion. So, I really enjoy going through Arizona, driving through it by car, or staying in the cities there. I really like it. And so, I stayed in Arizona that night, and then on my last day of driving, I had to drive from Tucson to San Diego, which is where my parents live. And so, that was also a pretty long drive.

One interesting thing that I did on the way from Tucson to San Diego was that I stopped in a very small town called Dateland. It’s called Dateland, because it’s famous for its dates. “Dates” are a small fruit that grows on trees. This type of fruit is usually eaten dry. You usually find it dry when you see it in stores. And in Dateland, they make different products using dates. And so when I was there, I bought a date shake. In English, we use the word “shake” when we’re talking about a drink that is kind of like a smoothie, but usually, it’s sweeter, and it has flavors like chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, things like that. And it’s milk-based. It uses milk.

These are the types of drinks that you can find at places like McDonald’s, right. You can buy a chocolate shake from McDonald’s. So, I bought a date shake in Dateland, and it was the best shake that I’ve ever had in my whole life. It was amazing. I know that sounds kind of funny. It sounds like a strange thing… a date shake, but it was really, really good. And so, if you’re ever driving through Arizona, and you’re going west, definitely stop in Dateland and get a date shake. I also bought a couple cookies that were date-flavored and that had peanut butter as well, and they were also very good.

So, that final night I stayed in San Diego with my parents. And then the next day, I just drove a few miles south to Tijuana, which is where I am now. If you’re not aware of the geography of this part of the world, Tijuana and San Diego are two cities that are basically connected, and they’re just divided by the border. So, they’re pretty much the same city with just the border dividing them. So, to get from my parents house to my new apartment, it only takes 30 minutes. It’s very close, so it’s very convenient to live here, where I live, if you want to cross into the US frequently.

So, many many people who live in Tijuana work in San Diego or study in San Diego. They cross the border every day to go to the US, and then they come back to Mexico at night. This is a really common thing here. So, that was my road trip. It took a long time: five days, 27 hours of driving, 2500 kilometers. It was a very long trip, and it wasn’t the easiest trip, because I was by myself, and I had a car full of stuff, and I went through some dangerous areas, so it wasn’t the funnest road trip, but it was definitely an interesting experience. And I think I saw a lot of cool things along the way. I saw a lot of cool landscapes. If you remember from previous episodes, the word “landscape” just refers to the nature that you see around you. The view of the nature around you, this is a situation in which we use the word “landscape”.

So, I saw some interesting landscapes along the way. And one funny thing is that I was worried the whole time about my car. I didn’t want to have any car trouble along the way. I was really nervous about that. But my car made it all the way here without any problems. Everything was good. But then, when I got here, when I finally arrived in Tijuana, the next day, my car battery died completely. I thought this was hilarious because the whole time that I was driving through Mexico, I was nervous that my car was going to die, or my battery was gonna die, I thought my car was going to have problems, but everything was okay until I reached my destination. And then, my car had a big problem. So, that was funny, but I was thankful that this happened when I was here in Tijuana and not on the way, in some random town or on some highway in the middle of Mexico. So, I’m thankful for that.

And one last interesting thing… I think I mentioned this in previous episodes, is that here, when you drive through Mexico, you have to pay a lot of tolls. A “toll” is an amount of money that you have to pay to use some road or some freeway. So here, you have to pay many tolls. There are many “toll booths”, as we call them, these little stations where you pay money to pass. So, I probably stopped at like, I don’t know, 15 different toll booths throughout my journey in Mexico. So, there are a ton of toll booths. So, if you take a road trip through Mexico, you need to remember this because you have to pay a lot of money to use all these highways here. So, that’s one other thing I want to remind you about if you ever drive through Mexico.

Alright, well, I’ll stop there for today. Thank you all for listening to this podcast. I see that it’s continuing to grow, and I’m happy about that. And I hope I can continue to record interesting episodes in the future. And I hope this episode was interesting for you, and I hope it was good practice for your listening skills. Remember that you can access the transcript in the Episode Notes. So if you need that, just go down to the Notes and click on the link there. And I hope you’ll come back for Episode 36 of the Listening Time podcast.