Mexico City

Ah, finally my stomach virus has gone away, there is a free computer and I have a moment to write...


School is getting increasingly harder. The grammar that we are learning is getting more involved and the instructors are expecting us to know a lot of vocabulary. Each day, we have classes until 2pm, then students disperse to head into town to eat the main meal of the day, then back to school to work on homework and study before an activity from 6-8pm. These activities are either a lecture about Mexico - art, culture, history, or cooking classes, and twice a week the students are expected to take part in what is called intercambio - two hours of language exchange with Mexican people who want to learn English. The first hour is Spanish conversation to aid the students here at the school, and the next hour is conversation in English. I am tending to count down the minutes until I can speak English because an hour of only speaking Spanish is really hard!! But, the more I do it, the better I get.

I saw something really strange today...coming home from a class trip to a restaurant, I saw a man rolling around in the street looking like he was in pain. One of the other students was surprised that I had not seen that before. Apparently there are people here who accept tips from people in cars to roll around in broken glass in the middle of intersections. OK, that is strange!!

Last weekend, several students went on an excursion to Mexico City for the day. Our first stop was the Museum of Anthropology. Very interesting to see Mexico from Aztec civilization, to the spanish influences, to their independence and modern day. I especially loved looking at all the masks used for tribal celebrations and the dress, especially of the women - so colorful with all the hand stitching designs. You can bet you all are gonna see me in some Mexican dresses when I return home.

After the museum, we went into the downtown area - the center of town, called el zocalo. Each major town has a zocalo, or center of town. This is where there are usually historic structures, street performers, artists, and vendors selling their wares. One thing I saw that I found quite interesting (no photo though) were these shaman, men and women, who were performing spirit cleansings on different people willing to pay. They were encircling their bodies with some kind of incense and then hitting all over their bodies with bunches of herbs. All the while chanting some kind of prayer. I was not brave enough to have it done, but it was fascinating to watch

In the city, we went to eat at a famous restaurant that has been around since the early 1900´s. All the women wear white uniforms with big bows in their hair. There were beautiful murals all over the walls and a live mariachi band was playing for all the patrons having lunch. I´m really liking the mariachi music.

I found Mexico City to be very different from Cuernavaca. The city had so many visitors - a big melting pot of people - as you would expect in any city. Many seemed to be from South America and Europe. Not too many Americans hanging in Mexico City.

Not much else to report. This weekend several of us are headed to the towns of San Miguel Allende and Guanajuato - two bohemian meccas full of artists - right up my alley!! I will post next week when I get a computer and break from my studies. And speaking of studying............

A Weekend of Pyramids

So Mexico is full of pyramids built by the ancient civilizations who lived here. A lot were built as places where sacrifices (people´s hearts) were made to the Gods to bring power, certain weather, luck in wars, etc... On Saturday, I went on an excursion to the puebla, Tepoztlan, which was only 40 minutes from Cuernavaca. This small village is made up of cobblestone streets and surrounded by massive mountains. The people indigenous to this area, believe the mountains to be sacred and often visited by UFO´s (?!) One particular restaurant where we dined had photos of what the people believe to be a UFO hovering over one of the mountains. On one mountain in particular, is nestled a pyramid. We were told that it is about an hour climb up the mountain to the pyramid. Three of us out of about 9 made it all the way up - whew!! Steep rocks and inclines...it was good exercise. The view at the top was maginificent. You could see the vast spread of the land. I thought that getting up the mountain was hard...but actually, coming down was much harder on the knees. After a good lunch of enchiladas we headed back to Cuernavaca. On the way, I saw roadkill for Mexico, a horse - very sad. I was asleep in bed by 7pm...

The next day, I awoke with aching calves, BUT that did not stop me from going on the next day´s excursion to Teotihuacan - home to one of the largest pyramids in the world. Once again, I climbed the steep steps to the top and took in the view of the remains of this ancient city. Anyone who is afraid of heights would not do well at the top of this pyramid or going down for that matter. There is no guard rail at the top or railing to hold onto to get down. And, as you look down, all you can focus on is planting your foot onto the short, steep step in front of you. Because if you look at the ground, it almost looks like a completely vertical drop - kinda scary. After the pyramid of the sun, I climbed the pyramid of the moon. I´m glad I did because the view of the other pyramid (the larger one) was amazing from atop this one.

All in all, it was a great weekend, full of seeing other cultures within Mexico, magnificent sites, and good exercise!

To Market to Market

Every Friday, after the morning session of classes, the instructors take all the students on an excursion in town where they practice language skills in different situations. Today we went to the market - the same one that I visited previously. We walked through all the different sections again, but this time, I made the mistake of following my class through the meat section. Hanging from hooks (and not refrigerated) were various types of meats, most of which I did not even recognize. There were even the heads of pigs hanging up. And to add, the smell was not pleasant. While the rest of the group stopped to take photos, I ran through trying not to breathe, look, or vomit. When I finally made it to the fresh aired vegetable section, I was really queezy. A few minutes later, and not fully recovered, one of the intructors pointed out live bugs crawling around in bags that are apparently crushed fine and used to spice up some salsas. So, now, not only do I have post-tramatic stress images of pig heads, but I´m thinking, OMG, am I eating bugs???? Needless to say, I´ve lost my appetite for the day.

Morning Visitors

So every morning I am waking at the crack of dawn with the sound of the roosters....They seem to be everywhere, their sounds coming from all directions. I then can´t fall back to sleep because I am putting together spanish sentences in my head - and I find it diffcult to stop...

This particular morning, my room is dark when I get up to use the bathroom. I am sitting on the toilet and all of a sudden a cockroach scrambles on the floor from in between my feet. Anyone who knows me well, knows I DON´T like bugs. I know, I know... I visit these tropical climates and I am asking for it. Boy could he move fast!! And I´m not talking about a little bug - he was BIG. I corned him and started wacking him with my shoe. He finally stopped moving and I flicked him outside the sliding glass door. Where was Bryan when I needed him....? You can bet from now on I´ll be scanning the floor pretty constantly.


My second visitor was a welcome one. There are three cats who live on the grounds of the school. During classes, they are climbing palm trees, chasing things in the grass, and lazying in the summy spots - fun to watch when I´m supposed to be trying to decipher what my instruction is saying. Two who are completely white with long hair and the most gorgeous blue eyes, the other white and black tabby. They are very friendly, and as I sat down to write this post, one of the white ones who has taken to me jumped up on my lap. So, as I type this, there is a beautiful white kitty curled up in my lap keeping warm. It´s helping to get my cat fill while I am here and missing my babies at home.

Day 5 in Cuernavaca

My head is abuzz with spanish words...classes are going well with my instructor Pedro. There are four of us in my particular group a French Canadian woman, who I find VERY difficult to understand spanish with her french accent, a guy from Kentucky whose blend of southern accent and spanish is comical, and another guy from Canada who speaks English and is a little easier to understand. We all meet for classes from nine am until 2pm. Then, we are free to do whatever we want. I have been walking into the center of the town where there are many shops, cafes, artists, dancers, mariachi musicians, and cool old churches. One in particular that is fascinating and immense in size was built in the 1500´s. This particular cathedral is one of the oldest church in all of the Americas.

Yesterday I went to a gigantic market filled with stalls that sold just about everything from food, clothing, anything you would need for your home, etc.. Words cannot describe the hustle bustle in the market - the towers of different kinds of mole, the different meats - some pretty scary looking like parts we would never eat in the US, the live chickens in cages to be sold for fresh meat - everything a vegetarian animal lover would want to see! I did buy some cool candles with the virgin of guadelupe on them for about dollar. By the way, Frida and the Virgin of Guadelupe are everywhere, on everything, in glass cases on street corners - Mary of G, that is.

This weekend, there are two excursions planned - one to the town of Pueblo and the other to Teohuatican where there is a big pyramid to climb. I´ll be getting my workout that day as well as some great photos.

My Arrival

Before I even begin with my start in Mexico, I have to talk about my last night at home. My friend Eliza threw me a very memorable going away party. The party took place in her warm, cozy 200 + year old house nestled in the woods. There was a fire burning in the wood stove inside and an even bigger bonfire outside. The food was a delicious assortment and the cakes, made by my good friend, Pam were not only a tasty treat, but funny renditions of me. The moon outside was a sight to see, in that, there was a halo of a rainbow around it. I took it as a sign that this was a special night and that I was doing the right thing by going on this journey. Last but not least, the company of friends who made the trek out to Monkton for this party topped the evening.

Now.....I arrived into Mexico City yesterday afternoon, and then took a bus to the town where I will be living for the next 8 weeks - Cuernavaca. As I was getting settled into my room, I was greeted by two cats - of course they found me! I must have been putting off my scent of crazy for cats lady....Feeling exhausted and hungry because I refused to buy airplane or airport food, I found my way into the center of town - about a 20 walk up and down the many hills of this town. There was bustling energy in the town on this Saturday night. Street vendors, craft markets, restaurants, dancers, clowns, drummers, mariachi players. I sat down at an outdoor cafe (60 degrees in the evening) and had some delicous quesadillas. As I was eating, I noticed the moon come up over this immense stone castle situated right in front of where I was sitting. Cool. Love that full moon...

Today, Sunday, I wanted to explore more of the town. Again, I walked into the center and headed off in the direction of the famous cathedral and park. There was a church service with a wedding happening. The music coming from the service echoed so loudly in this huge, old, moss covered stone building. I sat and enjoyed it for a while. Then off to the gardens where there were artists selling their goods in every nook. In addition, there were galleries with some really great art in the gardens.

This experience so far has been great. I am just getting a taste of life here. Taking it all in...since I am by myself and don´t speak the language too well yet, I am living in silence. But it´s OK, because my ears have become so atuned to my surroundings. Listening to the music, the people, the sweet talk of the children, the birds, everything...

Classes begin in the morning tomorrow and I´m looking forward to getting started!

I am still trying to figure out how to upload my images from Mexico into the computer to post here. I do have one of the moon I took with my phone. See photos at the end of all the posts. I have not figured out how to put them in the actual post. Chrissy, help!!!

Adios amigos.