Mexico part 2

[jecca_mehlota]

Gonna try and finish it all up today. HERE IS THE REST OF THE TRIP!


Tuesday, January 13^th - Day 05
Our hotel in Querétaro did not offer stale cornflakes, and our lunches had been pushed back to 2 pm (which isn't that ridiculous. That's actually a little earlier than my normal lunch time. But remember we eat breakfast at 8, so that's six hours between meals), so I was kind of stuck. Don't eat breakfast and be ready to gnaw my own limbs off by 11:30, or eat breakfast and be ready to curl into a ball and be ill by 10:30...

I opted to eat. Eggs, fruit cup, refried beans (we had beans at every meal I am not joking), and fresh orange juice. LIKE A MORON, and because I figured, I'm going to be ill anyway, I may as well deserve it, I drank the juice, too. Then I made sure to carry mint gum with me, because mint helps with the queasiness. (I did start feeling violently ill about halfway through our morning meeting, but it passed without me making a mess.) Our meeting was another "Welcome to Querétaro!" thing, like the night before, only slightly less people. We were given a bunch of information and a Frida Kahlo pen (I gave mine to my mother, as it was too big for me), and the CD of the two singing women from dinner the night before...

AND THEN WE HAD A WALKING TOUR.

They paint the bottoms of their trees with white so the ants don't crawl up and hurt the trees.



We went inside a little church and it was RIDICULOUS and covered with gold leaf and seriously it's ridiculous look:






We ended up at the Regional Museum, where we got to see a whole bunch of information about the tribes that used to live in the area, and that was all really neat. Our guide was a really awesome older woman, and she spoke really excellent English.

We took a group picture in the courtyard, but I did not throw my camera in the pile because TWELVE IS ENOUGH I AM SICK OF STANDING HERE I have a copy of one of them, but it's like... an actual photo, not something on my hard drive. But here is the fountain, which was pretty.

We were all half-starved by then, so they told the restaurant we'd be there early, then we had a brief talk while they prepared. An old man came up to us halfway through our guide's explanation and started talking to us, because he was older and knew more and it was hilarious and cute. Then I ruined everything by stressing out and freaking out at lunch. TOO MUCH SOCIAL. TOO MANY PEOPLE. TOO MUCH NOISE. Awesome. People were pretty understanding, though, and I got through it without too much incident. Still, it was... really embarrassing and really frustrating.

After lunch, we were all thrown into taxis and taken to a garden, where we saw where Maximilian was executed. And we wandered through an interactive museum, but it was all in Spanish and half of us didn't understand any of it, and it was all stuff we'd heard or read about already, so mostly it was kind of boring. Garden area was pretty pretty, though. Also, there was a giant statue of Benito Juárez.

Giant statue


Location of Maximilian's execution


path
flowers
vine-covered tree
more path

Free time after that, so we went back to the hotel. A lot of people were going out shopping (for books, some of them, more on this later), but I didn't want to do that, so I went walking around with a couple people and we got a bit lost, but then we found our way back. Saw this church. Also, we went into a shop and they sold Kinder chocolate there, so I bought possibly a lot. THEY SELL KINDER IN EVERY OTHER COUNTRY IN THE WORLD WHY DO THEY NOT SELL IT HERE HONESTLY IT IS SO MUCH BETTER THAN HERSHEY AND JUST ... RAR.

Dinner was on our own, but a group of us went out together, anyway. It was very tasty, and we all had a lot of fun. THEN WE ALL PASSED OUT BECAUSE TIIIIIIRED.


Wednesday, January 14^th - Day 06
Breakfast on this day was some... weird. Tortilla chips, refried beans, cheese, some other random things all mixed together. And fruit cup and orange juice. And I ate it all again because possibly I'm a bit of an idiot sometimes. (And then I felt ill again.) At the meeting, our guide talked about the program he works for, since there seemed to be a lot of interest in people getting into longer study abroad programs. Then we got into the vans and drove to El Cerrito, or the Pyramid of El Pueblito, where we saw the pyramid, which they're still excavating and restoring. Also, leaf-cutter ants.

Mostly I took pictures of plants again. OH, JECCA.









We got right up to the base of the pyramid, but we could not climb, since it's not finished yet. This squirrel climbed it a bit though.

Almost the entirety of the other female students in the group could not shut up about how cute our poor guide (who didn't speak any English) was. At the end, one of them told him he was 'eye candy' (whatever the phrase for that in Spanish is), and then they made all the girls get into a picture with him. I HID. JESUS. Leave me out of your lunacy. (They found me and made me in get some of the later photos, but I escaped the initial idiocy.) It really bothered me, sorry, guess I'm just a spoil-sport.

After we left there, we went to another church... merg. And then my internet died. Anyway, after that, we left and drove along the aqueduct for a bit to get to the house of a friend of our instructor's. She fed us lunch, which was hand-made, fresh baked tortillas with all sorts of delicious things to put inside them. Nopales = very good. EAT.

After lunch, we got to meet with a group of Ñahñú women!



(There is more to the right, but here is some of it, anyway.)

The Ñahñú are a group of indigenous people. They told us all about their lifestyle, and how they get their names (the first name is the name of the Saint of the day they were born on, then their mother's name and their father's name, in either order I guess, and then they can also have their mother's or father's parents' names after that, as well), and we told them a bit about our lives and where and how we live, and then we had the chance to buy some of their handmade things, and they gave us all a doll. AND remember the books WE GAVE THEM A LOT OF BOOKS! Because books are hard for them to get. And it was all very touching and everyone was trying not to cry (some people failed) by the end of everything.

Also, oh! The people who's house we were at, she had one of those Mexican hairless dogs, you know, they're really, really warm. REALLY, REALLY WARM. Seriously. That dog was like. Hot. It was weird! Also, it liked lots and lots of attention. She was adorable.

When we finally left there, we went to take a trolley tour of the city. The guy narrating that liked to tell jokes and, kind of hilariously and really annoyingly, all of the same people who were all over the guide at the pyramid were really offended by some of the jokes he told. Like cracks about all the shoe stores and how the girls could all buy shoes. MIND YOU, THESE SAME WOMEN HAD ALL GONE SHOE SHOPPING IN MEXICO CITY, OKAY, SO IT'S NOT EVEN LIKE THIS WAS UNFOUNDED.

Seriously, some guy can't even make a crack about the stereotype of women and shoes / pretty clothing, but it's totally okay for a mob of foreigners, most of whom don't even speak the language, to swarm their guide? Can you imagine the storm that would have ensued if the guide had been a girl and the guys in the group and said they thought she was nice to look at? YOUR DOUBLE STANDARDS ARE SHOWING. I don't care if it's empowering or some stupid thing like that for women to be able to do that. It's stupid. AND THEN IN THE SAME DAY TO GET ALL WORKED UP OVER SOME GUY MAKING A LITTLE JOKE ABOUT SHOES SERIOUSLY WHATEVER. I was annoyed. CAN YOU TELL?

(I ended up talking to one of the guys on the trip about this, and he got where I was coming from, and I think kind of was annoyed by it, too, and he ended up telling one of the other girls what I'd said and she actually looked at how everyone had acted and agreed with me, so, yay, I'm not totally out of my mind. BUT I WAS AFRAID TO SAY ANYTHING because I didn't want to be murdered. But I wasn't. So.)

And then we had dinner at a tiny little place that couldn't have prepared for us (they had warning, but when you're a tiny place and a swarm of 20 descends...). And I got stuck in the middle of the table and freaked out again. But then I had crepes for both supper and dessert - YES. - and they were delicious (cheese and meat with green sauce, and then banana and nutella), and then I felt better, a bit.

Unfortunately, one of out group members, who'd been sick before we left, had been feeling worse, and she actually went to a doctor, or hospital, something and we didn't see her all day. Very sad!


Thursday, January 15^th - Day 07
We started an hour later today - no meeting, so they pushed breakfast back. Hot cakes! The maple syrup was LOG CABIN eeeew, fake syrup (NEW ENGLANDER IS JUST ANOTHER WAY OF SAYING SYRUP SNOB), so I had them with butter and strawberry jam and honey and it was all very tasty. ALSO MORE ORANGE JUICE OH GOD I'LL NEVER LEARN. I don't drink it at home, but it was fresh and it was right in front of me and augh.

Anyway, we went off on a long drive (twenty to thirty minutes, by which we mean like two hours!) to a botanical garden!

This place:


I took several cactus pictures. YOU ARE NOT SURPRISED ARE YOU.

here is a tree i thought was cool.


Also, we got to see the nursery full of baby plants! HERE ARE SOME OF THEM THEY ARE SO CUTE:


I wanted to take them all home with me, but customs wouldn't have liked that, so I did not. (They were all for sale, though!)

THEN ANOTHER DRIVE! We went to BERNAL to see the monolith, which was indeed quite huge.



We ate lunch at a place with really awesome chairs.


And then we had free time. Not much to do - I didn't want to walk up the monolith, though someone in our group did go as high as possible before you need rock climbing certification. Mostly just shopping. I bought a pretty dark blue and gold/tan scarf, and a blanket (MORE ON THIS IN A MOMENT), and some pretty stone pendants.

One of the shops we went into, I don't know how this came about, but we were able to go in back and see them clean the wool! And then watch them weave it on a loom! It was SO COOL!

(THAT IS NOT ME TALKING THROUGH THE WHOLE THING.)

I bought the blanket from them, because it was all so awesome, and also the blanket was pretty and someone else in the group had a similar one and said they're really warm, and I like warm things. (Also: this day was a bit gloomy and rainy and a bit chilly.)

We went back a bit early, 'cause everyone was sick of being around there, and then we had a bit of free time. One of the people who was with us there in Querétaro was in a play, so a bunch of us decided to go see it. They served us atole and tamales! I had chocolate atole, and it was amazing. I could drink it every day. The play was, uh. STRANGE! We knew it was based around the nativity scene, and that the devil was trying to stop people from celebrating the birth of Jesus, and the first scenes were easy enough to follow, but then a Drag Queen came out, and then some bizarre wrestler/biker dude, and a guy from a mariachi... and, okay, I'm confused, but...

BASICALLY I STOPPED TRYING TO MAKE SENSE OF IT WHEN BATMAN DESCENDED FROM THE RAFTERS NO I AM NOT MAKING THAT UP BATMAN DESCENDED FROM THE RAFTERS.


Friday, January 16^th - Day 08
The person who was feeling sick went home early. :(

Today they fed us ham and cheese and refried beans all toasted on bread. Then our meeting was about arts and crafts of the area! Then we went to an artist's house! Where everything was for sale except his assistant (no, really. EVERYTHING. The chairs, the tables...). I took almost no pictures! I faaail. But here are some really cool candles. He did not make them - he works with cardboard and papier-mâché - but friends of his do, and he sells them.





We got to see how they make everything, and then we got to tell the students working for him about Vermont. And we all got to drink something delicious called Naturave, which is made with agave and sometimes other things like mango, apple, and guava, I think were the three others? It was completely natural and it was very tasty! The guy who makes it is trying to increase his market or something, so later we had to sample them all and take a survey. But that was later, as in, on Day 9, which is not Day 8, so why am I talking about it? ANYWAY YES.

For lunch, we got to have Aztec soup again, but it was not as delicious as the first place we had it. STILL VERY GOOD. Not enough avocado.

Our instructor has a friend who started, and now runs with his family, a jewelry store, so we got to go there. I bought some stuff for my mom and some silver chains for the pendants. All very pretty!

(The cool story: he came from a poor family, and he left to go to school, but had nowhere to stay, so he was staying at the school. Eventually this was noticed and one of the teachers let him stay with them. He got his education and a job and a place to stay, and eventually went to a university, but by the time he graduated, he'd become really good at working with silver - that's not what he went to study, but he did it in his free time or something - so he decided to just open a store. And then he employed his family. How neat!)

After we left there, we had free time until 6:15, when we - well, not all of us, it was optional - when most of us went to Salsa dancing class, and where we made fools or ourselves, but so did a lot of other people there, because we weren't the only total beginners. After we warmed up and learned the basic steps, we were supposed to pair off, and I ended up with an older guy who spoke limited English - to go with my limited Spanish. Really, I understand most of it, but I cannot speak it - but who knew the dance really well, so I got to learn how to Salsa dance with a partner. Most of my classmates ran and hid on the sidelines, it turned out. It was a lot of fun, though!

We all went out to dinner, where chaos and confusion again reigned (things would have gone better if they'd put us at smaller tables instead of one large table. You'd think by this point they'd have figured that out, but no). I think most of us got the wrong food, but it was all tasty, anyway, so whatever. Tacos and gorditas and other tasty fried things.


Saturday, January 17^th - Day 09
OUR LAST DAY! ;_;

Breakfast: Mexican scrambled eggs (scrambled eggs with tomatoes, peppers), and refried beans. And no meeting. We piled all of our luggage into the vans and drove off to Tequisquiapan! The person who was in a play has relatives here, and they were going to feed us lunch.

It was a really warm, sunny day, which was nice. We had some free time to wander around the zócalo and shop and stuff. PHOTOS:

I haven't mentioned this yet, but the sidewalks? REALLY THIN! How straaange! So here is what they look like. You can barely walk side by side with someone.


The cathedral:


We were there for about two hours, and there were at least two weddings in that time. o_o;!

Pigeons:


PLANTS ON WALL:


Cactus growing out of wall:


I bought another scarf (AND THEN ANOTHER SCARF, but this one is warm instead of lightweight, and red instead of blue), and some stuff for my brother and my father (since I hadn't found anything for either of them yet), and some other random stuff.

THEN LUNCH! UNENDING FOOD. Also, more nopales! YAY! And lamb, which I did not eat, because I do not like lamb, and rice, and chicken with mole, and refried beans.

PICTURES FROM LUNCH THAT ALL ARE POSSIBLY NOT INTERESTING BECAUSE I AM ONLY POSTING ONES WITHOUT PEOPLE IN THEM:







THEN, SORROW! Our last meeting. We talked about the trip, and we gave out thank you gifts to everyone we'd be leaving in Querétaro, and did the juice drink sampling thing, and it was all very touching and sad, and then we piled into the vans and drove the four or so hours back to Mexico City.

Though along the way we had to make an emergency stop. The other van did, rather. We didn't know what was going on, but suddenly the first van pulled over, so we followed suit (DRIVING IN MEXICO IS A BIT SCARY, BY THE WAY) and a couple people went running out of the van and over the fence and deep into the, uh. Cactus patch. And they just went out, and out, and out, and those of us in our van who stayed in the van were just laughing because it was hilarious to watch.

We checked back into the Casa de los Amigos (I was in the dorm again, same bed and everything, though same bed by choice), then went out to dinner. There was a large mariachi group at the restaurant, and they went around singing and getting people to dance with them. Was a good time, though I was tired and not very hungry. THEN SLEEP.

Well, sort of. Some of us needed to use the computer (there was ONE computer there), but some jerk there was totally oblivious or something. I ended up asking him to get off, and he let me check my email, but then he got right back on. He was on that thing for at least three hours, and he really annoyed a couple people. BUT YEAH, I got the info I needed from my parents (regarding me getting from Boston to home), and then I went to bed.


Sunday, January 18^th - Day 10
UP AT BEFORE THE CRACK OF DAWN. We threw our stuff into the vans for the last time, said goodbye to our guide, and headed for the airport. Got our stuff checked, got through customs... no problems.

They served us breakfast on the plane. CEREAL. With milk. I was possibly the only person in the group smart enough to NOT crack the milk box open and try to pour it that way. I stuck the straw in the little hole and then used that to pour the milk. I did not make a mess! YAY ME.

GUYS.

GUYS THE COW LOGO ON THE MILK.

WAS SO CUTE.



LOOKATIT.

awww, sweet little cow.


... yeah, so. We arrived in Houston without incident. Customs was tedious and took for ever, but again, no problems. Just long and annoying. I got a good line, so I actually got through pretty fast, but still.

BUUUUT.

So like, snowstorms on the east coast, right? Not good for planes. Our flight to Boston was delayed. And then it was delayed more. And then we all kinda figured we'd be stuck there overnight, which was not an entertaining prospect. Ugh. Airport sleepovers.

So, bored out of our minds after a few hours, we put together an altar out of all the souvenirs people had in their carry-on bags. And then some people made animal noises. And we scared all the other people in the area. They were terrified. Really.




... and immediately after that, our flight changed to BOARDING RIGHT NOW TAKING OFF IN HALF AN HOUR.

Nothing can convince me it wasn't just the staff seeing us lose our minds and determine crashing and dying in a blizzard was better than keeping the bunch of us there overnight.

So we mobbed the plane - they crammed three flights worth of people onto two planes somehow - and we TOOK OFF!

Dinner was strange. Plastic-wrapped personal pizza, right? Not so odd? EXCEPT THE PIZZA WAS PIPING HOT. SOMEHOW. I DO NOT KNOW HOW. I DO NOT WANT TO KNOW HOW.

Since we'd been so late taking off, those of us taking the bus to New Hampshire had all missed it! A lot of people opted to go Greyhound, but that would be arriving at, like... 4 in the morning or something, and SERIOUSLY FORGET THAT. A couple people had cars there, but not nearly enough room for those of us not taking the bus, so the people who really needed to get home were all crammed into cars, and then there were three of us...

And we said SCREW IT and got a hotel. Very fancy, nice hotel. A bit expensive, but OH IT WAS LOVELY and then we caught the bus in the morning (one of my classmates who got a ride back gave me her ticket, so I didn't even have to buy one, yay!), and my parents met me in Lebanon, New Hampshire, and then we went hoooome.


And then I unpacked and then I packed and then I moved here.


Next post will be APARTMENT. OH GOD MORE IMAGES.

Oh! Also, as usual, if anyone wants copies of all the photos, or larger copies of anything, let me know and I'll make you a CD.