D.F. Días 1 y 2

I’m trying out this new idea: instead of utilizing the internet at the hotel for mindless surfing of the internet, why not actually break down these blogs in smaller doses making it a more pleasant read for everyone else and an easier write for me? Naturally, I failed at actually trying this last night and instead tried uploading a video in the lobby (and quickly learned that loading videos takes a lot longer than I wanted to wait). However, I will now try to relate what has gone down on our trip to Mexico City (DF) yesterday, Friday and today.

Since I bought a new coat on Thursday night, it was of course going to be nice and warm on Friday, because that’s just how new purchases work for me. We arrived at our usual waiting destination for buses in Querétaro, the Alameda (the large park with the bad sewage, see previous blog entries to Bernal). And, right on schedule, our bus was late and we started out 8am travel around 8:40. We made up time on the road, however, hitting little traffic despite concerns we might face some due to some recent union protests in the city that were scheduled November 11,12, and 13. This should not concern anyone (aka parental units and grandmother) because there was no violence and Mexico City surprisingly reminds me a lot of New York City….if New York had a lot more Spanish signs and worse pollution.

Our first destination was not the city itself but Teotiucán, the famous pre-Historic site about a half hour outside of the city. Now, here is some historical facts that I can enlighten upon everyone: Teotiuacán was NOT built by the Aztecs. These guys came into Mexico City (only they called it Tenochitlan) around 1300 AD, way after all the ancient Mexican civilizations that date back to dates in the BC eras. They are some of the most famous groups to have ever resided in Mexico but surprisingly only held power for about 200 years before Spain with Hernan Cortés conquered them in 1521. When the Aztecs were in power, they didn’t actually live in Teotiuacán but considered it a holy sight. They would make pilgrimages to it, but I guess they didn’t do that when Cortés was around because the Spaniards never knew that this sight existed. Because of this lack of knowledge, they didn’t destroy everything in it like they did in many pre-Historic sites. Archeologists are still finding many amazing things there and are in the long process of restoring it.

OK, congratulations for sitting through that history lesson. Now here are the photos.

Here’s how you actually spell the name – I was too lazy to actually try to spell it correctly above  

In the museum before you head outsides to the monuments. It is a huge room with a miniature replication of what they think the pre-Historic city may have looked like. 

They are doing a lot of new excavations that just started a few weeks ago. We thought it looked like Westmont’s campus. 

These ancient people often demolished and rebuilt buildings in the exact same spot, making excavations fun since you just go back in time with each building. Here, I think they are just seeing if peeling back the years of erosion will show any additional buildings beneath the surface. 

Yep, climbed up those.

At the top.

That big building in the front? Yea, off the climb that next. It’s called Pirámide del Sol (Sun Pyramid).

View from the top. 

Chilling at the Pirámide del Sol and looking out over at the Pirámide de la Luna.

Menu during comida – “popes to the french” for french fries made me laugh.

The pictures is lop-sided but I had to put it up. It’s the cloak that is said to have had the first vision of the Virgin Mary. Juan Diego, a local Indian, saw the Virgin and as a sign of proof, she told him to carry these flowers back to priests in the cloak. When he opened up the cloak the flowers fell out and the vision was revealed. I took the picture on a moving conveyer belt – just like the jewels in the Tower of London. And yes, this was not the first time I had heard this story – that had been when I was 8 years old and it was a story that Wishbone told on his show. And they say TV doesn’t educate….

The church adjacent to where the Virgin Mary cloak is located. It is really unfortunate that Mexico decided to go all modern with their buildings in the 1970s, a decor that really should not be remembered. 

Outside with Corinna

There a bunch of older churches that outside of the newer, 70s Basilica. Most of them, like this one, are sinking because the Spanish conquistadores thought it would be a great idea to drain the rest of the city and build their churches and Nueva España on a bunch of muddy ground. 

DF at night. We went out exploring (in groups) for cena and shopping and ran into this major plaza. This place is one of the biggest plazas in the world – I think it rivals the one in St. Petersburg. Right now everyone is out celebrating the upcoming anniversary of the Revolution – November 20th. They have these lit up faces of Madero, Zapata, and other leaders of the Revolution that happened at the beginning of the 20th century. Later on that night they had a light show that I heard is a lot like Disneyland, but I had already gone back to the hotel. 

And thus ended our first night in Mexico City. The next morning, today, we woke up for breakfast at 8 and headed out at 9. We were heading to the place I had been looking forward to for the past three months – the Museum of Anthropology! It was a little crisper today, enough to warrant wearing the new coat, so I was in even higher spirits when we got to the Museum. 

In front of the museum sign. 

Alejandro giving us a run down of the structure of the museum. We were in the large plaza at the middle where all the doors of all the different sections met up. We arrived at 10:30am and were given until 1pm to look around and see what was there. Seem like enough time? False. But we tried anyway….

Shannon, me and Carolyn outside next to some replicas of what houses would have looked like for one of the regions’ pre-Historic groups. 

This was taken from the sight that we visited yesterday, but completely restored with its natural color.

Awesome colors. 

Picture taking in museums can become boring unless you at some fun to it. Here are some estelas that told the story of the Tolmecas. 

This was the room completely devoted to Aztec work and architecture. This was the huge stone basin where they would make the human sacrifices. There is this slit on the side that has been exaggerated where they would let the blood run off. Gross, but so much apart of the Aztec culture. They thought sacrificing ensured the sun would still come up and supply light. 

It’s smiling!

Yea for harps!

So this is apparently a common spectacle for tourists in Mexico City. These guys are attached at the top and then as the pole rotates, they fall backward and spiral slowly down to the ground, all without running into anything that could possibly harm them. Alejandro told us later that the number of rotations is suppose to relate back to the calendar of 52 weeks and the end of the world business, but I just saw it as an adrenaline rush for a few minutes wondering why anyone would voluntarily do this. 

Next stop (after comida at Vips) was Castillo de Chaputapec, which was the house of the Emperor Maximiliano from 1864 until he was killed in Querétaro in 1867 and then each of the proceeding presidents of Mexico until the 1940s. When the French won their war against the Mexicans, they sent over Maximiliano and his wife, Carlota, who then tried to be good, moderate rulers, but the Mexicans didn’t want a European emperor, so they killed him. This house was filled with many of their artifacts. I love the art, architecture, clothing, and culture from this time period, so it was fun seeing a lot of it. In addition, there was a national museum there that had many other additional information about this era and the other presidents, including Diaz, who ruled from 1875-1911. 

One of the emperor’s carriages.

View of smoggy Mexico City from the balcony of the palace.

Carolota’s room. We thought it should have been bigger. Maybe that’s why she went crazy. 

The six famous soldiers who fought for Mexico while the US attacked this place when we wanted more of Mexico’s land. The US won, but these young guys (they were 18 to their mid-20s) go down in history for their heroic, nationalistic actions. If it actually happened. We have since been told it might just be a legend, but hey, the story is an important one for Mexico. 

Sunset at the palace.

Plaza de las Tres Cultures, 3 Cultures, for the 3 different phases of Mexican culture depicted here. The grassy area is the last remains of the pre-Historic group that was here and fought against Cortés and his men – it was the last piece of land to fall to Spain. The Church represents the presents of Spain. And the apartments show the new, modern Mexico. However, this place is also a dark spot in Mexican history. On October 2, 1968, 10 days before the Olympics was suppose to happen, there was a huge massacre here that the Mexican government has yet to fully acknowledge. There were student protesters in the square against the corrupt government and its allocation of money. Not wanting that on the global screen, the President wanted the protest to end by any means necessary. A private police force (different from the crown control police) dressed up as students, dispersed through the crowd, and opened fire. Additionally, there were snipers stationed around the square and in the apartment buildings, all shooting and making it seem it was the students who were provoking the violence. The riot control police, thinking they were doing their job, opened fire back and what resulted was the death of an estimated 300 people (the Mexican government has yet to say over 40 people were killed). I’m not quite sure why, but this story always hits me in a personal way. Perhaps because I feel like if I had had the chance, I would have been out there with that innocent, peaceful demonstration filled with parents, students, and children. 

Well, I don’t want to end a completely sad note, but that was the last thing we did today! We are now all back at the hotel. I was told the crowds are insane out at the light show, so I’ve decided to stay in tonight and rest my legs that have been standing and walking all day. Tomorrow is another filled with amazing Mexican art and then dancing at night. So exciting!

More to follow, but now I have to go before my laptop battery dies….

El Último Viaje (the last trip)

Tomorrow I leave for Mexico City for the weekend. I know I had said that I was going to put a post up of other fun things we have been doing in Querétaro besides classes (although sometimes it does really feel like all I have is homework!) I also have in my draft section of this website an entry about Día de los Muertos. I am tempted to just put up a few photos but I also want to somehow explain the difference between these unique holiday in Mexico and Halloween. This of course means more writing and thinking on my part and perhaps I can try to work on that this weekend on the bus ride to D.F. (Districto Federal, another name for Mexico City. Basically like DC).

I’m so excited about this trip mostly because I finally get to see Teotihuacan after reading about it for so long and of course, the Museum of Anthropology, which I already would have loved but I’ve had random people here in Mexico tell me it is a great place. Oh, and we are seeing a ballet on Sunday night, so naturally my excitement level went from high to astronomical heights.

Also, contrary to my expectations, it actually became cold in Mexico. The last few nights have been about the same as it would be in Sacramento and a tad colder than Santa Barbara (according to my Mac book temperature reader widget). Since I came here with no heavy amounts of clothing, I had to rectify that today by buying a nice coat that will see much use back in California this coming winter and some gloves, because I am tired of my hands being numb. Because Mexico City is elevated on a hill, it is actually going to colder than it is here, so I guess I will be experiencing some winter here. I’m fine with that since it smells like it should be the holiday season!

And yes, true to consumer fashion in the United States, Christmas decorations are already up in many of the stores here.

More to follow (hopefully) soon!

¡Sierra Gorda!

Yes I’m well aware I did it again- neglected this blog and it has been almost a month. According to the statistics for people who visit this site, I don’t seem to be disappointing that many people, but to the few diligent followers (aka my parents and my grandma) apologies for not being on top of this. My excuse this time was thankfully not sickness, but three papers (2 of which were in Spanish) and a history exam this week. Now that there is a break, I can update on our last amazing excursion outside the city of Querétaro. 

On October 8th (wow, that was a while ago, again, sorry all!) we all had to go to a museum here in the city and here a presentation about the missions that we would be seeing in the Sierra Gorda. The presentation was actually given by a woman who was an adjunct professor at Westmont a few years ago and taught many of the girls in our class, so it was a real treat for them to see her again (she is a native to Querétaro). During her presentation I learned some more about the actual Sierra Gorda. This is a region of Querétaro that is about 2-3 hours away by bus, closer to the northern border. As we drive up this windy hill, we are suppose to see vegetation that is familiar to us- pine trees and red/brown dirt. But then, once we cross over the top, we enter this rain forest that is a humid and green and extremely different. The ridge is huge and has many pueblos up and down it and in five of these pueblos is where Father Junipero Serra established the five missions that began the Camino Real that ended in California. For those that think that name sounds familiar, the missions that Father Serra built in California is pretty much standard, 4th grade textbook knowledge in any California grade school classroom. However, these missions that were built in the mid 18th century are actually seen as his greatest works. 

By the end of this presentation, I was so excited to be leaving and seeing all these sites in person. This was one of the major reasons why I came on this semester abroad – to not just read about historic sites, but actually be able to see them in person! After enduring another night of down pouring rain (which was an incredible relief after the most ridiculous hot spell ever), and buying myself something I never thought I would own, Crocks (for walking in the waterfalls) we were set to leave at 8am on Friday morning.

The fog was such a relief after a very hot week.

o dear….

On this particular trip, we were fortunate to have a husband/wife team of Saul and Requina as our guides. Requina is an art restorer and Saul, well, I’m not quite sure about his background but the two of them visit the Sierra Gorda with students groups through our exchange program school about 6 times a year. They know someone in every village we visit and if they don’t, by the end of our visit they have made a new friend. They were an amazing, fun contribution to our group, from Requina’s knowledge to Saul’s can-do attitude that exuded energy to all of us. 

Our schedule was absolutely jam-packed and there never seemed to be a dull moment. After driving for a few hours, we stopped at a city named Pinal de Amoles where we had the snack of gorditas, which Laura and I had the first weekend in San Miguel Allende and they just continue to get better. We all thought we would be going to a restaurant, but no, we visited a stand where the woman was a friend of Requina and Saul’s and she proceeded to make gorditas for 19 people. ¡Que rico!

At the gordita stand as she prepared all the different meats and sauces we could put into our gorditas. 

I think this seconds for many of us… 

We were then suppose to go to a place where they sold authentic wine from the area, but the woman just decided to not be at her place when we arrived. While this is typical Mexico, I was still bummed since I was planning on maybe getting a few Christmas presents there. But since the wine was a dead end, it was back on the bus. Thankfully, I don’t get carsick so I wasn’t joining the Dramamine/pass out and sleep club up front. We drove until we got to las cascadas (waterfalls) del Chuveje around 1pm.

As we walked to the trailhead for the actual waterfall. This is our professors’ daughter, Ruth. She and her brother, Andy, are some of the luckiest kids in the world getting to come this semester, but they would tell you otherwise. 

Then we caught a ride on the back of a truck of one of Saul and Requina’s friends. Cue the Jurassic Park theme song. 

Warning us that we shouldn’t get in the waterfalls, but as Saul put it, “sometimes in mexico, no means yes!”

in case we lost our way….

on our walk to the waterfall

the waterfall! it was so strong, and loud and i had never seen anything quite so powerful in my entire life!

jumping in.

Crocks kids! (we all bought them the day before)

In the cold, cold water.

We then headed to the Misión Concá for a late comida. We ordered our food before hand and then went exploring. Sal and Requina showed us where they have a natural spa and where this sweet, huge tree is located…but we were mostly intrigued by the playground. We then headed back to eat comida but had to wait….and wait…and then a few people got food and then others waited….we soon realized that there was only one cook in the back and our comida ended up being about 3 hours long and being closer to dinner time when we were done!

While we were by now rather tired after the day of activities, our professors were adamant to complete the rest of the schedule, which consisted of visiting our first Father Serra mission. So, in the dark and as it began to rain, we all took horrible shots of the first mission. It’s embarrassing to even show you the pictures from this evening, trust me, all the missions look more or less the same so my other photos will give you some kind of an idea. The biggest deal about this mission was that on the side there was carving of a “conejo” or a rabbit, which is a symbol from the indigenous groups. It’s the only mission to have an indigenous symbol on it. Had I not been wet and tired and it not been dark and I could have properly seen it, I’m sure I would have liked it more. Nevertheless, we all had a good time watching the adults shine a light on the side of the building just so could be sure to see the conejo!

After resting a bit more in the van, we finally arrived at Jalpan. We split up into our rooms and took showers, having been told that we had the option of going with Sal and Requina to this “canta bar,” which yes, is a karaoke bar. Most of us found a new burst of energy and decided to venture out with our Spanish professors. We had a lot of fun looking for old pop songs from the 90s to sing along too and I even found a Beatles’ hit song list that I found pretty hilarious. After a few hours there, we headed back to the hotel (which was essentially across the plaza, Jalpan is very tiny!) 

And…that was Friday. You can see now why I felt so daunted to write this blog. I actually started writing this about 5 days ago and am finishing it up now! Ok, so Saturday was even more packed if that were possible. We had spent the night in Jalpan and had breakfast in the hotel. We put our stuff on the bus and learned that, while not having internet in the room, where the bus was parked we were getting free access so we all had internet for about 15 minutes. Soon after that we headed to our second mission in Jalpan. These are probably my best shots of the four missions we visited on this trip.

The sky was not conducive to picture taking, but I did what I could. 

Image that is above the door at all the missions – Christ’s arm and the arm of a Father who presides over the mission.

Inside the church.

Price you have to pay if you want to put a candle offering up for a loved one. Not surprisingly, I saw lots of candles burning that people brought from home.

View from the outside of the church.

And then we got back in the van and drove for probably about 3 hours until we wound our way to Xilitla. We arrived at our 3rd mission, where my camera decided not to wait, like I had asked it to, until that afternoon to die so I could recharge it at our next rest stop. However, I soon realized that a lot of these missions look the same, so it wasn’t the biggest deal in the world, although I was still disappointed with myself for not charging my camera the night before (I’m still getting used to this charging a battery business!). 

After that, we went to have comida at this restaurant our Spanish professors knew about in this tiny little town. At first, the hostess told us that we couldn’t eat there because they were renting out the whole place for a quinsiñera. But once we talked with the chef, he told us to come out back and sit on the patio. About 15 minutes later guests piled in and the quinsiñera began, and we were outside in our hiking gear while everyone was dressed up all nice. Basically, we crashed a quinsiñera, and it was awesome. To make things even better, it was most likely the best comida we had on the trip. 

Time in our bathing suits was not over yet, as we soon found out when we arrived at las Pozas de Edward James. Basically, it is this tucked away tropical forest in Xilitla where this British guy who was really into the surrealist art movement and was friends with all the surrealist artists during the 20th century. He found this place and decided to build his own little sanctuary there. He loved all the flowers and butterflies that were present there. He built all these monuments with stairs that go no where or giant human-size stone flowers. It seems like you could get so lost wandering around for hours, but Sal and Requina kept reminding us that all the stairs eventually lead back to the entrance. It was the most humid place I have ever been in, but it was the humidity you feel in the middle of the rainforest. For some reason, other people’s pictures from this day are not uploading well on this blog, so either go look at them on facebook or wait and ask to look at them when I am home and have made copies because they are…well, surreal! 

We headed to our hotel for the night, which was actually more of someone’s house that they had transformed into a B&B type place. Shannon, Alyse, Caity and I shared one room that you had to walk outdoors to get too and that looked over where we all ate in the morning. That evening, we got lots of crackers, deli meat, cheese and fruit and had a cena together – the WIM group, Sal and Requina, and the couple who owned the house. We had so much fun laughing and being in each other’s company, although I don’t know if I can eat another cracker for the rest of my life after the amount I consumed that night!

Sunday morning….I knew we did a lot didn’t we? Sunday morning was the archeological site located in San Luis Potosi, the state located directly to the north of the state of Querétaro, where we were still located. It was going to be a hot, muggy day with lots of bugs. No one was particularly thrilled about going to this place…except Requina who studies restoration and excavation sites like this and me, because I still remember wanting to be an archeologicalist when I was 11. Remarkably, despite it being so hot and not entirely exciting to most everyone around us, the whole day was memorable to all of us, mostly due to the great sense of humor everyone has and the general positive spirits of the group. Having travelled with individuals who have made it their life goal to complain about everything, it was such a relief to have everyone remain respectful during the entire visit. Here’s a bit of what we saw: 

Name of the site. This is fairly a new site, they just started finding major artifacts here in about 2001, although they had been doing research about this site since the 1970s. The civilization found here suggests that there were people who lived in this region earlier than what people originally thought.

If you look carefully, you can see there is gap between the mountains where a certain point during the day, the sun goes right through it. It was one of the ways they created the calender. 

The hill we climbed to go look at the view.

View.

We also went to a second archeological site very close to this one (it came to power when the first hit its demise). In case anyone was wondering, the first place was called Tantoc and the second Tamuin. 

We then had comida at this fish place, where once again, we had one cook and waited a very long time for food. My food turned out all right in the end, although I cannot speak for all. However, things made a turn for the better when we stopped at a well known ice cream stand on the way back to Xilitla. While we were ordering our desserts, we met this other man and his family there who spoke perfect English. Turns out the man runs a ministry team with US churches and brings them down to Mexico and a few years back he took a group from Montecito Covenant, the church literally right down the street from Westmont! He talked with one of the girls in our group who goes there and actually made a connection with her and one of the girls in her youth group. The world really is a small place. 

Monday morning we had breakfast at the house/hotel we stayed in. Here’s an idea of what it looked like: 

On the left is the sliding door that went into our room.

Me and Shannon in our room that we shared with two other girls. 

Chucho, the sweetest dog I have ever met. I guess Chucho is also a nickname for Jesús…who knew?

Then our day wouldn’t be complete with one more look at a mission. In case this blog hasn’t already illustrated, however, we were kinda tired by this point and a little worried about having so little time to finish all of our homework for class the next day. However, I was able to snap a few pictures.

I liked that the last two missions we visited had lawns in them.

I can’t figure out how to rotate on here, but I had to put this on here for anyone who knows Southern California. These lamp posts signify the Camino Real that Father Serra took from Mexico to CA and is at all the missions that he planted in both places. It was fun to see a site that is so familiar since there is the “Camino Real” in Santa Barbara (although Father Serra did not found the mission there). 

And then, the day passed by on a bus and we were finally reaching “home” in the city of Querétaro.

So there you have it. I am probably just as tired now from recording and recalling all of this than I was when I got back to my room almost two weeks ago. Again, sorry for the delay but, hey, it’s up now! I’m hoping to have a few other small posts in the near future with other fun things we have been doing outside of the scheduled activities with the group. 

hope all is well with everyone!

Sarah

I haven’t forgotten about this thing

I looked at my last blog entry and told myself I was imagining things, there is no way the last time I wrote on here was almost a month ago! But, alas, it is true. What began as a daily ritual soon turned into something I would always “do tomorrow.” And sadly, when that happens, my forgetfulness begins to kick in, and all sorts of stories never make onto this blog. However, in addition to this recording device I have my journal, my daily impressions journal for class, hundreds of photos, facebook, 12 other students’ accounts of events, and my ever increasing “quote list” where I ensure that anything anyone in our group says that could remotely be taken out of context is properly recorded. 

Another reason why I hadn’t written on here for so long is because up until September 11, my entries would have been: “And then I went to school…” Enthralling, I know. I have quickly learned that 19 units in Mexico is, like in the US, quite a lot of work. However, whenever I contemplated dropping one class, I couldn’t decide because I liked them all too much! The studious/ nerdy child in me actually enjoys being overwhelmed every week- it beats being bored out of my mind!

As I said though, on Friday, September 11, our group left Querétaro on an 8 hour bus drive to Oaxaca, a state that is on the southern border of Mexico. We spent three days there, during which we explored the city of Oaxaca (where chocolate originated from), visited an ancient burial ground called Monte Álban where the Zapatecas lived around 400 BC, another ancient city called Mitla, and in-between all those experienced the joys of living out of a suitcase.

My roommate for this trip, Carolyn, and me in our tiny but clean hotel room in Oaxaca.

 

Our hotel was right next to the central plaza, which was all decked out for independence day on the 16th. This was the equivalent of the governor’s house for Oaxaca, although it’s just government offices, not a home.

Iglesia de Santo Domingo, the main attraction to the city of Oaxaca. The Spaniards had it built almost 500 years ago when they arrived here.

The first thing I saw when I walked inside. I was literally speechless. I think the churches we have been seeing in this country could be rival with anything seen in Europe!

Monte Álban

Did anyone else play “Maya Quest” on their PCs when they were 10 years old? Well, this isn’t the Mayas (it’s the Zapotecas) and I wasn’t on a quest, but it’s a ball court and I remember always being told to look for my clues in the ball court. Not going to lie, “Maya Quest” was probably the extent of my knowledge about pre-hispanic Mexico before leaving on this trip. 

 

hi mom!

looking out over the city. The Zapotecas hauled all the rocks they needed up this mountain, leveled it, and built this city, although where we were was mostly the religious site where all the priests lived. They also observed the path of the sun up here and that’s how they were able to create the world’s first calenders. However, despite all this intellect, no one thought to invent a wheel. So all those rocks were hauled up by hand. It was to prove that they were strong enough to defeat you – if you can scale a mountain, you can defeat a city. Of course, I think the other cities would have gotten a clue with all the sacrifices…

how many people can we fit into one picture? This wasn’t a tomb, but it was something like it. It was open but had a little hole that was the entrance.

Mexico is photogenic. 

The next day in Mitla.

They think, based on thousand year old paint, that this temple used to be red, so that’s why they re-painted it that color. I love when restoration has a purpose.

Photo courtesy of Corinna Bockstruck. This was the face I gave everyone right when I said, “wait, I’m about to go into where?” as I went into this thousands of years old tomb.

inside the tomb, i crouched down for a bit and then climbed a few steps to here where I could stand upright. These were on the left, right, and in front of you- the openings I assume where the bodies used to be. It was really damp.

2,000 year old tree. It’s HUGE! And it was going in and out of pouring rain while we were there. This is on the road on the way back to Oaxcaca from Mitla.

Shannon was really excited about this tree. It’s so easy to hide in…

…we couldn’t resist (photo courtesy of Corinna Bockstruck).

We took this Oaxcaca.This is 3 people (Brooke, Malia, and Corinna) shy of being the perfect WIM 09 group shot. Nevertheless, it’s still a good one. We took this Saturday night when we all went out exploring together. 13 Americans traveling together is quite a sight, but we all enjoy one another’s company and end up doing a lot of things together. (photo courtesy of Corinna Bockstruck).

 

Besides visiting all these sites we had been reading about in our history class, we were also on this field trip to celebrate Mexican independence! On Tuesday we arrived in Puebla, which is a state just outside of Mexico City (a city that, by the way, is like Washington DC in that it is more of a district).

Mexican independence day is September 16, but at 11pm on the 15th there is something called the “grito” all over Mexico. In 1810 (the year of independence) Father Hidalgo had proclaimed Mexican independence in Dolores (a city in Guanajuato) and this came to be known as the grito. In memory of that, in all the cities in Mexico, the governor shouts out these series of praises on Mexico on the 15th and everyone responds back “viva!” The final grito is “Vivo México!” and then they unleash some sick fireworks. 

It was pouring rain in Puebla so there were less crowds and less concern by our professors about our safety being out with everyone during the grito. We found a restaurant near the governor’s mansion and were right in front of all the fireworks and madness as it happened. It was fantastic, wet, fun, and of course I forgot my camera charger and my camera died right before it happened. Thankfully, everyone has been kind enough to let me look at their photos for posterity purposes. 

We all thought the grito was going to be at 11pm, but it was actually more like 10:40. We aren’t quite sure why that happened, maybe because of the rain, who knows, but it was still a lot of fun. The rest of the night was us all hanging out in the hotel before boarding a bus Wednesday morning to take us back to Querétaro. 

Sickest clouds I have yet to see in Mexico (and I have seen a lot). These were coming toward us from our hotel room in Puebla. It was raining well into the morning.

Skyline view of Puebla from our hotel room. This is the city where the battle of Cinco de Mayo happened! The French had occupied here for a while so there is a lot of European/ French architecture present here. Side note: the Mexicans won the battle in Puebla, but lost the war to France. And no one here can figure out why the US is so obsessed with this battle because it isn’t as big here.

We visited the Catedral de Puebla, which is probably the most beautiful church I have ever stepped foot in and I didn’t have my camera. Everyone has been kind to let me look at their photos but it’s just not the same… Just take my word for it, it is the most beautiful church you will see. (photo courtesy of Corinna Bockstruck).

Last picture that my camera took before dying: the entrance to the governor’s mansion in Puebla as we walked through the pouring rain. Security was really tight and we had to walk through all this security stuff just to get into the centro, but once we were in there we felt fine. 

They were selling this small square of face paint that you smeared on your cheeks in the pattern and colors of the Mexican flag. (photo courtesy of Corinna Bockstruck)

During the grito, right before the fireworks were unleashed.

This photo amply shows how fireworks in Mexico work – near a church and trees and you can stand that close and get the best shots ever! (photo courtesy of Corinna Bockstruck)

We finished off classes Thursday and Friday. My sickness returned on Friday and I spent most of this past weekend sleeping and gaining back my energy so that today (Thursday/ Friday morning) I am back to normal. And no, for everyone freaking out as they are reading this, I do not have the swine flu, I’ve read the symptoms and I don’t have them, and there are still more outbreaks happening in the United States than in Querétaro so I should actually be more concerned for those I know in the US.

For those of you who would like to see some additional great photos of the group, Dave has been taking some along the way and posting them on the Westmont off-campus program blog. You should check it out. The address is http://www.westmont.edu/_offices/wim/ 

We are all itching to travel soon, but with papers and homework piling up, my adventures will have to remain in Querétaro this weekend, but that in itself always leads to something interesting. 

Well there you have it, albeit a week late. Thank you all for your patience and hopefully I will post on here in the near future!

Sarah

¡Quiero una siesta!

As our second week of school draws to a close, we are all starting to appreciate the siestas in the afternoon and are sad when we have so little time to actually enjoy one. Between walking to our various locations where we have classes (either at the university, the museum for our art class, or the learning center that has set up this abroad program) and figuring out timing on printing/copying our papers, there is little time to stand still. Nevertheless, I enjoy it, although I could do without some of the heat.

Currently, I just finished my morning classes and am trying to practice more of my Spanish by watching Grey’s Anatomy in dubbed Spanish. I’ve never actually watched the show in English and I’m surprised that I actually understand a little bit of it. I think it’s one of the earlier season ones. 

Last weekend we all hiked the third highest rock in the world in a city called Berñal. We were suppose to leave at 10 but the bus didn’t actually get to us until about 11:30am. We found out later that the original bus didn’t work so the bus driver was just going to not come, but we ended up finding a second bus to come get us. Thankfully, we have a very patient group and no winers, so waiting for unanticipated amounts of time was not too painful. Although it was somewhat annoying we were upstream of some sewage while waiting…gross….

Last night, a bunch of us went to watch “Cuerpos del viento,” or bodies of the wind, which was a contemporary dance performance at the museum. One of the girls in our group is a dancer at Westmont has started taking some classes at a studio here and my friend Shannon and I were thinking of joining her for some of them (we all took hip-hop so we think we should take it here since we would dominate!) The dancing was, well, a different kind of contemporary than I have seen in the past, which I suppose is the point of seeing dances in other countries. They seemed to be really into emotion and not so much technique, although that is not to say there were not some amazing and very athletic dancers out there. Hopefully I can see more performances in the near future. 

Part of our writing assignments for “Engaging Culture” is to write “impressions” journals of what we see during the week as well as a graded analytical journal. Between these entries, what I write down on my own, emails back home, and this blog, I have stories all over the place! Hopefully at the end I can put them all together into one, big, collective memory.

Sorry this entry is a little haphazard, apparently I cannot watch Spanish TV and type in English in a coherent manner. Now Desperate Housewives is on in dubbed Spanish, I actually know this one!

Hope everyone is doing well,

Sarah

Caroline, Brooke, and me in front of the Teatro de la Republica.

one of my favorite churches I walk by. It’s about 200 years old.

another view of the church.

Shannon y yo waiting for the bus to arrive. This was before we found out it was going to be over an hour late.

Third largest rock in the world, Peña Bernal. We hiked the first two levels of it, the rest you have to have rock climbing gear and experience.

those lucky folks who know how to rock climb that huge wall.

me at the top.

no editing, just epic views.

Lluvìa, finalmente!

Contrary to what the American press reports, the big story in Querètaro right now is not about drug cartels, it is about agua, or lack of it. Mèxico is experiencing one of its worst droughts for over 60 years and it has taken a toll on the farmers here who are dependent upon this supposed rainy season for their crops. Tonight, after hearing so much about the need for it, rain (along with some thunder) has come to Querètaro. 

And I forgot to pack an umbrella. 

Besides discussing water issues, my life this past week has revolved around getting into the rhythm of our class schedule. Here is a brief overview along with my commentary on the class: 

-Language in Context: this is one of my Spanish classes. Today we talked about some common phrases in Spanish. We will be touching on various topics including politics, economics, and social issues of Mexico. The professor, Alejandro, reminds me a lot of my Spanish teacher I had my junior and senior year of high school.

-Composition: We read texts and talk about texts of all different sorts, including music and knowing one another. This professor, Patti, is my little hippie teacher. She is adorable – on the first day she said we are all like books and she reads us and, likewise, she is a book and we read her. We don’t have any homework in this class – if we want to write something, great, if only a little, okay, if nothing, that’s is fine too. It’s all about the experience. Today we listened to some yoga like music (that apparently is from the soundtrack of 1492) for half an hour and wrote in Spanish about how we felt about it, or a story, or a poem. It’s so different and yet awesome. 

-Mexican Civilization: We are all in this class and it is going to have a lot of information but be good for all of us for understanding this country. The professor is really nice, she decided that my name should be “Sarita” which is an affectionate version of Sarah and the first person to do that here, so that was fun. There are some things she says that I don’t entirely agree with, but I’ve only had one class, so we’ll see how it progresses.

-US/Mexican relations: My friend Corinna and I are the only Westmont people in that class, the other two girls from the Oregon State group are there and another girl who is with the Oregon group but is actually from a state school in New Jersey. This class is going to be intense, but great. At some point we are going to go talk to some people who wish to immigrate to the US and hear their stories. We will get to meet people that wouldn’t normally be visited while studying in Querètaro, which of course is something I’m always up for doing. 

-Engaging Culture: this is our seminar-like class with all the Westmont students and the Hunters as we all process out this semester. There are a lot of journal entries and readings, but I think if I stay on top of it I should be fine. 

-Mexican art: our first assignment was drawing a self-portrait, ahh! But today we did something I haven’t done since I was 6 years old…paper machè! We all had a bouncy ball and covered it with paper machè and it was so much fun (that is art I can do!) We also busted out the Westmont chapel CD from last year and of course, knew almost every song. I’m pretty sure there is a recording on someone’s video of us singing a well known Spanish song on a previous chapel album too…

-Dance: we had one class already where most of us were not dressed for the occasion, but it was so funny. Warm-ups began with “Barbie girl” and progressed to Spice girls. We learned some traditional dancing and began with the salsa. I of course, loved it.

I spend the rest of my time in the plazas or at friend’s houses. On Saturday we are going to go hike a mountain somewhere….clearly I pay close attention when directions are being given….but I should have photos from there soon.

Big moment of the day: when I found at the “del Sol” (kinda like the, I dunno, everything store) the EXACT SAME pens that I used for my calender during the summer and proceeded to leave at home and I was bummed. Now I can just continue my calender with the same colors!! I’m sure anyone who is slightly OCD or just really enjoys organization and continuity can appreciate this oddity. 

I’ll end with some photos of my room, since I realized I never put those up: 

view from the door 

desk I don’t really use and where I have started sitting when working on my computer

this is my closet and the TV i have not used yet, mostly because most what I do watch is on my laptop.

 

los mismos marcadores! 

currently, my señora and her daughter are across the hall watching some travel show on PBS about Chilean cooking. It’s in English but with Spanish subtitles. Before that they were watching House. I am amused. 

hope all is well,

Sarah

san miguel allende

Today we had introduciones to our profesores and received our schedules for when schools starts tomorrow. Gaby, the woman who runs the Centre de Internactional Queretaro (CIQ), told us that to get the full experience from this semester, we should always be practicing Spanish with one another. She commented that retreating to English is okay at times, but if we want to appreciate the culture, language, and people of Mexico, we need to be willing to make mistakes and keep practicing. 

I say all this as I listen to Rogue Wave (band I like, most of you probably don’t know who they are, don’t worry) and continue to type in English. Laura and I tried to go back and forth practicing our Spanish yesterday and while we probably did talk more in English, I think hearing more of it we comprehend more than we think. Still, necesito practicar mas (and figure out how to work the accent mark maker on my Mac). 

Yesterday Caro (mi senora), Ceci, Laura y yo fuimos…I mean, we went to San Miguel Allende, about 45 minutes from Queretaro to visit Caro’s mother. I can pretty much understand most of what they are saying, I just can’t seem to get the words out in a coherent order. Nevertheless, it was great to just sit for over two hours and listen, not to mention Laura and I helped make the guacamole. It was muy bien, or, as I’m starting to realize is the phrase to say, “es muy rico.” 

After la comida (the big lunch in the afternoon), we drove down to the main pueblo, where apparently there are many gringos. I honestly did not think there were a lot, although Caro explained there would be more Mexican tourists on the weekends, but during the week, todo gringos. Caro and her mom sat down on a bench in the shade and she said (in Spanish), “okay, we’ll see you around 7, go explore.” So off we went, the following photos are from our adventures (I decided to make them larger this time, since I don’t think the other photos did justice to the beauty of the place): 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

it was hot, we got coconut ice cream and it was muy rico! 

all the streets looked like this, very colonial.

the interior of the main church in the center plaza in San Miguel. My camera captured all of that, pretty amazing details.

This sign, or ones similar to it, are in all the confessionals, it is asking people to respect the place and not lie. I get the feeling if you want to lie in a confessional, a sign isn’t going to change that, but you never know, guilt trip or something…

**********

Tomorrow classes officially start. We talked with one of our professors briefly, and except for a brief slip up when I said I was in my 14th, not 4th, year of college, it seemed to go pretty well. I have surprisingly had a lot of Thai come back and there are moments when my brain just comes to a halt, wondering what language to spit out next. However, I think in another week we should be good.

I found out yesterday that my host sister, Ceci likes to go running in the morning, so I asked to go with her today. We had to get up really early, around 7am!, in order to get back for me to be ready for my 10am orientation, but after today, on Mondays and Wednesdays I don’t start until 11:45, so I should be able to go running at 8am with her. She is 25 and I’m not quite sure if she likes having me around. We got a little more acquainted while walking back and forth from our run today. She doesn’t like Spanish music and only listens to indi music from the US – seriously, her ipod probably has identical playlists to my own. She saw Radiohead in Mexico City a few years back, I was pretty jealous. Basically, I want to be her friend, and I think now that she knows we have similar tastes in music, she might be a little more receptive. 

We already have two girls who aren’t feeling well on the trip, so be thinking of them as they recover this week! I am able to eat fruit in the morning and have some pretty healthy lunches. They aren’t as big as I imagined them, but I think because they are not filled with MSG or other addictive additives, I don’t get as hungry later in the day. That and it’s so hot here. 

Hope all is well, especially this week as I know many are returning to Westmont to move in. 

Sarah

el primer dia…

one of the plazas we walked through today…i have a map and names, but they have yet to fit together in my mind.

comida con nuestras senores 

Brisa, Laura, y yo a la comida 

 

8 of us wanted cell phones. In two hours we succeeded in acquiring 2. It was quite tiring.

bienvenidos!

It is currently 10:49 pm in Queretaro, Mexico. I have been in this city for almost three hours. My immediate reaction: I could get used to this! 

We had the ideal flight schedule: all thirteen of us arrived at LAX on time (barely), made it Houston in time to catch our connecting flight, landed at 7:56pm, sailed through customs and had all of our luggage arrive. I don’t think you could ask for a better beginning. 

My friend Laura and I knew that we would be living close to one another and had hoped that our families would be friends. Well, according to Carolina, or Caro, the senora of my house, our host families basically live as one family. Laura’s mom had actually broken her arm and was in a lot of pain, so Caro and her daughter Ceci picked both of us up and drove us back.

I say all of these names like I actually remember them – I told them right away that “estoy horrible con nombres” (I’m horrible with names) so I would most likely forget everyone’s by tomorrow. 

Laura’s family had friends over and a big meal going when we arrived after 9pm. After dropping her off, we walked about 50 feet to the entrance of our house and I was led to my room. It is fantastic and has everything I need and want. Bed, desk, closet with lots of space and shelves (they were worried because there was extra clothing stored in the back, clearly they do not know my entire life my closet has housed clothing of other people in my house!) and, most importantly, Internet. 

I hate to compare to Thailand, but it is just so easy. I had forgotten that host families are usually the age of, well, families, with children and the like. My host mother in Thailand had been in her early seventies and wireless internet was not even known (although my cousin did own an internet shop). Carolina came in and asked me if the wireless was working before going to bed and I responded “si” along with a gracias and “hasta manana” 

This shall be rather tempting now – I have Internet. Laura lives near me. However, the challenge arrives when Carolina does not know a single word in English. Nada. I can understand about 85-90% of what she is saying and we carried on a conversation with her daughter this evening over bowls of cereal. Yep, their evening snack is cereal. I think I am going to get along with these people. 

So far it seems they are a very loving, but mellow family, something I appreciate. I was right when I read in my letter about going to the countryside on the weekend – every Sunday, we will visit Carolina’s mother in San Miguel Allende, which I suppose is “the” place to retire for North Americans. We don’t have a field trip there, but I have been told by many people, including a woman shopping at Ann Taylor Loft this summer, that I have to visit. 

Asi: necesito practicar hablando y leyendo en espanol todo el dia. I have already switched my Facebook account so it is in Spanish and I’m contemplating getting my homepage of the New York Times put into Spanish too. This should make me feel a little better when I really want to watch the Daily Show, which I cannot, sadly, put into Spanish. 

Tomorrow the group is going to have a lunch and Sunday we will head to to San Miguel Allende (Carolina let me know that Laura’s family will probably come too). I just met her niece who lives here, Andi. She also does not speak a word of English, but apparently she is studying Political Science too, but more administration work….I just had a 2 minute conversation with her, so I’m sure I’ll learn more. 

The Hunters (Patti and Dave, two, married professors at Westmont who are leading the trip this year) left us a packet of work to look over for class on Wednesday. We have orientation and tours on Monday, but then classes start on Tuesday (I know, I completely forgot I was going to school until about midnight last night). They also included a little “spirits boosting bolsa” where they took a little pouch from here and put encouraging Bible verses on pieces of paper in them (in Spanish of course!) 

So all in all, I am healthy. I am safe. It is not really that hot here, probably about the same as Santa Barbara right about now. Carolina said I must be very tired so I should sleep in tomorrow since we don’t have to do anything until lunch. After hearing so many horror stories about host families who don’t understand the concept of sleeping in, this was quite a surprise. Although I think I will get up tomorrow and unpack so I’m not living out of a suitcase.

I said I would make these blogs shorter and am clearly failing! Ahh! Hasta luego! 

Sarah

new camera

after three years, i finally have a new one. christa and i named it theodore, because it was the first thing that came into christa’s mind. she’s smart, so i’m not going to mess with something her mind thinks up, so theodore it is. 

 

T-minus a little under 11 hours until take off from LAX. Forgive me if I don’t call everyone I promised I would call, I mean no offense. 

 

Sarah