The Market Place

Today we were all exempt from classes and instead, Ramiro and Ana Maria decided to take us to the market place to buy offerings for the "grave" of Emiliano Zapata, a deceased Mexican hero. So the school gave us money and sent us out with a list of things to buy, such as flowers (there is a special orange type of flower that smells beautiful and is only in bloom during the end of October), paper cut outs, and fruit to put on a table at the school near Emiliano's picture.

The whole market was stuffed full of people buying candles, sugar skulls, meats, fruit, flowers, and incense just for the shrines that they will make to their deceased loves ones. So after being bustled around the market place by Ana Maria we finally managed to find all the things we needed and ran back to the school to find a table with Emiliano's picture hanging over it. We started putting the flowers and fruit and sugar skulls (with the names of all the teachers on them) all over the table, as well as dishes of candied yams and pears. Carlos even gave up two empty packs of cigarettes and Ramiro and Claudio donated some vodka and beer.

We made the table look very nice and took some pictures with it and Ramiro explained that tomorrow we would be able to eat the food ourselves after the "spirits" get at it first. I personally think the only thing that will be enjoying that food before me are the ants, but it was very fun to take part in a truely Mexican tradition. Here's a picture of our Emiliano Zapata shrine:

Tonight I'm going with one of my teachers to visit the graveyard of her sister and see what goes on there. My host mom tells me that its common for a story teller to be at the graveyard and tell ghost stories to everyone. Of course, now whatever taxi you get into, the driver will have a story about how he was called out to a house by a person who had been dead for years. Everything is so much like Halloween...but so much less like a holiday made for the sole purpose of bringing in money. Here, things are very spiritual and deep.

Pictures of the market can be seen here.

From Mexico City to Mexico City

So Saturday, Universal took us to Mexico City to see a giant museum that houses many pieces of original art from Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, as well as some other modern-day Mexican artists, one of which specialized in gigantic wax heads of women with clumped wax eyelashes and dripping wax "flesh."

This museum (The “Museo Dolores Olmedo”) was donated to the City of Mexico by a woman named Dolores Olmedo who was an avid collector of Diego Riveras paintings. She and her daughter have been featured in a few of his works, as well. But she didn’t just collect from Rivera, she had a whole room full of ancient Asian works of art, including TONS of carved ivory, some of them complete tusks that had been intimately carved, and a bunch of wood stamps (which are finely carved pieces of wood, dipped in ink, and stamped onto a paper. Its extremely tedious work to make such delicate carvings into a piece of wood that’s about the size of a postage stamp.)

The works of Frida Kahlo were, of course, my favorite part. It was very moving to be up close, RIGHT IN FRONT of a piece of art that I’d only seen in books (and seen MANY TIMES since being in Mexico). You just look at it and think, ‘Wow, this is the real deal.’…and then you think about how small it is compared to how you imagined it. Anyways, there were a few of her paintings displayed that I hadn't ever seen before and that was very exciting.

Diego’s room was cool too. I didn’t know he had experimented with so many different styles of art. He did surreal art, portraits, even some pieces that looked like Picasso works.

The whole thing was very exciting to me, especially walking from exhibit to exhibit and running into swarms of peacocks which were ALL OVER the grounds.

After the museum, we traveled to Xochimilco (ho-chee-mil-co) to ride on some Venician-like boats on a canal. We all got onto this long, thin boat that had a table down the middle of it and the “driver” pushed us along the canal with a long pole. There were tons of boats on the canal, and as we saw, many of them were rented out for weddings and anniversaries. There were people who would paddle up next to you and try to sell you flowers, hats, and other wares. Other boats were full of mariachi bands that you could hire to follow you along the water and serenade you. The Che was kind enough to rent two bands to follow us. They were full bands too: Guitars, bass, horns, drums, and one even had a hammer dulcimer. We drank drinks and enjoyed the scenery and had an overall relaxing time.

After this, we drove further into Mexico city to Coyoacán, the neighborhood where Frida Kahlo’s house was. Her house is easy to spot on the street simply because it’s the most intense, brilliant, color blue. The house has been turned into a museum with more of Frida and Diego’s original paintings as well as their furniture and displayed letters between Diego Rivera and Albert Einstein and other famous people. In the house you can see the bed where Frida died as well as an urn with her ashes in it.


Pictures of today can be seen here.

That was all Saturday. Sunday, my mom flew home and my friends and I decided to venture back into Mexico City on our own to watch the biggest fútbol game of the season: The Guadalajara Chivas vs America Aguilas. This was quite a sporting event because the Chivas are the only Mexican soccer team to have all Mexican players, while the Aguilas are Mexico City's team. Both teams are classic and have very loyal fan bases (especially the Chivas!) so the Azteca Stadium (which is 3rd largest in the WORLD) was PACKED! At first I decided to wear neutral colors to prevent myself from getting stabbed outside the stadium by an opposing team loyalist, but when James, Emilee, Erin, Ashley and I arrived early, I decided to take the opportunity to get into the team spirit and pick out some proper attire. For the Aguilas: James, Erin, and I. For the Chivas: Emilee and Ashley. Above is me, supporting my team with their mascot (plus sweet shirt).

We had pretty good seats that were up high so that we could see everything that was going on. People were already getting whipped up with team chants and such. One for the Chivas is "Olay, olay olay olay! Chivaaas! Chivas!" The other was "Vamos, Vamos America...!" and the stadium sides would bounce the chants off each other.

The Chivas section of the stadium looked like a prison had come to watch the game. It had barbed wire and armed guards around the section to keep Chivas and Aguilas from mingling. That side was the "militant loyalist" side and during the second half of the game, many people began lighting red flares and waving them around before hurling them down onto the Aguila fans below them. They also started shooting off fireworks during the game. One person was actually badly burned from a falling flare and, after the game, medics ran into his section.

The game was intense and very merciless. When the Chivas goalie knocked himself out by accident for a few seconds, the Aguilas fans started chanting a rude Spanish word at him. Whenever a Chivas player was tripped or hurt, the Aguilas would all jeer and laugh.

In the end though, the Chivas ended up beating the Aguilas on their home field 2-1. I was sad my team lost :( After the game, when people were slightly drunk and filing out, people started to notice that their were a bunch of white kids at a Mexican fútbol game. Suddenly, everyone wanted a picture with us. All the way until the bus station back to Cuernavaca, people were asking for pictures with us in our supporting team colors.

We finally got home to Cuernavaca at about 11:30, completely exhausted and full of the Mexican spirit.

Some pictures of the game can be seen here.

Lo Siento a todos!

I'm sorry everyone! I haven't been very consistent about updating this blog recently. Things have been unbelievably busy and the time flies by faster every week. To catch you up, Universal finished its first quarter so all us students were hard at work taking finals and finishing up projects for our classes. Before finals week, my computer crashed (it ALWAYS happens the week before finals - ALWAYS!!) and so I was out of a computer for a week...kinda an excuse, I suppose.

After finals, my mom arrived here in Cuernavaca to spend some of her with me during my vacation, which we spent in Acapulco, only a 4 hour bus ride from here. The hotel, Mayan Palace, was AMAZING. It was on Playa Diamonte which is a private beach about 20 minutes outside of downtown Acapulco reserved for the ritzy hotels. So the sand was white and clean and everything was beautiful. Our hotel also boasts the largest swimming pool in the world, which means it stretches a couple acres between two hotels (both branches of Mayan Resorts). The food was amazing and I REALLY enjoyed eating American for the first time in awhile. I filled up on Cesear Salad and was a very happy camper.

So now, we're onto the first week of the second quarter at Universal and my mom is still here, going to school with me and learning Spanish. She's been doing really good and has gotten to a point where she can communicate pretty well on her own with Oliva, my host mom.

This weekend, the Gettysburg and Fox groups are taking a trip into Mexico City to see the house of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. I'm really excited for this, and I've been looking forward to this since I first got here because Frida is probably my favorite artist. She had a really tragic life after a grotesque accident during her youth left her in pain the rest of her life, as well as unable to have children (something she'd always wanted). Her marriage to Diego wasn't much better. Neither were faithful to the other and eventually got a divorce, but then remarried a couple years later. They lived in separate houses that were connected by a bridge (La Casa Rosa y La Casa Azul - "The Red House and the Blue House"). Both were strong communist supporters and even welcomed philosopher Leon Trotsky into their home while he was a political refugee.

I find her life extremely interesting and more so because all of her paintings drip symbolism about the pain in her life and her outlook on other people's lives. She's considered Mexico's most famous woman and one of their most famous surrealist painters - which is saying something because there is no country whose art is more surreal than Mexico's. I can't wait to see her home!

Right now all of Mexico is getting ready for one of their largest holidays - Dia de los Muertos! Its now a three day celebration thanks to the United States' holiday Halloween, which the kids have adopted here in Mexico. So October 31st is Halloween, November 1st is Dia de Todos Santos (All Saint's Day), and November 2nd is Dia de los Muertos! This is a uniquely Mexican holiday that combines both Catholic beliefs and ancient Aztec symbolism. Already orange, white, and black streamers and cut-outs are everywhere as well as the famous Sugar Skulls which are inscribed with the names of friends and family and given as gifts. Pan de Muerto is already in all the Panaderias (a sweet bun that has a cross on the top). During this time, the people will clean the graves of their loved ones, offer food to spirits and spend the night in the grave yard with candles and (no lie) Mariachi Bands. Here in Mexico, death is treated much differently than in the States. Death is accepted as a part of life and often joked about in caricatures (made famous by artist Jose Guadalupe Posada). Because of this, Dia de los Muertos is not a couple nights of frights and scares, its actually more like a party.

During this time, my group and I will be in Guanajauto and there's sure to be parades and all sorts of fun, so I will have pictures!

Oaxaca

Pictures here. Blog later.

Teotihuacan

Please click the picture above. Its amazing!

Today the Fox and Gettysburg groups visited Teotihuacan, an ancient archaeological site that dates back to the era of the Olmecas. Its virtually an untouched city as nearly all the pyramids are completely intact as well as some of the living areas and bath houses. It was very cool!
After Carlos gave us a walk about and explained some of the structures to us, he gave us 2 1/2 hours to wonder around and look at the site ourselves. So of course, with our free time, we climbed the Piramides del Sol y de la Luna. The Pyramid of the Sun is bigger than the Pyramid of the Moon (por supuesto) and climbing both of them is like pure murder. The stairs are not only steep but very tall, so its like some kind of super stair-master. We all made it to the top though and it was so worth it because of the view and, of course, the sense of accomplishment.
While we were climbing, we got to witness a religious ritual of some kind that was happening. There was a large group all people all dressed in white who would climb the pyramid, circle it on each of its levels, and continue on up to the top. Carlos explained that this was their way of replenishing their spiritual energy. At the top of the pyramid, many people gathered about a silver tab that was pressed into the stones in the middle of the top platform. Everyone was touching it and praying over it and at one time there where tons of people gathered around, waiting for their chance to touch the silver piece, which was about the size of a coin. Apparently, this is also a way of receiving energy from the pyramid.
We finally climbed down after enjoying the views and then went on to the Pyramid of the Moon, which is smaller and not such as much as an attraction but has just as nice a view.
After we'd had our fill of ancient stones, we went to the market place to look around. Its much better to buy gifts and such in the market because the vendors inside Teotihucan will literally chase you down if you even glance at what they're selling. They will NOT leave you alone! And they know random English phrases like, "Hey girls, want to buy a gift for the mother-in-law?" Its funny.
When people were done buying gifts, we headed over to a Pulque "farm". Pulque is the juice inside the Agave cactus plant. It was the original Mexican wine back in ancient times and the Indians would use it in many of their religious ceremonies. When the cactus is about 12 years old, they cut the branches away from it to get to the bulb from which all the leave grow. This is which the cactus stores its water which is modifies to make a sort of sweet juice that ferments very quickly. The unfermented juice was used to feed babies but after about 36 hours, it becomes alcoholic. The thing about Pulque is that is ferments by the day, so if you forget about it and leave it for a week or a month or a year, it can become lethal. It's also known for creeping up on you. People will drink and drink it and not feel anything and then -BAM!- you're out!
The Agave cactus' "leaves" were also very useful in everyday life. If you peel layers of the leaf away, you're left with a type of wax paper. The tip of the leaf is very durable and sharp - the first needle - and if you skin the leaf it makes thread which can easily be dyed with flowers and berries.
When we had learned all we could about the cactus, we got to try Pulque. Its milky white with the consistency of snot and it taste like a very sweet dessert wine. Then, just for good measure, our guide gave us shot of tequila with lime and salt. I dunno why. That had no educational value whatsoever. But hey! In Mexico, everything is a good time.
While at this Pulque farm, we also made friends with Domingo, a (about) 3 or 4 week old puppy. He was cute and I wanted to buy him as a souvenir.

Pictures from today can be seen here.

So change of plans, along with an update

There's been a change of plans in the schedule for our weekend excursion due to some terrorist activities here in Mexico. Apparently, during Independence Day, there was a bomb that went off during the Mayor's grito in Michoacan, killing 7 and putting 150 in the hospital. Michoacan was where the Gettysburg group was supposed to be heading this weekend. Because we obviously can't be there, we're now rearranging things so that our 4 day excursion to Oaxaca will be rescheduled for next week instead of the end of November. So there's two updates in one.

Also, right now I'm fighting off some kind of infection that has painfully inflamed my lymph nodes. Its pretty painful and not at all convenient so a little bit of prayer would be nice.

Other than all this, things are well and we're all looking forward to the arrival of Emilee's parents on the 27th. Lots of parents and family are coming during the break. Ashley's parents, Alayna's husband and parents, and my mom. Anyone else want to come and visit me?

Puebla y Tlaxcala

Friday at 8 am, we all met up at the school for the 2 hour bus ride into Puebla. We ended up driving through some beautiful landscape where there was nothing but small huts and scattered villages pierced by giant mountains. It sounds silly but it reminded me a lot of driving through Idaho in the summer. Everything is desolate but so immensely beautiful. In fact, it inspired me to write while we drove through it. What started off as a letter to my folks ended up becoming a way to remember the emotion of it all:

The most beautiful scenery I have ever seen, I saw while driving through the desert to Idaho in the summer. Everything was a grainy type of sand made from the reddish clay of the entire horizon. Huge shelves of rock jetted into the sky, the color of dried blood and chili power - everything the brillant colors of orange and red against a pale cloudless sky. American natural beauty at its most pure, most unrefined, real form.
Mexico's landscape reminds me of the same, but everything is blanketed in green that only barely covers the ground. The same mountains stare defiantly at the sky but these ones are spotted with brush and scrawny, spiraling trees that twist in a frozen dance. There are places where, by whatever means, the ground has been carved away to reveal the same deep, dark colored ground I'd seen in Idaho. And thats when it hits you: We all stand on the exact same ground. A ground that was sacred to others before us and will continue to be even after we're gone. It doesn't matter what language is spoken above the ground. The earth murmurs to and sustains itself across all mankind's borders.
The feeling of being connected to something like landscape in such an intimate way can only come from its lack of human footprints. Only in the sprawling forever, that currently is the land somewhere between Cuernavaca and Puebla, can you really feel a connection to something beyond yourself. Beyond your country at heart or at foot, a connection with untouched creation that waits to be discovered. Its in the moment that you discover it that you come to realize that every minutue, every second you are in awe of everything around you, every second you forget everything else...every second is precious. You will never relive this single experience ever again. Its unfortunate that some people only ever realize this years after their experience.

Before we hit Puebla, we stopped in Cholula, which is known for its very large pyramid that dates back to the era of the Olmecs (who were the original civilization in Mexico, even before the Aztecs). In order to get to the pyramid, instead of taking us through the city, our guide decided to take us through another way: a labyrinth of underground tunnels that swirl underneath the pyramid itself. This started off as a great way to get out of the hot sun. It soon became a little trickier for some in the group who were a bit claustrophobic. The tunnels themselves are pretty short in some places and the walls are definitely right next to you on either side. What made it worse for some people was that the guide kept stopping to explain things in some of the tightest places. I thought it was extraordinary, but some other were pretty glad to get out of there. Another thing: My photo here makes it look as if the tunnels were well lit. You can thank the aperture on my camera for that one because they were not.

After leaving the tunnels, we emerged to see the pyramid, or what was left of it. This one, like so many others, had also been destroyed by the Spanish so that a church could be built in its place. The pyramid was a bit too big though, so only the top half of it was destroyed and a church was built on top of it. We walked through the ruins for a while and even climbed to the top of the stairs of one part of the pyramid for a better view of the town, but after awhile the heat was getting to us so we hoped on the bus to go to another sight-seeing area.

The next place to see was La Iglesia de Tonantzintla, which is known for having a specular inside which is entirely borroco (very intricate designs). Its also a bit of a joke because when the Indians were forced to build it for the Spanish, they carved themselves into the architecture as angels and carved the Spanish as demons. The chapel was very small, but SO extravagant. Its mostly just overwhelming because there is so much going on on the walls, everything is gold plated, everything is godily adorned, and everything is happening all at once and YOUR EYES HURT! Also, everything is 3D, because the walls are carved in what's almost layers. It was beautiful, but not quite my style in a church. I feel like I would have spent more time examining the walls than paying attention to a mass.

Finally, we were on our way into Puebla and ended up arriving there about 8 at night. Dinner was at the hotel, where we got our first real taste of the original recipe for mole, a sauce served over meat (usually chicken) which is made from chocolate and chili. I thought it was OK...but I probably wouldn't order it again. However, its quite the Mexican experience, so you have to at least try it.

Real quick, the hotel, by the way, was awesome! I was rooming with two other girls and our room was two stories! It was so cool. Everything smelled clean and wonderful, and it was cool and dry with a balcony. It was also nice to have a bed that was firm with a soft, puffy pillow. So yeah, so good.

That night we took a quick tour of La Capilla del Rosario, another church with tons of intricate designs that was also gold plated, and then we all just relaxed and walked around the town and took in the sights, smells, and sounds. We went through the market and bought some gifts and then met up with Ramiro and the Gettysburg teachers (who are the cutest Argentinean sisters you've ever met) for some food and drinks. Everything, per usual, was red, green and white - banners and streamers and lights everywhere - to celebrate Independence Day (which is tomorrow!).

The next day, we were up bright and early to see Los Fuertes (forts) de Loreto y Guadalupe, which are forts where the battle against the French took place on Cinco de Mayo. There's not much to tell here. We simply walked about the fort and didn't enter it at all which was disappointing and I still don't know why we couldn't go inside.

After the forts, we went to La Cocina (kitchen) de Santa Rosa. This was an old convent for nuns that was quite a bit different than other convents in that the women were severely mistreated. Our guide introduced us to the convent by taking us into a main room where there was a ton of modern...and very disturbing...art. By art, I mean mannequins which had been chopped up and had wires and tubes coming out of them. For instance, one piece was a black, curved chair (the "body") with long mannequin arms that reached painfully out of it. Its "head" was a radio-type thing that kept playing the same drum beat over and over again while gears turned inside it and made the. most. horrible. sound. ever. It was a screeching, nails against chalk, pain-induced screaming noise that almost instantly gave us all headaches. THE BEST PART was that through the hour long tour you could hear this creature screeching no matter where in the convent you went. It was the worst and it made it so hard to concentrate let alone translate the Spanish our guide was speaking in the back of our heads. To this point, I have no idea what that particular piece of art was supposed to symbolize. The whole hallway was full of these things that looked like they climbed out of Silent Hill (I kid you not). It was so scary to walk through alone, as I did later, especially with that THING screaming at me in its high pitched screech.

About the convent, women there were not allowed to have any contact with men whatsoever, which meant that they could only listen to church services through a thick screened wall. They were made to sleep on wooden boards with no blankets in order to keep them from dreaming, because their dreams could have possibly been tempting. It was pretty awful, but women in those days had a choice between marrying the man their father chose or joining a convent, which many found more appealing.

After the convent, we went to the Library Palafoxiana, which was in a community center that was putting on a show. Lots of music with little kids dancing in outfits that looked much like the traditional Mexican Doll. It was adorable. The library itself had tons of books that were all worn out and antique looking. That made sense since they were all from the 1500s and some, earlier. They were ordered by subject and all in Latin. There were some on ancient medicine, theology, science, scriptures, mythology, and more. It was very cool.

After that we had some free time to eat lunch and roam around Puebla. I don't know what I ate but I was sick the rest of the night and had to shut myself up in my massive room with a cup 'o noodles and MTV...in Spanish. So thats the end of this day. Sad times.

The next day, we ate, checked out, and bused over to Tlaxcala which is a small town whose native inhabitants are considered the "traitors" of Mexican history because they sided with Cortez when he fought the Aztecs. By the time we got to Tlaxcala, nearly ALL of us were tired and sick. Two of us had fevers and none of us wanted to do much but sleep off our weekend. Still, we enjoyed Tlaxcala as much as possible and toured their City Hall to see more murals (these ones, NOT by Diego Rivera).

Finally, after Tlaxcala, it was home to Cuernavaca and then a good night's sleep.

Pictures of ALL this stuff and MORE can be seen HERE.

TODAY is the day before Mexico's Independence Day, which means all of tonight is going to be a constant party. Mexico likes to celebrate the night before and then sleep off a hangover during the actual independence day. I already plan on getting no sleep tonight, as my neighbors love to party every night, let alone the night before their country's independence!

Today my school had a pot luck where all our host families made food and dropped it off at the school. We ate good food, listened to traditional Mexican music, and drank some traditional Mexican beer. Ok, just kidding, but it WAS included with our pot luck. On school property too! There are just some things I have to get used to....:) After the food, some of us went to lounge by the pool and others went home to sleep. I'm here writing this blog.

Hope everyone is well! !Viva Mexico!
Love,
Kels