Pyramids and Puebla

I have been up to a lot lately, and have been too busy to write. Eek! It is time to catch up a little bit.



It is too dangerous to go come late at night so if I would like to do something in the evening, I have been sleeping in a friend's apartment who lived in the school (now she is traveling around the country and I miss her already!). So this week in the evening I went to a salsa club, a regular dance club and watched a movie one night. Feels better to be doing normal young people stuff and not just watching TV or reading at home all the time.

Monday I went with six people from school to the Pyramids north of the city. It took about an hour by bus to get there and it literally was a welcome breath of fresh air from the craziness of the city. We met two guys traveling from Isreal and decided to do a tour. Our guide was fantastic and told us lots of stories and information about the people who used to live there, how they had hot showers, studied astronomy and geology. I think we got much more out of the tour than if we had just gone on our own. I climbed both of the big pyramids (the sun pyramid has 244 huge, steep stairs) and was sore for the next two days. I think that the priests of those days must have been in excellent shape. At the top of the sun pyramid there were a group of people in white clothes and singing, and really, it was beautiful enough to make one want to burst into song (¨the hills are alive...with the sound of music!¨). There was also a guy who was spinning one copper plate on top of another and had crystals and such. I asked him what he was doing and he said something about ¨turning on this big machine of energy¨and that there was a reincarnation of jesus, as a woman, nearby and how lucky I was to be there. Yup. Lady Jesus. I am lucky.

The salsa club was fun, but I really need to learn the local salsa because it is really different from salsa in the US. I guess I went to the club feeling like I was going to be decent because I have danced so much in the US but felt terrible that night. Yikes! When our group got there, there were two circles of people doing this kind of salsa-square dance thing that is really fast and involves a lot of changing of partners. Very neat to watch and would be really cool to learn. Who knows?

This weekend I went with two friends to Puebla, one of the largest cities in the Country. Peubla is famous for its architecture and spanish feel. We took a two hour bus to get there and immediatly searched for a hostel. We found one mentioned in the Lonely Planet guide (seriously the bible of travels) and got three bunk beds in a co-ed dorm for 13 bucks, with breakfast included. Sweet! We went to a history museum of the mexican revolution and were given a tour by the guard. It was really cool because I don't know much of anything about history but he was able to make it very interesting and the pride in his face as he is showing us different things was really amazing. We also went to the main cathedral of puebla and were stunned by the beautiful building. As we were leaving, a wedding was getting started and the bride was hanging out, alone, in a blue 1950´s car. As the crowd gathers to see the bride's entrance, move guests are entering the cathedral. Finally, the car moves forward and backwards, parallel parking style, and gets 5 or 6 feet closer to the curb (necessary?). The bride exits the car and looks super. Fun to watch!

We got dinner at a place called Super Soya. I couldn't believe that there was a health food place like that in Mexico. There was a restaurant counter where we got burgers (one of the girls was also vegetarian and the other went along with it) as well as foods and supplements for sale. Yum! We also went to an internet cafe for a while where I set up a skype account (excellent decision) and was able to talk to my mama. The first 4 times I tried to call home I could hear my mom but she couldn't hear me. She was so sweet because she said ¨I know one of you kids is trying to call but I can't heeeearrrr you!¨. Eventually we got connected and were able to have a long chat for 2 cents per minute. I guess I should clarify that my sister is currently in ireland, my brother is in germany and my other brother lives in DC.

Being cool young people, we wanted to check out the night scene and got ready in the hostal. We were told that we should go to the city center and look from there. So we walked, on empty streets, towards the city center. Are we forgetting that it is saturday night? Once we got to the city center, we saw a bunch of familys and children. Where are the clubs? Along the way, we were invited to a 15th birthday party (a very big celebration in Mexico) but decided to pass. We did eventually find a few clubs and were immediatly surrounded by three club representitives of the clubs offereing us drinks if we would please just come to their clubs. I guess that is what celebrities feel like. We walked through a bunch of guys looking us up and down as though we were steaks and sat down for a few drinks and a bit of dancing.

Sunday we went to the Africam Safari. I think it is the largest zoological park in the Americas and it was really cool. Our guide suggested going early, when the animals are most active and so we set the ole alarm for 9am, had our free breakfast (cereal, toast, juice and coffee) and walked back to the square where we looked for our safari bus. It took about 10 false starts and a lot of waiting in the rain, but eventually we were on our way. Even though it was raining, the animals were out and about in the park and very close to the bus. I was very close to lions, tigers and bears (oh my!) as well as elephants, birds, lots of deer like animals that I didn´t recognize and many more. Very cool tour.