México: Veracruz and Mexico City!

Sorry for the delay in posts but everything is great here! I just want to reassure anyone that might have read or heard that there is a travel advisory for Mexico because its dangerous here because of the drug cartels that I am perfectly safe. We are way way south of where most of the drug activity is going on and I honestly consider Cholula to be a lot safer than Wilmington. So, I'm all good and I have a lot to share with everyone! I'll try not overshare but we have done so many cool things the past two weeks! First, we headed off to Veracruz for our four day weekend, and it was an interesting experience. It was awesome being at the beach in the beginning of March, and I really loved the town. Since we are going back at the end of April with our program director, we opted not to do more of the historical stuff but just chill. When we got to the beach the first day, we realized the beaches in Mexico aren't quite like the beaches in America. There are a lot of bars and restaurants right on the beach and a TON of people walking around trying to sell food and/or worthless crap to you. Of course, being 5 American girls we stood out, and we learned that in addition to gringos, americans also have the nickname of "güeras" (pronounce the g as a w) which basically means white girls. The vendors literally come right up to you even if you are laying down on your towel and say "güeras güeras güeras" and then try to get you to buy something. My favorite were the people who tried to get us to buy shrimp from their sketchy coolers ... No thank you! I am definitely a fan of how people just leave you alone in the U.S., especially because we also found out that some people like to take pictures of american girls on their cell phones / cameras in very obvious ways. Obnoxious but we learned that if they know we speak spanish then they are more likely to leave us alone. I still had a great time in Veracruz, and I loved the zocalo there just as much as the zocalo in Puebla and Oaxaca - we even saw a tightrope walker and lots of spontaneous dancing in the streets. Cool stuff.

After returning from Veracruz, we had two days of classes filled with lots of essays and tests, and since Wednesday was St. Patrick's day, we decided to share some of our traditions with our Mexican friends. We all met up that night wearing green and Sarah's mom had sent her shamrock fabric so we made everyone wear Irish bracelets and told them that everyone was Irish that day. After watching the Mexico soccer game, we taught everyone how to do car bombs, which was a bit of an adventure because Guinness was really hard to find, but it was a really fun night! Then, on Thursday morning we headed to Mexico City! Everyone here calls it either just Mexico, or D.F. for District Federal, and we did an absolute ton of stuff there. On Thursday, we went to Teotihuacan, a huge archeological site that was built around 200 BC by the indigenous and collapsed around the 7th century. (If anyone is actually interested in any of this stuff, I would totally recommend going to wikipedia because I can't do justice to any of it.) The pyramids were absolutely ginormous, and my lungs/legs were hating me by the time we climbed to the top, but it was definitely worth it. For anyone scared of heights, good luck :) After that, we headed to the Virgen de Guadalupe site, which is where Juan Diego was visited by the Virgin Mary, and her image appeared on his tilma (cloak) ... in addition to his house, there are three cathedrals, with the most recent one housing Diego's tilma with the Virgen de Guadalupe. I think that even if you don't believe in it or aren't Catholic, it was still really cool because Our Lady of Guadalupe is not only a very important religious symbol in Mexico, but also very linked to their fight for independence.

On Friday, we headed into the zocalo where we saw 1) the main cathedral 2) some ancient pyramids/ temples that are literally in the middle of the city (discovered when they were trying to build the metro) 3) the Palacio Nacional - a government building where the president does a lot of his work, and where Diego Rivera painted huge murals depicting the different eras of Mexican culture 4) A museum set up for Mexico's bicentennial which will be celebrated later this year. Apparently, all major events happen in the 10th year of each century here. 1810 was the fight for independence, 1910 was the Mexican revolution, and hopefully 2010 will just be a big party celebrating no major problems! Later that night, we went and saw some mariachi bands, which for me is cool for about one song, and then I just find it really annoying haha. On Saturday, we saw some more museums, this huge mansion/castle that overlooks D.F. that was built by the Spanish viceroy and served as the president's house until the 1930's, and then we went to this hippie town called Coyoacan where Frida Kahlo lived with Diego Rivera. If you think your life is depressing, read about Frida - wow. I loved the town so much, it reminded me so much of a mexican version of Boulder. FInally, we rounded out the weekend on Sunday by seeing a performance of all the traditional dances of Mexico starting with the Axtecs to the more contemporary dances. Not going to lie, I am usually bored to tears by most ballets/dances but this was awesome! Definitely one of the highlights of the weekend, and then we headed to nearby Xochimiilco that has chiampas - bascially waterways that used to surround all of Mexico City. We rode around in these boats called trajineras that are decorated in all these crazy colors - great way to end the trip!

I was surprised how much I enjoyed Mexico City because I had heard a lot of crazy stories about it, but we stuck to the really touristy parts and stayed in a part of the city that was really nice - can't say that I am sad I missed out on the real Mexico City. The only disappointing thing is that we really wanted to see a soccer game while there, and our program director vetoed that idea because we would be a group of american girls surrounded by drunk fans. While I know it was the safe choice to make, everyone here is so pumped about soccer that I wanted to see it for myself! As it is, I am pretty sure all of Mexico is planning on watching the World Cup (or Mundial) ... my host dad found out that the family is going to a wedding the day that it starts and was not a happy camper. He kept saying how it was unpatriotic and he was going to watch it no matter what haha.

The other interesting thing that happened to me is that we were invited to join the track team here! Since I usually run the days we are in town, I am at the track a lot, and always see the same coach working with some of the track team. He came up to us on Monday and told me that he sees me there all the time, and Lisa and Sarah a lot too and why aren't we on the team? He told us that because we are extranjeros with a full course load at UDLA, we could join and train with the team, and travel with them when they run at other places. Of course, getting all this information was a bit of a struggle because he's from Cuba and speaks really fast and with an accent but we were finally able to understand. I explained to him that he would never want me on the team because I run slow, and I am training for a marathon, and then he made fun of me for not running very far haha. Still, he offered for when we get back from spring break to help set up a training schedule for me, and still let us train with the team, and travel with them. AWESOME! We saw him again the next day, where we think he told us he competed in the Olympics, there is a kid on the team who is an ultramarathoner (i.e. two marathons together) who could work with me too, and the team practices for two hours a day and we are invited to practice with them. We were a little puzzled as to why he would be so helpful especially since we clearly won't be winning anything, but he kept saying he likes to see people dedicated to running improve, and he's an extranjero too. We are planning on finding out some more information but if everything checks out, I think we are going to do it because a) it's a great way to meet more students and improve our spanish and b) i can train for my marathon with an former olympian!!!!! SO. COOL. (jealous mom?!) hahah sorry for everyone who finds this story really boring, but for me this is great news.

Other than that, we are just wrapping up this week of school, taking a day trip on Friday to a place nearby that apparently is covered in cacti, and preparing for Puerto Escondido!!! As excited as I am, this is honestly the first year I can ever remember where I am not craving spring break, but the beach will be awesome! It will be cool because a lot of our Mexican friends are heading down too so we can hang out with them and meet some more people, which I love. Definitely looking forward to a week of surfing, dolphins, snorkeling, and relaxing!

Here are some pictures!

While at Veracruz, we saw these cute kids guzzling from beers cans while under parental supervision, but don't worry, in the afternoon they slept it off haha ... Parents of the Year award? I think so.