El Tiangüis con las Chicas

Sunday I went to a very tradtional tiangüis with the girls at my house (Anita, Lulu, and their youngest sister Veronica).  You know that scene in Aladin in the market where there are all those stands crammed together, selling a whole bunch of crap?  It was that, but 10 times as big.  There were sooooooooooo many stands with clothes.  And hair stuff.  And cheap jewelry.  And tupperware.  And food.  And it went on and on.  I was so seriously lost.  I was actually afraid of getting lost, so I clung pretty tight to Lulu, lol.  It was really interesting though to see a real tianguis that wasn't just for tourists or crafts, which were pretty much all the ones I had been to in the past.  I bought a pair of Hollister jeans for 15 USD, so I thought that was pretty good :)  I also got to try fresh coconut milk and meat; not my favorite, but it was still an experience.  Then after spending almost 3 hours in the maze (seriously this place was a labrynth) we left and came home and all ate lunch together and talked.  It was an amazing day.

Almost the end . . .

One week left here in Mexico.  I bought my second suitcase today (tip of the trip: when ever going on big/long trip, back a duffle inside your regular suitcase so you can use it to bring stuff back in.  I didn't do that, and now I know.)  Anyway, I bought my second suitcase and started packing it up.  I am very anxious to see everyone, (Scotty in super-particular).  It's really weird, though.  This whole time passed sooo slowly day by day, as the only thing I was wanting was to go home, but now to look back on the day arrived, it feels like the time has flown by.  Please don't take that last statement about only wanting to go home the wrong way--I love it here so much--I love the language and the culture, I love the people I've met, and I love the traveling through the country.  But the most important things in my life--my family, Scotty, and my friends--have been absent.  In a perfect dream world, I would bring them (you all) here.  It would be fantastic.  We would all be fat (because of all the tortillas and such, lol) and happy and fluent Spanish speakers :) But that is just an unrealistic dream.  I am coming home, and that reality brings about a very strange mix of emotions.

I don't know how to explain it exactly, but it feels like I've changed.  I hardly even remember the person I was and the way I felt when I came.  It's a really strange feeling to think back and remember the first few weeks here and think, "Who is that person?"  It's bazaar, but that's how I feel.  Like I don't even remember me.  In general, I just feel so much more capable now.  Not only in my command of the Spanish language, but of my life.  I know this is a little thing, but before I came I was always so shy to ask for directions or something like that, and now, it has just become so natural and common that I don't even give it a second thought.  And my God was I uptight!  I look back and wonder how in the heck I managed to micro-manage so much.  I wasted so much energy.  Being here definitely forced me to let things go.  There was just so much here that I couldn’t control—from what I ate for dinner to the bus system, that I really didn’t have a choice but to relax and learn to enjoy the surprise.  I really hope this sense of "que será será" stays with me when I come home.  It's lowered my stress level (and probably my blood pressure) a lot, lol. 

Before I came, I was soooo concerned about not being ready and not being the person I wanted to be (or the type of person I thought could go on a trip like this) that it never even crossed my mind that through this trip I could (A) change and become more of the person I wanted to be, or (B) just accept the person I am.  I'm not sure which has happened to tell you the truth.  Which ever it was though, I know I am so much happier with the person I am then when I came.  But the thought that keeps looming in my mind is that I am going home to people that are accustomed to/expecting the person I used to be, but because I’m not sure which has happened (A) or (B) I don’t know how things are going to go over.  So if (A) is what has happened, it has me worried that upon arriving home, I am going to disappoint people somehow.  If (B) is what has happened, then everything should be the same, just a more comfortable-in-my-own-skin me.  But (A) . . . disappointing others has been one of the biggest fears of my whole life.  So I guess I'm just going to try to look at it like this: this trip has been chalk full of opportunities for me to grow in multiple facets of my life, and now that I have taken the control and learned something from each of them, it's time to face my biggest fear, use what I've already learned during my time here, and accept one last opportunity from this experience  to change myself for the better.  

Counting Your Blessings

I think I've talked a little bit about Anita before.  She is the lady that works at the house for my abuelita.  She is 28, and at night she takes classes to finish her high school degree.  Last night I was talking with her, and she was talking about how hard her current math class is.  I told her how I hate math and how I am terrible at it, but I asked her what she was working on.  She said division.  But then she said she couldn't do it because she doesn't know her multiplication tables.  I asked her if she understood how multiplication worked and she gave me a blank stare.  She had just been trying to memorize the sequence of numbers.  She had no idea that there was a process.  So I started to explain to here that when you have something like 2x3 it actually is just addition and it means 2+2+2.  She was like "oh . . . ".  So I showed her a couple of example and then asked her to try 4x5.  But she couldn't do it because she couldn't count by fours.  So when she got to 8 and tried to get to 12, she over counted on her fingers and landed at 16, and then added 4 two more times.  It may have been one of the most discouraging things I have ever seen.  I mean I thought I didn't have any math skills because I always mixed up the formulas for sin and cosin, and because I never understood when the heck the limit was anyway.  But at least I knew what the numbers on the board stood for.  I seriously think that she doesn't even understand that.  It makes me heart break because obviously there a hundreds and thousands of more people in exactly her situation.  Wonderful people who are working hard to make a very meager living that won't ever know if you screw them out of 20 pesos at the grocery store.  I don't know how it would ever happen, but I prey that someday Mexico will be in a situation where it can provide a solid education (even if it's just the basics) to every child.  Not just the ones that can afford to go to private school.  Que lastima por Anita que nunca había tenido la oportunidad a aprender cuando era niña, y ahora, es casi imposible.

Chile y Límon? Sí por favor!

Um . . . you know you've been in Mexico too long when all of a sudden chile y límon on your fruits and vegetables starts to sound really delicious.  Today I ate them on my orange.  Yesterday I ate them on my beets.  Both wonderful.  Now I also really like to put hot sauce on my potato chips as well.  And eat everything with tortillas.  If I spoke Spanish with less of an accent, I think I could probably pass as a native, lol :)  (Oh, and I'd have to ditch the "blond" hair too.  I never considered myself as a blond, but here, everyone (people on the street, as well as all my teachers) consider me to be a blond.  I guess I'll just enjoy while I can.)

Tapalpa

A town that is supposed to be only an hour and a half away from Guadalajara.  A little more than three hours later, I finally got there.  Lol, I don't know what it is with things taking like 10000 times longer than they should, but it seems to be a trend here.  Anyway, Tapalpa is another "pueblo magico" meaning it still has all of it's original architecture.  It was nice, but I have to say it just didn't compare with Morelia.  It was nice though.  Bought a few things.  Just a nice way to pass what other wise would have been a very boring Sunday.

Morelia!!!

My apologies.  This is very late.  I went to Morelia two weeks ago.  Eek!  Time has been flying!  For those of us counting, I only have 18 more days left in Mexico :)  Anyway, Moreila was like this: AMAZING!!!!!  I seriously fell in love with this city.  It's the capital of the state below mine.  (I'm in Jalisco, and Morelia is the capital of Michoacan.)  It still has all the original architecture from the colonial era in the town center, they just repurpose all the buildings.  Like the hotel I stayed in was absolutely stunning and used to be an old mansion.  And because it was the weekend of Día de Muertos, the city was all decorated.  The had altars in almost every business, and the streets were filled with Catrinas (the fancily dressed skeletons) and grand arches made of marigolds.

The first night there, which was Oct. 31, Louise and I went on a "legends" tour of the city.  We thought it was going to be historical, but it was basically just like a bunch of ghost-esque stories.  Kind of boring, and by the second hour we were both so exhausted from the day's journey there, that we really weren't understanding much (it was all in Spanish, obviously) so we just left, lol. 

The next day we took a tour of the city and got to see a lot of beautiful buildings.  That night was the official Día de Muertos, so we went with a tour group a town near by called Patzcuaro.  We ate a traditional meal of tomales, bread, cheese, and atole.  Very delicious!  Then we actually got to see some of the altars the people had built in there houses.  There were incredible.  Altars of marigolds surrounding a picture of the person, with a mountain of food below.  Seriously, a mountain.  Like two or three Rubbermade totes sized.  Huge.  Mostly fruits and vegetables with some special bread laid on top.  It was really powerful to see these families commemorating the lives of their loved ones in such an elaborate manner.  Especially when you think of how much time thy must have put in to construct all the altars, the money they spent on the flowers and food.  It was really impressive.  From there we went to the cemetery and that was crazy.  Basically like what we had seen in the houses, but on a massive scale.  Every single grave was covered in flowers and food and candles.  Some of the graves were just decorated, but most of them also had the living members of the families gathered there.  Did I mention it was cold?  Oh it was freezing.  I'm serious, I would guess it was in the low forties.  Louise and I had sweatshirts on.  Everyone else was in winter coats and blankets.  We were not prepared.  So I bought a scarf while I was there--and I'm so glad I did.  (Just keep reading it all comes together).  So anyway, from that cemetery we got back in the vans a drove a little bit to this lake in Paztcuaro.  In the lake there is this island called Janitzio where people live and work.  This island is the most famous in Mexico for their traditional celebration of Día de Muertos.  So we got on this long boat with benches on both sides to ferry us over to the island.  It was even colder on the water, and it was about a twenty minute ride.  But we got there.  We tried to go up and see the cemetery, but there were so many people at the entrance crowding and pushing, that it got a little scary and we just decided it wasn't worth it.  So instead we just hiked up the island some more.  If you haven't gathered it by now, this island was a giant hill with a very steep incline.  So anyway, along all the streets are the inhabitants selling food, goods, handicrafts, and all sorts of things.  Finally we found a place that overlooked the cemetery.  So although I didn't actually get to pass through it, I did get to see it.  Again, all the graves were covered in flowers and food and candles, and most of them had family members around.  A very fascinating sight to see.  So all in all, we were on in the island for about two hours, which gave me enough time to warm up a little bit because we had to do so much climbing.  So around two am, we met back up with our group to go back to the mainland.  We got on our boat, and of course I rapidly cooled off.  But I didn't think it was going to be too big of a deal because it was supposed to be only a twenty minute ride.  Supposed to be, being the operative words in that sentence.  But after thirty minutes, and forty minutes, we were starting to get concerned.  It was really foggy, and we ended up lost on the lake for a total of two and a half hours.  The boat driver and our tour guides pulled out flashlights and started scanning the water looking for land or other boats.  They had crappy little flashlights though, so I lent them the amazing one my uncle David gave me before I left.  His reasoning was so I could temporarily blind someone if they tried to attack me.  Lol, or save my butt from being lost for even longer on a freezing lake.  Either way--super useful.  When they weren't having any luck seeing anything, they told us all to be quite so they could listen for all the noise from Janitzio.  We couldn't hear it though.  Who knows where we were.  I'm partially convinced we were in the Bermuda triangle.  No matter where we actually were, It was sooooo miserable.  Louise and I were huddled together trying to keep warm, trying to keep calm.  (Louise can't swim and was starting to freak out a little bit.)  I seriously think we would have fallen apart if this really generous girl next to us hadn't lent us her blanket.  It was an amazing gift from God.  We were sooooo cold.  I can't even describe to you how cold I was.  Thus, I was also very thankful I had bought the scarf.  I had pulled my hood up and tied my scarf around it to keep the wind from blowing it down.  Ugh.  I'm still kind of in shock that it all even happened.  So bizarre.  But anyway, eventually we made it back to the mainland dock and were able to use the facilities (I had had to pee since we initially left Janitzio, but I thought it was only going to be twenty minutes . . . there's a lesson there, lol) and then we loaded up into our van for the hour and half or so ride back to our hotel in Morelia.  At this point it's almost six in the morning, and as if God hadn't already proven his point, we go into our room and realized we had left the air conditioner on.  It was again freezing.  I got in bed with all my clothes on and doubled up the comforter (it was a queen-sized just for me :) I woke up later that morning (like eleven) and my toes and fingers were still cold.  Ugh.  All in all though, I still think it was worth it.  Cold, very very cold, but worth it.

That next day (well, same day, but it felt like the next day because I didn't get to bed until six am) we just got to relax and wonder around the city some more before our bus left at five.  We went to lunch at a restaurant and sat outside so we could enjoy the beautiful surroundings.  It was great.  But as we were sitting there, this TV reporter comes up to me and asks me if I'm from the U.S.  I was like, "Uh, yes." (this is all happening in Spanish) and she was like, "Oh great.  Would you like to comment on the legalization of marijuana and who are you voting for?"  And I was like, "Oh no I don't want to comment.  I don't think I Spanish is good enough to express it."  So she responded, "Oh don't worry about it, we have subtitles for that."  So she kind of strong armed me into commenting, but I basically just said something to the effect of how it would be really good for the economy, but really bad for the people that used.  Very general.  At the end she asked me for the full name and state of origin, and I was just like, I'm Michelle, from the midwest, lol.  I had a fear of being tracked down.  So that was that.  I don't know what my deal is with getting interviewed about politics in foreign countries (something similar also happened to me while I was in Colombia), but I sure wish they'd ask for my opinion in while I'm in my own country!

So that was my trip to Morelia.  Very beautiful, very fun, and very cold (at times at least).

The (Almost) First Thing I'm Doing When I Get Home . . .

Getting a pedicure!!  As much as a like this city and all the fun things there are to do here, it is the dirtiest place I've ever been.  I spend my summers outside in the dirty parks chasing after five year olds, and I still didn't get as dirty doing that as I do spending just an hour or two walking around the city.  Seriously, I come back to the house and my feet will be black from the fine dirt that coats them.  It's disgusting.  I don't know if it's from the fact that there are five to six million people in the metro area plus all their cars, or if it's just like the climate/nature of Mexico, but it's awful.  I just want my feet to be clean again.  I'm not even kidding, some days when I shower I'll spend minutes scrubbing my feet, and even then when I get out, my heels are still some shade of gray!  Ugh!!!  So it's decided.  December 4th I come home, December 5th (Sunday) I think Anne's (the owner of the best nail salon in the world!  (And yes, that is a fact, and you can find it on Wikipedia)) shop is closed on Sundays, plus I'm going out to Kearney Sunday-Monday, so that means first thing Tuesday (the 7th of December)  I'm going in to give my feet a much needed treat!!!!  I can't wait :)