March

Ok, get ready for a whirlwind review of what happened this semester starting with march...

March was really fun because there was something exciting about every week:

Lindsay came to visit me the first week in march. I had a lot of fun playing tourist with her and showing her how I live in Puebla. We checked out the market, went to Cholula to show her the pyramid, and I showed her my university. My host family was ridiculously hospitable and treated her like family. The second half of her stay, we went to Acapulco. We arrived late afternoon with just enough time for a quick trip to the beach and that night we saw the famous cliff divers. We spent the morning at one of the main beaches in Acapulco. They bay is beautiful, but very touristy. Every other minute we were approached by vendors selling everything from jewelry, to swim suits, to massages to donuts. In the afternoon we headed to a different beach in a town about 30 minutes away by bus. There was hardly anyone on the beach and it was a great break from bustling Acapulco. We ate at a restaurant with hammocks on the beach and took in a gorgeous sunset. The next day we spent time with my friend Merilie and her cousin, who was also visiting her. We knew that we were both going to Acapulco, but it wasn't until three days before we left that we realized that we were both going to be there at the same time and that we had both made reservations at the same hotel! So we spent our last day at the main beach with Merilie and her cousin. Our hotel was located in the older part of town (where the hotels are MUCH cheaper) so that night we decided we should check out the "spring break zone." Let me tell you, it was a different world! All of the sudden we passed a group of thick necked white boys in Hawaiian print shorts and skinny, tanning booth tanned both girls in mini skirts and bikini tops, and from the point on all the signs were in English, American music blasted from every venue and "springbreakers" (all one word with a heavy Spanish accent- the mexican word for all the crazy Americans that flock to the Mexican beaches in the spring) we everywhere. It was very interesting to this zone- it was such a stark contrast with the Mexico I know. That night Lindsay and I took an overnight bus to Mexico City so she could catch her plane. The way the schedule worked out, we ended up having to spend a combined 5 hours in the bus station and the the airport. These are the sacrifices you have to make when traveling on a budget! It was so much fun to share my life here with someone and I was very sad to see Lindsay go.

A pyramid sandcastle we made on the beach

Lindsay and I on top of the pyramid in Cholula

Ok, so I am doing a terrible job at keeping things short, but I just have so much I want to share!

In the middle of march two friends from last semester came to visit- Charlotte and Courtney, so we had a lot of fun reunions.

The third week of march was Patricia's conference, "Palabra y Genero" (Word and Gender). Patricia organized the conference and it was sponsored by the BUAP and by our program. Patricia got some great speakers, including Elena Poniatowska and Sandra Cisneros. Elena Poniatowska is a famous Mexican author who includes many political themes in her writing. Sandra Cisneros is a chicana writer who is bilingual, but writes in English. Her most famous work is "The house on mango street" which I had sadly never read. In her presentation she read excerpts from it and from her other works and I fell in love with her and her writing. The presentation was very laid back and totally bilingual with everyone slipping easily in and out of spanish and english. After the reading we went up to talk to her and off-handily invited her to go out with us. She said she was too tired that night, but for sure on Saturday. We weren't sure if that was just her way of brushing us off, but then later that night she came to our table and declared that she really wanted to go to a gay club. So the next night a bunch of program students, our program director, and other conference presenters all went out to a gay club complete with a drag show! There was hardly anyone else there, but there were enough of us that we made our own party. I still can't believe that we danced the night away with Sandra Cisneros!

Veracruz

Ahh! I have failed horribly this semester at updating my blog. I will start to redeem myself by posting an entry I wrote in early march but never published because I wanted to add more pictures but never got around to it... So here it is:

The last weekend in February, we went on a program excursion to Veracruz. If you have a good memory, you'll note that one of the first independent trips I took was to the Veracruz. However, the trip we just took was really different from the first one, so it was well worth it. Last time, we spent the entire independence day weekend in the city of Veracruz, but this time around, we used the weekend to explore the entire state of Veracruz.

We started the trip off by heading to the anthropology museum in Xalapa, where nearly all the famous olmec heads are located. It was pretty cool to see the heads- the really are enormous, and we don't know a whole lot about them. There were a lot of other cool sculptures in the museum, but we ended up spend almost three hours on a guided tour, which was just too much even for an anthropology major, especially since every minute spent indoors was one minute less on the roof-top hotel pool Patricia promised us!

By the time we ate lunch and completed the two hour bus ride from Xalapa to the port city of veracruz where we were staying, the sun was starting to set. My friend Abby and I were determined to swim in the roof top pool though, so when we got to the hotel, we ran to change and met up at the pool. I had to laugh when I got to the pool deck and poor abby was sitting in the last tiny triangle of sun that the shade had not yet gobbled up. Since the sun was setting and was kind of chilly, so we opted to head to the zocalo with the rest of the group instead of taking a dip.

In the zocalo we were greeted with a giant communal wedding, where young couple after young couple went up on a stage to be married. It was pretty weird, but I think after 6 months in mexico I have become slightly jaded to the bizarre, because it didn't seem out of place at all. In the zocalo, we relaxed in the warm night air with drinks and the marimba music Veracruz is famous for. We stopped at a slightly sketchy, but more importantly cheap, place for dinner and finished the night up with delicious nieve. Nieve is kind of like italian ice, or sorbet, and the best I'd ever had was when we went to Veracruz last time at a place called "Guero," so it was a real treat to be able to go back this time.

The next morning we woke up early so that we could walk along the pier by our hotel. Although it meant a few hours less sleep, it was a great idea because the sunrise over the port was gorgeous. Here are some of the pictures I took that morning:Hayley and Meara with the sunrise

After our brief stay in the port, we got back on the bus and headed further south in the state of Veracruz. Our destination was the Nanciyaga Ecological Reserve on Laguna Catemaco. I think we were all pretty stunned by the natural beauty surrounding us when we piled out of the bus and onto the boats that would take us to the reserve. As we skidded along the lagoon, we all basked is the warm sun and took in our surroundings: tranquil water spotted with tiny island and surrounded by lush green hills. To the left is a picture of Rouwenna and I on the boat. When we got to the reserve, we had lunch in the restaurant over looking the lagoon and just took in the view. Below are some of the views from the restaurant.

After lunch we hopped into canoes to go exploring. After missing the sun the day before, Abby and I paddle into the middle of the lagoon and just sat around for a good long time, soaking up the sunshine and gossiping, occasionally chatting with more ambitious members of our group that passed us by. I could have sat out there doing nothing for days, but we finally decided to row around one of the nearby islands with all kinds of different species of birds and head back. When we got back to the dock, we jumped in the swimming section of the lagoon to cool off. After swimming for a bit, Patricia told me there was an opening for an aromatic massage, so I jumped at that opportunity. They used scented oils for the massage and pressed an egg all over my body. I smelled so good and felt a jello-y afterwards. I had a moment where I realized that I was indeed on the best study abroad program ever- where else are aromatic massages included? I rounded out the day by sitting on the dock and watching the sun go down.

That night we took part in a Temescal, a ritual steam bath. It's an indigenous cleansing ritual where you sit in a tiny adobe hut with stone that have been cooking in an oven all day, and then water is thrown on the stones to make hot steam. I wasn't sure I wanted to do it because my only other similar experience was with Bikram Yoga- yoga that you do in a 90 degree, closed up, steamy room, and I most definitely did not enjoy that experience. But I knew I'd regret it if I didn't do it, so I decided to give it a try. As it turns out, my gut feelings were right on. During the experience, I really didn't enjoy it at all, but I'm still glad I did it. When I first entered the hut, the heat was overwhelming and I could imagine staying in for a half hour. But after a few minutes, I started to relax and adjusted to the heat. We did some singing and chanted as more water was thrown on the stones creating more steam. But then after 10 or fifteen minutes, I started to feel really uncomfortable again. I think the most difficult part was that the air was so hot and thick, so you could never get a breath of fresh air. By the end I was so focused on getting out of there, I didn't really enjoy any of the cleansing powers. But the very last part was covering ourselves in mud and jumping into the freezing lagoon, which in retrospect was pretty cool, but in the moment I was a little too grumpy to appreciate it. I'm glad I did it, but it's not something I will be trying again any time soon.

The next morning, we were all running around trying to take advantage of our last few hours in paradise. The highlight of breakfast was the crocodile siting! Meara and Hayley said they had seen one on their canoe trip, and I was super jealous, so I was I really excited when we got to see one too. Although it did make me wonder if dangling my feet in the water the day before was such a good idea... After breakfast, I took a mud bath, which consisted in being covered in mud and sitting in the sun until it dried and then hopping back into the lagoon and washing it all off. Afterwards, Abby and I went for one last canoe trip. Next thing you know we were on the bus, heading back to Puebla. I was very sad to leave and felt like I could have stayed a week!

Mud bath!

Carnival and Ash Wednesday

I can't believe we are already in March! Time is flying by here. Last weekend we went on an amazing trip to Veracruz, but first I wanted to write about some of what was going on in my life in Puebla before that.

Two weeks ago, on Saturday the 17th, we had a party to celebrate carnival. There were no parties on the schedule for this semester, but after the success of the halloween and Alica in Wonderland parties, we all wanted to have more this semester. Patricia actually came up with the idea for a Carnival party. It was perfect because we got another opportunity to wear costumes. Carnival is a big deal here is some of the coastal cities like Veracruz; there are parades and concerts and lots of drinking. Drunken crowds aren't really my thing, so I was very happy to celebrate at Patricia's house.

I was in charge of decorations, so I got to have a lot of fun picking out pretty paper and sparkly things, creating giant masks and stringing up lights. I also had a blast making my costume. I was inspired by the green sequins I still have left over from my luchador costume, and decided to go as a garden. I went shopping with my friends Abby and Arianna, and they helped me pick out some sparkly green fabric. I also got some giant pink flowers for inspiration. I went over to Abby's house friday night, and she worked some real magic with safety pins and designed the cutest shirt for me. The next day before the party, my host mom got really into it and helped my sew parts of my costume together. As you can see, the end result was pretty fabulous!

The party went extremely well in my opinion. Everyone did a really good job of inviting their mexican friends so there were tons of people there! The music was going all night and everyone was dancing. The only not so hot part was the fact that the beer ran out around midnight, and Patricia refused to buy more since we had already consumed a whole lot, so people started trickling off after that. But while it lasted, it was excellent.

So of course, after carnival comes ash wednesday. I went to a service at the local church and it was quite an experience. I first realized it would be a little different as I approached the church and there were vendors with cotton candy and tacos and bubbles all waiting outside. One set of doors had a giant sign that said SALIDA (exit) and the other ENTRADA (entrance). I went over to the entrance side, and waited with the crowd. It felt kind of like I was waiting for the haunted mansion at Disneyland. After five minutes or so, they opened the doors and we filtered in while the other group exited out the other doors. The priest then said a quick, five minute service, and the people started getting up and moving to the front of the church. I was a little confused because there was no one to distribute ashes. Then I realized people were putting the ashes on themselves with a stamp! There was a cross shaped stamp that you dipped in the ashes and then stamped on your forehead. The whole thing was pretty devoid of any spirituality. I felt a little like I was in Brave New World, or some other futuristic scene where religion had become totally institutionalized. It made me very nostalgic for the meaningful noon-time ash wednesday services at smith!

Michoacan

I am really excited to write today because last weekend I had my first travel adventure of the semester! We had a three day weekend, and I have no classes on Friday, so we took the opportunity to explore the state of Michoacan, which is about 8 hours to the northwest of Puebla. We went to Michoacan last semester for the Day of the Dead, but we wanted to return to see the monarch butterfly sanctuaries and to see more of the truly beautiful state.

The journey began on Thursday evening. I left Puebla for Mexico City at 8pm with Meara, Hayley and Merilie, three friends from Smith. We arrived in Mexico City in record time- about an hour and a half- meaning we had a lot of time to hang out in the bus terminal before our 12:30am overnight bus to Patzcuaro. While waiting, we learned a very interesting bit of information- you can take a bus from Mexico City to New York for only $180! It just so happens that after buying my one way plane ticket to come to Mexico this semester, that is exactly the amount of money I have left of my $500 program travel budget. Hmm...

The bus ride to Patzcuaro took about six hours so we arrived in the tiny Patzcuaro bus station before the sun even came up. Luckily, my friends are excellent travel companions so everyone was is good spirits even after a shaky nights sleep. We waited around about 20 minutes for some morning light, and then decided to walk to the center of town instead of taking public transportation. The morning light was really beautiful, and the walk was an excellent way to start to get our bearings, so it was well worth it. By 9am, we had covered most of the center of town, seen a beautiful view from the top of a hill, visited some Churches and taken a bunch of photos. Here are some pictures of what we saw that morning:

An old church that is now a hospital

A view of Patzcuaro and the surrounding mountains

In our wanderings, we found our hotel. Thankfully, even though it was really early, we were able to check in. It was a really cute hotel with lots of old tile, and a tiny balcony with a view. We rested for a bit in the hotel, and then were back out to continue our explorations. After some bad coffee, and a stop at an internet cafe for those who forgot to fill out their room draw forms, we were off the el lago de patzcuaro- the lake of patzcuaro. We again decided to forgo the bus and find our way walking. We knew the general direction of the lake, and could see it from a few points, so we found our way by asking directions of locals an using our general sense of direction. Even though the walk took a little longer than we thought, it was well worth it. First we passed through a bustling market selling every kind of vegetable I've ever seen, baskets, pirated DVDs, cheese, scarves, knives- you name it, they were selling it. Then we passed through a residential area. It was really nice to get to see the real patzcuaro, not just the touristy parts. After wandering the winding neighborhood roads a bit, we some how found ourselves on a main road again. When we got a little closer to to the lake, we passed by some incredible wood working shops. The first one was the most impressionable- it was a like giant warehouse with woodcarvings in various states stacked from floor to ceiling. Everything from masks to giant jesus statues carved out of tree trunks to tables and chairs. After the woodshops, it was a short walk to the dock.

Once we got to the lake, we took a boat to the main island, Janitzio. On the island we got some lunch, and hiked to the top where the is a statue of Morelos, one of the heroes of the mexican independence. We climbed up a giant spiral staircase inside the monument until we reached his wrist. It was a perilous climb, but the view from the top was gorgeous. Here are some photos from the island trip:

Merilie, me, Meara and Hayley on the boat

View of the island from the boat- that's the monument of Morelos at the top

Me with the view from the wrist of Morelos

Looking down on the staircase we climbed

After the island trip, we passed through through the market to buy food for dinner- two avocados cost us 60 cents! And after so much activity on so little sleep, it was nap time. After a siesta, we ate our dinner from the market and went out for some ice cream and watch a little TV before falling asleep once again.

The next morning we grabbed some coffee before taking a bus to Morelia, the capital of Michoacan. We only had a few hours, but it was just enough time to walk around the zocalo and get a delicious meal. Our Lonely Planet guide told us the restaurant was like "your moms home cooking if she was from mexico" and the review was right on. We all ordered different plates and shared and each one was excellent.

After our few short hours in Morelia, we took a bus to a small town called Zitacuaro where we met up with Rouwenna and Abby, two other smithies, who drove up with Gerardo (Rouwenna's boyfriend) and Julio (Gerarrdo's cousin) in Julio's van. We all drove to Angangueo, another very small town where I had made hotel reservations. The problem was, when we showed up, they had given our rooms to someone else! We proceeded to visit every hotel in the town, and every single one was booked solid. It was the perfect season to visit the butterfly sanctuaries, plus a three day weekend, so things were looking pretty grim. We came real close to having to sleep in the van! Luckily, there was one hotel where the people never showed up, so at 11pm, the owner finally told us we could take their room. We had spent the previous half our sitting in the lobby with Julio making obnoxious jokes, so I think she was just sick of listening to us and gave us the room!

The next morning we were up early to go visit the the monarch butterfly sanctuaries. From our hotel, the sky was blue and the air was cool. But as we drove up in the mountains, it got colder and cloudier. So much so that the butterflies didn't want to fly around. So we didn't get the full effect of orange fluttering around us, but we still saw all the butterflies resting in the trees, and a few flying around us. Plus we saw some spectacular mountain views!

View from our hotel

A butterfly!

Me with the mountain view

Those brown clumps in the trees are butterflies that were too cold to fly

After our hike, we found the only restaurant with a TV in the town so that Abby could watch the superbowl. I myself played set while others watched. It started to pour while we were at the restaurant and the power even went out during half time for about ten minutes. After the superbowl we went back to the hotel to just chill out, and the power went out again, this time for a good half hour!

The next morning we started our drive back home. The highlight of the trip came not a half hour after we started out. As we passed through the mountains, it was snowed. Even the transit police were playing in it! We stopped to play until we couldn't handle the cold anymore.

Trying to stay dry under a sheet!

Islands, snow, avocados, roadtrip, butterflies, long walks, mountain hikes and great friends- overall an excellent trip!

A week in January

Not a lot has happened since I last wrote, but this semester I'm going to try to write with a little more regularity, so I'll just fill you in on the normal events of the week.

Even though it was a pretty average week, it started off with a bit of excitement Monday morning. Sunday we went on a day-trip to see some ruins and visit a local colonial town, so when I got home, I was exhausted and still had a ton of work to do for my monday morning class, so I ended up staying up late to finish it. And since my class is at 8am, that meant I didn't get a lot of sleep that night. (Actually, I got 7 hours, which should be more than enough- I remember back when I'd average 6 1/2 plus 5am crew practice, a weights session and hours and hours of homework and an orchestra rehearsal and just keep plugging along like it was nothing. Mexico has made me weak!). So anyways, I was in my class monday morning, which is the history of the Mayans and super interesting, but as we were going into the last 20 minutes of the two hour class I was feeling sleep deprived and starting to fade. The all of the sudden I gasp and jump out of my skin because the kid sitting in front of me has an iguana on his head!! It's a good foot long head to tail and it's just sitting there on the top of his head. It had a rope clumsily tied around its body, and the rope was connected to the kid's sweatshirt string, acting as a leash. I assume the iguana was inside his sweatshirt for the previous hour and a half of classes, but I really couldn't tell you. Needless to say, I was alert for the rest of the class!

Speaking of pets in class, this would probably be a good time to talk about the difference in classroom culture here. Although iguanas aren't an everyday experience, many other distractions are. At smith, if you cell phone goes off, you have to deal with the wrath of the professor and evil glares from your classmates. At the BUAP, professors don't bat an eye if cell phones go off, and students often answer them and have a conversation while the professor is talking. Many professors will even answer the phones mid-lecture. Students are constantly coming in late (sometimes up to an hour!) and also leaving early, or just walking out for five minutes and returning with a cup of coffee or a candy bar. Side conversations are not uncommon. Some professors are known to smoke in class. People will do their make-up and check text messages. There are so many times when I'm in class and I think, thank god I don't have attention deficit because it would be impossible to learn in this environment. But it isn't like this in every class. Some professors won't allow student to walk in late and demand the full attention of their students. And usually this type of distracting behavior dies down once the professor really gets into their lecture and the students have to pay attention, but even it's existence on a lessor scale has been a big adjustment for me.

After the iguana incident, nothing in my week seems very exciting! I spent most of my time reading for classes, going to classes and running track. Friday was a bit more exciting. One of my friends from the program, Keith, had really bad stomach problems and ended up having to go to the hospital and stay for two nights! Poor kid. I am so thankful nothing like that has happened to me yet! So Friday we took the bus to a part of puebla I haven't seen before to visit him. The hospital was really nice and he was in good spirits, but I still felt bad for the guy. Apparently he has some kind of amoeba infection that's was eradicated in the states in the 1940's!?!? The scary thing is he doesn't know how he got it...

Friday was also our welcome comida (lunch/dinner), although this semester it was considerably scaled down- no host families, mariachi bands or traditional Mexican costumes! After the meal, a bunch of people came over to my house to plan our trip for next weekend. We have monday off and no classes on friday, so we're going to the state of Michoacan (where we went for the day of the dead) to spend time in the lakeside town of patzcuaro and at the monarch butterfly sanctuary. So my next post should be full of beautiful pictures and interesting stories!

Back in Puebla!

So now that I am all caught up on last semester, I can finally start to write about this semester!

So far, being back in Puebla has been really great. I got into Mexico on January 3, and spent a week going through the orientation with the new group. There are three people, including myself, who stayed from last semester, and 12 new people. Even though we did almost exactly the same thing on this orientation as we did on my orientation in August, it was really nice to get to know the new group a little bit before we got to Puebla. I also had a good time revisiting the anthropology museum, climbing the pyramids again, and going back to the basilica of the Virgen of Guadalupe. Also, not everything was exactly the same. For example, this was the first time I saw the zocalo of Mexico City on an average day- all the other times I've been to the zocalo it has been jam packed with protesters and Obredor supporters! Also, Rouwenna and I took sunday off from the orientation and did some of our own exploring. We went to the museum of modern art with a friend of Rouwenna's friends who lives in Mexico City, and then he took us to a part of Mexico City called Coyocan. They had their own small zocalo, full of people out enjoying their sunday evening. There were these amazing drummers and lots of people dancing to their beat. We got some tortas (which is what they call sandwiches on the certain circular rolls here) and some hot chocolate and just had a great time people watching and taking in the sights.

The next day, we came back to Puebla. The first few days were a little weird for me, as I was trying to readjust to life in Mexico and also to the fact that a lot of the people I used to spend my time with weren't here anymore. But now that I've been back for two weeks, I feel like I am at home again. The new people in the group are all really cool, and I've had a lot of funhanging out with them. We went dancing last saturday night and last night we went out to a bar with live music. Thursday night we went to a party at a fellow exchange student's house. He's from Germany and on a different program, so he rents a room at a house with six other Mexican students. They were all really nice and it was fun to meet some more mexican students outside the classroom. I've also been spending a decent amount of time just chilling out with Israel.

And of course, I am getting back into the swing of going to classes, doing reading and writing papers. I am pretty happy with my classes though. In CU, the more campus-like campus, I am taking Latin America: Politics, Economy, and Society and International Organizations in the International relations department, and "Neoevolucionism and Marxism" in anthropology. I am also taking a history class about the Mayans in the centro, the campus in the center of town. I am really excited because the only class I have with people from the program is the Latin America class. I'm the only american in all my other classes so I will be forced to really pay attention and interact with the other students. I am also really excited because, although my mondays, tuesdays and wednesday are really busy, I only have one class on thursday and no classes on fridays! My schedule, combined with the fact that we have a lot of days off this semester, means there should be lots of traveling going on!

Chiapas

My trip to Chiapas deserves so much more than the short entry I am going to devote to it, but the truth is, tomorrow I am going to start accumulating more experiences to write about, so last semester needs to be finished before then!

Chiapas is the southernmost mexican state, bordering Guatemala. It is legendary for its beautiful natural scenery and for its indigenous population, including the Zapatistas- the indigenous resistance group that on January 1, 1994 (coinciding with the day Mexico signed NAFTA) staged a small rebellion in San Cristobal de las Casas to fight for their rights. The Zapatistas still exist, living in self-sustained, autonomous communities throughout the mountains of Chiapas. It has been a dream of mine to visit Chiapas while in Mexico, so when the opportunity to go presented itself, I jumped at it. The opportunity came back in October when Jenna and I went to a meeting of immigrants’ rights organizations that her professor invited her to. At the meeting, we learned there was going to be a huge conference on immigration in Chiapas in the beginning of December. I emailed the guy who was in charge of the conference and he told us it was free and that we were more than welcome. And since it was an educational experience, we got the program to pay for our bus tickets, which was a huge help, since they came to around $120.

It was kind of tricky figuring how long we wanted to stay in Chiapas and what we wanted to do and who wanted to go, but in the end, it was Katy, Cassie and I who went. It's about a 12 hour bus ride to San Cristobal de las Casas, which is the city where the conference was, and the buses only run over-night, so we left wednesday evening in order to get to the conference on thursday morning. As we were taking the bus to the bus station, I could help but wonder what we had gotten ourselves into. We'd traveled on our own before when we went to Veracruz, but that was only for the weekend, it was four hours from puebla, we were a group of 10, not three, and I hadn't really had a direct hand in the planning. For this trip, it was up to the three of us to figure out how to get where we needed to go, judge safety, book hotels etc. But everything pretty much went smoothly, and anything that didn't we were able to take in stride.

I was very pleasantly surprised by the bus ride to San Cristobal. The seats were huge and reclined almost all the way back, so I slept pretty much the whole twelve hours. We got to San Cristobal around 7am, so we took our taxi to the hostel we wanted to stay in. We couldn't check in yet, but we dropped off our stuff and headed out to check in at the conference. Although we were tired and gross from the bus ride, the morning in San Cristobal was enchanting. There were women in different types of indigenous dress with baskets on their backs, setting up their crafts at the market, people eating steaming tamales and backpackers everywhere. The city itself reminded me of a combination of Puebla and Cuetzalan. The streets were cobble stone and the side walks were so narrow we could hardly walk two abreast, never mind all three of us in a row. The buildings were no more than two stories high, and each one was a different bright color. And as we walked to the site of the check in, the early morning light was glistening off everything.

I was honestly pretty amazed when we showed up at our destination and there was actually a conference going on. All we had been going on was the one vague email I received back in October, and in the back of my mind, I wondered if there might have been a miscommunication, but now, the conference actually did exist. We registered and sat through the fist session before we sleepily headed back to the hostel to relax and recuperate a bit. That afternoon we attended some more discussions, had some tasty vegetarian food (both Katy and Cassie are vegetarians, but that worked out well because san cristobal caters to the crunchy, backpacking, vegetarian type). That night was a lot of fun because the hostel we were staying in was full of young people from all over the world, and there was a bonfire in the courtyard of the hostel where everyone gathered around. We talked to people from Spain, Canada, Holland, Australia, Norway, and England. It was really neat to hear the stories of the backpackers who have either taken a semester off or are just not going the traditional path and instead are wandering the world. There was something very attractive about the idea of having nowhere you needed to be for a few months and just exploring at your own pace.

The second day the conference was held at site just outside of san cristobal. To get there, we had to take a taxi, and at first, our taxi driver didn't even know where we going, but after driving along a dirt road through a neighborhood of tiny concrete block houses with chickens in the front yards, we arrived at a tiny agricultural college.

***

Ok, all the above was written the day before I left, but I am now back in Puebla and ready to start updating you all on a new semester. So the short version is Chiapas was amazing. In San Cristobal, we divided our time between the conference and exploring San Cristobal. We went horse back riding to a small town where all the women and girls wear wool skirts that look like black-faux fur tied with wide embroidered belts. We went to a church that was nothing like I've seen- a true mix of Catholicism and indigenous religion. The ground was covered in pine needles, there were no seats, just people kneeling before rows of thin candles melted to the ground, air filled with incense and chanting, and the music of 6 or 7 harpists. We rode through the mountains with crazy guides who liked to make our horses go fast and saw women washing their clothes in streams. We ate lots of long meals (actually not lots- we did lots of snacking and strategically planned our meals to save money) and did lots of shopping to spend the money we saved on meals. We met a cool anthropologist at the conference who is just a few years older than me, and is doing her research on the mexican- Guatemalan border and invited us to stay sometime if we don't mind cots.

We took a five hour bus ride to palenque after the conference which was the worst bus ride I've ever taken. It was pure mountain curves for five hours straight- even after dramamine I felt sicker than I ever had in my life. In palenque we stayed in cabanas in the jungle and ate pizza in the humid night air, surrounded by huge brilliant green leaves. We spent hours at the ruins of palenque, exploring at our own pace, refusing to pay a guide and using our lonely planet photocopies instead. They were the most beautiful ruins I've seen yet, and one of the most beautiful places I've seen period. We remarked that we could understand how the rulers of palenque believed themselves to be gods as we stood on top of the pyramids over looking miles and miles of lush jungle. We also visited two stunning waterfalls, Misol Ha and Agua Azul. At Agua azul, we bought tiny bananas from a little girl and shared them for a snack. The bus ride back home wasn't quite as pleasant since we stopped at nearly every town between palenque and puebla, and also had to stop for migration officers looking for illegal guatemalan imigrants. But over all, it was an amazing trip. I was very proud of the three of us for sucessfully pulling off such a big trip by ourselves.

After we got back from Chiapas, we only had a week left of the semester, so time flew by. My birthday was that Tuesday that we got back. I slept all morning and then at lunch, my family acted like it was just a regular day, and then surprised me with a cake for dessert. After dance class, we went out to a bar to celebrate my new legality which wasn't quite so new, and afterwards, everyone came back to my house for hot chocolate and the rest of my birthday cake. In the next few days, I took an anthro exam, wrote a research paper for my dance class, and practiced like mad for our dance performance at the goodbye party on friday. We were all really nervous about the performance since we never practiced with all the elements- the high heeled shoes, the skirts, the music, the rocky patio, our partners- and we were still learning choreography up to two days before the performance. But miraculously, we somehow pulled it off and actually had a good time doing it!

Horseback riding up the side of a mountain

Katy and Cassie outside the conference site on the second day

The colorful cathedral in San Cristobal de las Casas

Eating pizza in the jungle

Me at the ruins of Palenque

More beautiful ruins

Dancing at the goodbye fiesta

Israel and I the goodbye fiesta

Me and my host family