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!