4 months later...

So, I suck the most at blogging. I would promise to be better, but would any of you really believe me? I will try and remember my latest travel adventures, starting with...
April: Holy Week in Acapulco...the highlight of this trip was getting to see some good old-fashioned witch doctoring. My novio's father has cancer and at the time was doing badly(he's doing very well now, for the record) and the father's sister was convinced somebody was putting the mojo on him. Her belief was furthered by some local wizard telling her that he had found a voodoo doll in a house formerly owned by the father and occupied by one of his paramours. Riiight. So these guys wanted a cool thousand to cleanse Jesus's dad's spirit. We decided to go and check out how bona fide they were...flash forward to the house...covered in a confusing mixture of crucifixes and Santa Muerte(St. Death) paraphernalia. Lots of votives for love, success, vendettas, etc. with the names of people taped them. We asked them to read the cards so we could see if they were at least good showmen, if not actual wizards. None of the above. The reading consisted of 10 minutes of, "Umm. Mmmmhmmm. Oooo. Yes, much success for you." I would have fallen asleep if the incense hadn't been suffocating me. So our vote was no, but the aunt was convinced the wizards had cured her gout...so it was off to find a black rooster. We managed to pick this up, along with various essential("stinky") herbs for the cleansing ceremony. The main part of the ceremony was to be the burning of the supposed voodoo doll, which had been a bone of contention. The wizards said they had found the doll in Jesus's dad's house, but wouldn't let anybody see if for a few days, giving them ample time to make a nice mud doll with metal shards in its stomach, just where Jesus´s dad´s cancer is! Oh, it muust be real! Wank. So we all went back to the house, where we burned the mud doll and the wizard dudes killed the poor rooster. They had told Jesus they wouldn't charge him if it didn't work, but then when we dropped them off they wanted all the money. Jesus said he would give them a part of it, but they became offended and wouldn't accept. The great part is that despite the fact that throughout the process Jesus and I had been scoffing at the obvious lack of power or creativity of the wizards...the next day Jesus was itchy and was convinced the witches had cursed him for not paying them.
June: Vacation to the USA: This was a very chilled out vacation. I just want to mention that the first words said to me after I crossed over from Tijuana were, "Heey man, you wanna buy some stuff?"
August: Patzcuaro, Ixtapa and Acapulco: Not beach, beach, beach. For anybody in the know, Patzcuaro is across from the island of Janitzio, where Day of the Dead is muy importante(http://www.worldhum.com/weblog/item/when_tourists_attack_20050811/). We didn't cross over, but the town is really pretty. One day when I am able to download things from my camera I will post pictures. From there we headed on to Ixtapa, Guerrero. Spandaroo. It's a nice beach town, a zillion times smaller than Acapulco, and thus much cleaner and more relaxing. I saw much interesting wild life including crocodiles, iguanas and a dead puffer fish. I was really excited about the puffer fish...I've never seen one in real life. From there we went to ACA. The highway is purty, reminiscent of Highway 1 in California and we stopped lots of times in small beach towns. I got my first taste of the third-world parts of Mexico on this trip. Some of the towns we crossed through survive entirely because of coconuts. They make coconut oil, sell coconuts to passing cars, and make houses out of coconut shells. So, um, put down that new Ipod 60 GB and buy some freakin coconuts, ok? We didn't do much in Acapulco, just hung out on the beach and tried not get in the middle of any beheadings.(http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/06/30/world/main1770624.shtml?source=RSS&attr=World_1770624). And now I'm back in the Queretaro...yeah, that's kind of boring. The kiddies go back to school next week soI will be knee-deep in Koreans, but that will allow me to save enough money to see more of Mexico. Next on the travel menu are Mexico City Part II, Morelia and Oaxaca.

She Blogs, She Blogs

Oh yes, she does. So here I will tell about my travels during the last few months. Money has been a bit tight of late, so I've been travelling to places within the state.
March 21st is the first day of spring and also the birthday of Mexico's most beloved president, Benito Juarez. Mexicans traditionally "take energies" on this day for the equinox, either going to Bernal, where there is a large monolith, or outside of D.F. where there are some pyramids. Bernal is about 45 minutes outside of Queretaro, so off to Bernal it was. We got there about noonish and it was packed. It took us about an hour to get through the throng in the town and up to the bottom of the monolith. There we stopped, watched the imitation Aztec dancers, who were thoroughly lacking in rhythm, and then decided to try to conquer the mountainlith. It was hot. So hot. I ate five popsicles on the way up and five on the way down. They have these popsicle venders-cum-mountain goats all over the places screaming "p-p-p-p-paleeeeetaaaaaaaas!"(p-p-p-p-pooooooopsiiiiiiicles!) They were tasty. Anyhoo, we made it about half way up the peak and then flopped down to "take the energies" i.e. get sunburned and dusty. Then we went back down. Jesus was thinking about getting his soul cleansed by a guru with quartz and incense but reconsidered after unceaseless mocking on my part. I liked Bernal, the monolith is snazzy and it has the best gorditas I've tasted yet.
Sunday we went to Tequisquiapan. Tequis is only about 20 minutes away but it has taken me this long to learn to pronounce it, and I refused to go until I could say the name of the city(Teh key SkYEH pan). Very charming AND it has HORSES. We paid 80 pesos(about 7 bucks) an hour to ride all around a farm. It was great. I went so fast on my horse I thought for sure I would die. I did, however, refrain from making it jump any logs or going in the river (that's for you, Mom). My horse was very temperamental but was much nicer to me after I dropped my t-shirt on the ground and it weed on it. Apparently that made us even. Anyway, it was grand, though my knees and elbows are huge bruises and you never can quite get all the horsey smell out of your Pumas.

Tomorrow is the last day of work before Semana Santa and then I'm off to Mexico City and Acapulco...so there will be more blogs soon. Happy Bunnies and Resurrections to all. (Pictures: Monolith, Bernal, Queretaro. Centro, Tequisquiapan, Queretaro)

Oh the funny

So, I apologize for having a "Kids say the Darndest Things" moment but I wanted to share a few things from my Korean boys. I asked the older one to write five questions he would like to ask President Vicente Fox. Here are his questions (I edited them for purposes of comprehension.)
Yong's Questions for Vicente Fox
1. Why does everyone here eat tacos?
2. Why is everything cheap?
3. Why doesn't the U.S. take Mexico(so I can speak English)?
4. How many kilometers long is Mexico?
5. Why are the mobile phones here so bad?

These poor kids really, really want to go back to Korea. I spend half the time trying to convince them that Mexico is not the deepest pit in hell. Next, haiku time! So, I taught another student about haikus and asked him to write one. "Min su" is another of my students, an eight year old girl, and her brother is "Min u."

Wook's Haiku, entitled Min u Min su:
Min u silly boy.
Min su very silly girl.
Min u-Su silly.

Awesome.

D.F.

February travel adventure numero 2: Mexico City, or D.F.(Just like how we say D.C. in lieu of Washington). So I went to the capital this past weekend with a friend who is from there. I liked D. F. a lot, and I thought the people were pretty cool, despite the fact that everybody told me, "Oh nooooooo! Don't go to Mexico City, you'll dieeeeeee." Whatever, Zappo. So we got there Saturday morning, dropped our stuff off at Ingrid's house and went to the Zocalo, the center of the city and home to very large goverment buildings, alongside Aztec ruins. Then we went crazy market shopping. We went to the Mercado de la Ciudadela, which was normal, and then to the Mercado de Sonora, the witchcraft and animal market. Ooo, it was weird. Worth it though. They sell all sorts of crazy stuff, from soap guaranteed to bring you love or money to goats and gutted frogs to powders claiming to end alcoholism, silence those who talk behind your back or make your spouse do your bidding. We bought some powders because they were funny and a love amulet a friend had asked us to bring her. We didn't know that a love amulet in the Mercado de Sonora consists of a hummingbird with stones crammed in it put into a velvet drawstring bag. Blech. On Sunday we went to Coyoacan, beautiful artsy part of town, and visited the houses of Frida and Diego Rivera. In the afternoon we went to Xochimilco, where you ride around on gaudily colored skiffs and drink and listen to the mariachi bands. Everything in D.F. is cheap and there is an endless amount of things to do. Granted I was with a mexiquense girl and we weren't ambling around at night, but I didn't think it was that dangerous. No more so than New York or D.C. I mean, I wouldn't skip around in Harlem or Southeast either. So yes, thumbs up for Mexico City. (Pictures: Palacio Nacional:Zocalo, Xochimilco, Frida and Diego's house in Coyoacan.)

Guanajuato

Ok, so I've been doing some travelling this month. The first weekend of the month I went to Guanajuato, the capital of the state of Guanajuato, neighbor to the state I live in, Queretaro. Every fall Guanajuato hosts the Cervantes Festival (El Cervantino), as the city's patron/mascot/thingy is Cervantes, of Don Quixote fame. SO, there is a lot of Quixote stuff, including a snazzy statue at the entrance to the city and the Museo Iconografico Cervantino, which has statues, paintings and all kinds of other weird art dedicated to Cervantes and Quixote. The city itself is beautiful, almost every part of it looks like it`s out of a museum and it has a very European feel. It was originally a big mining area and for this reason the city has two levels; the aboveground, and the former mines, which have been turned into streets. My Mexican friends in the US were always telling me that I had to go to Guanajuato to see the Mummy Museum. Well, long story short, due to a disagreement between the government and the tourist center of Guanjauato, the tour buses won't take anyone to see the Mummy Museum, even though they say the will. Grrrrr. They aren't mummies like Egyptian mummies, they are just well-preserved regular people. There is something wacky about the mining soil, and it slows down the decaying process. Anyway, I didn't get to go, but I really liked Guanajuato, despite not getting to pay 10 dollars to see dead people. The city makes one feel very artsy, and I am considering renouncing teaching to go to Guanajuato and be snooty and paint. (Pictures, view of Guanajuato from El Pipila statue, Callejon del Beso.)

Mexican Ice Age

Here is a poem about my day..
Where are my hands?
I can't feel my hands!
WHY does the bus smell like cat vomit and feet?

Thank you, thank you. It's friggin freezing in Queretaro right now. Granted, it gets a lot colder than 25 degrees in the States, but there's no heat here. When I'm in my apartment I am fully dressed for a snowball fight. My beta is very depressed. I have been told by several people that the only thing to do is drink tequila. Hmm, that smacks of propaganda to me.

Mexican New Year

So this year I rang in New Year's the Mexican way. Traditionally, New Year's has consisted of me and a gaggle of friends getting very smashed. This year looked to be different. Having been totally lazy all week and deciding at the last minute not to go to Acapulco, Jesus and I had no food and no plans. Considering this, things worked out pretty well. We ended up eating at a friend's house. They really are big on family here, and both on Christmas and New Year's I attended big family dinner dos. We had turkey and salad and some weird congealed milk thing with honey for dessert. It was actually very tasty. At midnight you eat twelve grapes(I'm used to twelve apple pieces with honey) and they have a tradition where you have to walk in and out of the front door with a suitcase so that you will do a lot of travelling in the new year. I stuck my head out a bit past midnight and all up and down the block people were running in and out of their front doors. Very amusing. I declined to participate, seeing as I'm actually hoping to stay in one place for more than a few months, for a change. Seeing my confusement/amusement, a very old Mexican man asked me, "You don't have traditions in the USA, do you?" It wasn't worth contradicting him. Why? Because people over 95, no matter the race or nationality, are generally just very cranky and confused. After the family do we collected people and ended up at a bar with a really good band and rocked out til 6am. Needless to say, Sunday I did nothing except drink copious amounts of water. I don't drink very much anymore, and my body has lost the ability it had in college to spring back from such alcholic sprees. It was still very fun, though, and today I have been Mexico-ing it up for exactly 3 months.

Pirate Christmas

I have been told this blog is not piratey enough. You asked for it. So I went to Acapulco ARRRRRRRRRRRRR for Christmas and it was ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRResome. I actually did go to a pirate bar called Barbaroja (Redbeard) on Christmas eve. According to Acapulcan custom, my left leg was removed and replaced with part of a palm tree. I was then made to walk the plank in order to determine whether or not I was worthy of having a go at the Christmas piñata. Needless to say, I was, and successfully used my pegleg to burst open the paper star and shower candy on all the children and parrots present. There was much rejoicing. Now I am in Queretaro and have only eaten chocolate all week. I win.

Acapulco Nights

Wow. Watch me actually write a post on this thing. So...last weekend I went to Acapulco. It was both very awesome and very vomitastic. We took the night bus from Queretaro and got into Aca at 5:45 and walked straight from the bus station to the beach to watch the sun rise. It's very pretty because the bay is in the shape of a horseshoe and you are surrounded on all sides by lights, except for the mouth, which is the ocean. I felt very at home, what with all port towns having some sort of similar feel to them. After the sunrise we went to watch Jesus's little nephew's semi-final soccer game, and played street soccer with some little kids afterwards. One of the little kids was convinced, for unknown reasons, that I was from China. Hmm. Soccer is better than geography, anyway. This may be cruel, but I have found that there is nothing funnier than an extremely obese little Mexican boy trying to play soccer. Ok, that is cruel, but so is life. It was hilarious. All the parents would scream, "Gordito! Gordito!(little fatty)" and he would just run pell-mell at whatever was coming toward him and usually fall down and then just sit blinking up at the sky, as if to say, "Why, God? Why is it required of all Mexicans to play soccer?". They should definitely find an American football league for him to play in. After that we ate some food and got ready to go to a wedding. This is where I started to vomit, and it continued through the rest of the night, as God's way of punishing me for laughing at the chubby Mexican boy. Fun. The next day we went to the beach, and it was a big change from San Diego as the water was a) warm and b) not full of jelly fish or garbage and disease from the Tijuana river. Acapulco 1, San Diego 0. Then we ran around trying to see some of the sights before hopping the 10:30 bus back to Queretaro. We got in at 6:30am and I went to work at 6:45. Needless to say, it is a little hard being back in cold, worktastic Queretaro after the relative laziness of Acapulco. But, it's ok. Nine more days and I'll be back in San Diego for 5 days, then back to Aca for the holidays. And the Mexican adventure continues: 2 months, 1 week and counting...