Why does the airplane play baseball?

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Sometimes life throws up some interesting philosophical questions. The other day when i was working, one of my favourite patients (yes i know i shouldn't have favourites and all that, but the ones that don't scream, bite or try to pull out my hair generally endear themselves more to me than those who do....) was sporting a tshirt, which, no word of a lie, has had me puzzled ever since. All that was written on his t shirt was the question..."why does the airplane play baseball?" i turned jonathan around and upside down in search of the answer hidden somewhere else on his shirt, but my search was fruitless. if anyone would like to enlighten me, please do not hesitate, as i am baffled.

Anyway, it has been a long time since i last wrote anything. this is mainly due to the fact that my life for 3 weeks became crazy busy as i took on some of Bety's English classes as she went to Taiwan and Japan for 3 weeks. I thought it would be a good idea at the time, gaining some experience in teaching and all that, but having to go to work in the mornings, rush back home for lunch, plan my lessons then teach until 7 in the evening was a little bit much. I quite enjoyed the teaching aspect, although I have discovered that my knowledge of English grammar is pretty bad and I think its safe to say that it was virtually impossible to explain it in Spanish.

So what else have I done? At the end of October/start of November I went to visit Cascadas de Chiflon - some waterfalls near a small town called Comitan. I think we picked an interesting time to go, mainly due to the fact that the state of Chiapas had been experiencing an astronomical amount of rain, so when we got there it was a little bit concerning to see all the picnic tables semi-submerged in a torrent of what can only be described as choco-milk. We attempted to climb up to some of the view points, but we only got so far before we were being drenched in spray coming off the waterfalls. Apparently the waterfall is normally a lovely shade of turquoise so I guess i'll have to go back when there is less water. Hmmm, how ironic. Anyway we also stopped in Comitan, which was a nice little town, although one of the guys we were with thought we ought to get to know every single church in the town. Now it doesn't take a genius to work out that in a catholic country there are a lot of churches, which after the first few all look identical. I was also hungry and soaked from the waterfall encounter so I trudged around a bit like a grumpy 10 year old who, while on holiday, has been told by their parents that they must do cultural things rather than play on the beach and swim in the sea. Except I didn't throw a tantrum and stamp my feet. That would be childish.

After a few very low-key weekends which involved nothing more than lying in a hammock and watching back-to-back episodes of CSI, House and Project runway (who said my life isn't exciting?) I headed out to Villaflores to visit the 3 other volunteers who are living and teaching English out there. It is only about 70km away from Tuxtla, but it is fair to say it is pretty different from life as I know it here. The abundance of cowboys, cows and all things cow related was striking. A lot of people look at me like a crazy person when I say I like Villaflores, but I guess it has a certain charm. Everybody knows everybody it is surrounded by beautiful mountains and most importantly it is quiet. You can actually hear nothing. Perfect. So we didn't do much that weekend in VF, the boys are taking dance classes, which I was allowed to sit in on and watch. It was pretty amusing, watching a German and American (somewhat clumsily at times) dance salsa, rock and roll, merengue and disco, with some rather afraid looking Mexican girls. On the Sunday we went to the dance teachers house and painted costumes and ate a delicious lunch. It is fair to say that I put of getting on a bus back to tuxtla for as long as possible. They have a pretty nice life in Villaflores.

So the following weekend, we finally got round to going to el Sumidero. A huge canon and river a 10 minute bus ride out of tuxtla. I went with Rafa and an American called Alec who is is also here studying. We took a boat ride through the Canon, before stopping off at an ”Eco-park” where we saw 2 Jaguares, a Puma (which Rafa tried to stroke… I really worry about that boy) a monkey and a toucan (see photo…) then we swam in a lovely pool overlooking the canon. It was a really lovely day. The canon is immense, and at times I felt like I was actually a hobbit/elf princess in lord of the rings. Unbelievable beautiful… I hope my photos do it justice.

Wow, so that brings us up to last weekend, where I returned to Villaflores (could become my second home in the country) The boys had been asked to dance in a XV años. A 15th birthday party, which is the most important birthday for young people here. I guess like a sweet 16 in America. It is like a rite of passage for girls here, who wear the obligatory pink ballgown and generally get treated like a princess for the night. So the boys had been asked to be Chambalins (sp?!) essentially serenading dancing boys, who in turn dance with the birthday girl to a variety of different dances. In the morning they had a practice and as the girl couldn't make it I got to stand in and be a princess for the morning, dancing with all the boys who are surprisingly good dancers. I was thrown in at the deep-end as I had to somehow pick up salsa, mambo, merengue, quebradita and other random dances as I was being thrown around the dancefloor. It was all good fun though and it was good practice for the evening, when I knew there would be plenty more dancing. So the evening came and we all piled into Maestra Salli's car (all 15 of us…don't ask) and headed out to the party. The boys did themselves proud and danced up a storm and after the food and a few beers (essential obviously) I headed out onto the dancefloor. Salli was matchmaking me with various partners (all of which were incredible dancers) and I danced the night away. It was awesome, and infinitely more preferable to going out to a club. I'm almost tempted to take up some dancing lessons here. Salli told me I could come to Villaflores every Friday for lessons, but that would be feeding my obsession a little too much, to the point where I may just end up staying.

So I guess that is my life pretty much upto date. I've actually been a bit poorly the last week with a chest infection, which is hopefully clearing up now, which is why some of this will read like its a few weeks out of date! I had my first experience of a Mexican doctor which was terrifying as he had absolutely no bedside manner whatsoever and shouted commands at me in broken English, even though i had explained pretty fluently what was wrong with me in Spanish! In the end he went for the standard drug "ém up to the eyeballs"approach which is so common here in Mexico, but it seems to be working so i shouldn't complain i guess?! Only a few other slightly strange events and surreal moments this month. My favourite was walking round villaflores, being the only pale and pasty girl in the village, carrying a pink balloon dog (sometimes its best not to ask) and being followed by shouts of ¡ay Guerra! (interestingly Guerra means blonde, but it generally applies to anyone who is blatently foreign and of pale skin). Oh and being told by an old man on the combi that I will be deaf by the time I am 40, because I listen to my MP3 too much. I wish wish wish I could argue better in Spanish. Maybe that should be my mission for the month?!

So its nearly Christmas, and I doubt I will write another blog before then. I have plans (haha) to go to Guatamala, the beach and various other sites in Chiapas, but how many of them will be realized is something I cannot predict. But I will finish here and wish you a very happy Christmas and new year. I'll be thinking of you all.

Lots of love

Nic xxx

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Photos

Halloween
Kari, Erick, Lupita, Maria, Scary devil boy, Anita and Jasmin when we went trick or treating!

Sumidero
Rafa, Me and Alec

Sumidero
The pool at the parque.