Schools out....

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Finished my third and final week of Spanish lessons last Friday and was actually sad that school had come to an end! Managed to have a couple of hour long conversations last week with the hotel owner and teachers and it was great to be able to chat with them when only three weeks ago I couldn't utter a word of Spanish. Don't get me wrong, I'm by no means fluent, my sentences were probably grammatically incorrect and I had to keep looking things up in a dictionary, but I was managing to get across what I was trying to and was understood (I think)! I also went into school one evening to chat to the Spanish students who were there taking evening classes in English. Their English was at about the same level as my Spanish, but we practiced with me asking questions in Spanish and them answering in English, and vice versa. Again it was very satisfying being able to do that. I'm worried that I'll forget everything I've learnt in an instant if I don't get to practice so I'm planning to buy some Spanish magazines and DVD's before I leave. School not only taught me another language but also gave me an insight into the Mexican way of life. Spending three weeks in one place allowed me to get a real feel of Guanajuato and I would highly recommend it as a place to visit.

It was 7am start on Saturday, as one of the teachers from school took a group of us to Mexico City for the weekend. It was a five hour drive before we arrived in Teotihuacan, Mexico's biggest ancient city. It's the site of two huge pyramids, known as Piramides del Sol y de la Luna (pyramids of the sun and the moon). I climbed both of them for views of the rest of the ruins, the largest had 248 steep steps and was pretty hard work, but was worth the effort. We spent most of the afternoon there before heading back to the centre of Mexico City. We stayed in Hotel Juarez which was really comfortable and cheap even though it was really well positioned and close to the Zocalo which is the main plaza in the Centro Historico. Sunday morning was spent sightseeing and visiting a local market to eat at a stall selling tostadas, really tasty local food. Yes I finally risked eating food from a stall and am glad to say that I didn't live to regret it that night! The rest of the group headed back to Guanajuato after that, however Jill and I stayed for an extra night as we had both finished school and didn't need to go back in that direction. Having read Lonely Planet's description, I had been apprehensive about visiting Mexico City, however I'm pleased to say that we didn't encounter any problems even when using the bus and metro. I actually preferred it to Guadalajara and felt more at ease.

Monday 1st was a bank holiday in Mexico and also a day for a massive street rally, not only in Mexico City but also in other major cities. I don't want to get stopped at immigration so I won't go into detail, but there was an amazing turn out and the streets were packed. Fortunately we were still able to get through the throngs of people and make it to the bus station in order to get the coach (yep ETN again!) to Morelia. Jill is staying here to study, but I've met back up with Maura from school and we're heading to Patzcuaro on Wednesday. Less than a week left in Mehico, then it's off to New York on Sunday......

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