Mariposas

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“Que no caigan en la bajada, ni en la subida del camino. Que no encuentren obstaculos, ni detras ni delante de ellos, ni cosa que los golpee. Concedeles buenos caminos, hermosos caminos planos.” - Popol-Vuh

So occasionally I wonder what am I doing here? I have my moments where I just want to reject everything about my current situation. The next day I love everything about where I am or the place that I am visiting. It is funny because Cholula has become the place that I can consider home. I was away for 8 days of 10 last week (it was not spring break, just a normal week in Mexico) and I was looking forward to being back in my Mexican house. As I think back to the first two weeks and how I thought I would never be comfortable here, I am planning my return trip, ha! When things like this happen, it reaffirms my capability to make it through a difficult time and come out all right. It is silly to think that life should always be a piece of cake, life should always include a piece of cake, but it is important to remember that it is the difficult times that help us grow. The greatest feeling is being able to look back on difficult point in life and be thankful that it happened, because if it hadn’t, you would not be the person that you are today.

Over the past few weeks I have been in and out of my head, stressing about what I am going to do with my life. Right now I kind of feel like laughing at myself, because who am I to think I deserve to know where I am going to be tomorrow. I am pretty sure no one knows what tomorrow is going to bring. Either way I decided it might be a good idea to leave it up to the all knowing, if such a thing exists. I have to believe that there is a plan out there for me and I just need to continue following my path, of course asking the appropriate questions when necessary. I have also found that it is always the things that I do not plan or try to determine what they are going to be like, that always turn out to be the best. So all and all I am here in Mexico to do just that, be in Mexico and while I am here I will enjoy myself as much as I possibly can, because I am pretty sure that at this point in my life this is where I am supposed to be.

Okay, since I know you have all been dying to know where I have been and what I have been up to the past few days, I am finally going to tell you. I will try to keep it as simple and straight as possible but because I have had two full weekends of travel and a bunch of other crazy stuff in between, I apologize in advance if it does not make sense. First before I go back two weekends, I just have to say that after tomorrow I will be completely finished with three of my classes, haha, love it. I will not have class again that I am being graded on until after my spring break! However, I think I am going to go to the Center for International Studies and find out about some real Mexican business classes and see if I can go sit in on them, really just to see if I can understand what is going on and see what they are learning.

Okay so last weekend, not this past weekend, the one before that, I was in Valle de Bravo, Morelia, and Pátzcuaro. We left Cholula at 5 a.m. on Friday to go to Valle de Bravo. I found this place in my book and from the picture it looked like a really different and nice place to visit. Valle de Bravo is a town made up of white buildings with orange-tiled roofs and I thought it would be awesome to see a part of Mexico that was so different from anywhere we have been yet. This was not a university-affiliated trip, so we did not have any mandatory meetings or tours, which was kind of nice. When we got there Emily and I decided to explore the town and surrounding area. First we wandered through this great market with all types of fresh fruits and vegetables and other random things and ended up in the zócolo (which you all better know by now that every Mexican city/town has one). We wound our way down to this big man-made lake on skinny, cobble-stoned streets. Down by the lake there were several men waiting around trying to find people to rent sailboats, motorboats, and other water equipment for the lake. We wandered a little further and found an adorable garden where they were selling fresh flowers out front. We finally made our way back up to the center of town and met up with the group that was eating lunch. After lunch we changed into bathing suits and rented a boat to take us on a tour of the lake. At the time we thought there would be a beach where we could play soccer, swim, and relax, but really that does not exist on this lake. If you are going here and want to be able to swim (it is definitely a swimmable lake and there were tons of people waterskiing), you should probably find a hotel that is right on the lake. Our boat driver let some people jump into the water and swim; however, it was too cold for me. Another group of people rented a sailboat and sailed around the lake, which I really wanted to do, but I was too slow getting down to join them. After we got back from our boat ride, Lindsay and I found a restaurant with a patio and we sat out there and enjoyed fruit salads while we read, talked, and wrote in our journals. Later I met up with Nick, who had been sailing, and we wandered further around the town. We came across a cool little town festival and some club for sailors that was really nice. It was funny because right before we found the club we passed a bathroom that said “Public WC” and I thought maybe I should go, but I peered in and was pretty sure I could hold it for a while. Then we came across this club and they had a gorgeous bathroom, floor to ceiling in marble with nice dark wood doors and I was SOOOO glad I waited. We then walked down this street with nice shops and I could tell that this was a weekend hang out for the wealthy of Mexico City. The end of that street brought us back to the zócolo, where we got some malteadas (chocolate milkshakes) before heading back to the hotel. Nick, Meagan, Alyssa, and I went out for dinner at this rustic pizza place (boring and American, I know), but I was pretty good. After we just met up with the rest of group at the hotel and hung out for the evening. I am pretty sure it was here that I got the worst sleep of the whole trip thus far, I kept telling everyone that the springs of the bed were attacking me!

The next day Ted, Nick, Alyssa, and I got up at like 6 a.m. to climb to the top of this rock face that over looked the whole town and lake. Here we took a lot of pictures (I will put them up when I get them from Nick) and watched the sun come up and immediately head behind some clouds. Either way it was a fairly nice walk and a great view so I was glad I got up, plus I wasn’t sleeping in the bed, as it wouldn’t let me. After the hike, Nick, Alyssa, and I found a cute place for pancakes in a restaurant of a hostel. It took us a while to find a place because nothing opened until like 10 and we were looking at 8:50 for a place for breakfast. This is definitely not an early rising sort of town. We got an extra waffle too because they did not think my pancakes were fluffy enough, which I can assure you they were, but I was not about to refuse free food. On our way back to the hotel we stopped in the market and bought glorious strawberries. I hadn’t had any berries here until that day; we rinsed them with some bottled water and crossed our fingers that we wouldn’t get sick. Not only did we not get sick, but also they were amazing, perfectly ripe, crimson red and juicy; a great way to complete our breakfast. We got on the bus and headed down to a waterfall and then to see the mariposas (butterflies). I need to say here that the bus could fit 17 people and we had 16 people, so it was not always the most comfortable ride, especially since we are used to huge coach buses for 16 people. The waterfall was beautiful; a couple of us ran down the dirt mountain to get up close and personal with the waterfall. However, none of us got as close as Ted, who stripped down to his boxers and jumped in. I think we all would have gotten in if we had bathing suits and a change of clothes. After that we found a place to see the mariposas (for some reason I cannot call them butterflies) that was run by an indigenous group of people. About seven of us girls decided to take horses up to the top and it was definitely the best decision we could have made. It was another dirt/sand mountain and everyone who walked was black by the time we made it back to the bus. When we got to the top you could go into this touristy area to see the mariposas, but the people took us through the woods right up under the trees so we got to be really up close and personal with the butterflies. It felt surreal, like I was in the enchanted forest. I really wanted to see the mariposas, but at the same time in my head I was questioning how great it was really going to be, and it turned out to be way better than I pictured. It is a definite must to add to your list. When we got back to the bus we had lost the twins and our TA Courie, and it turned out they had walked the wrong way up the road when they came off the trail; a couple of indigenous men found them walking along the road and brought them back to us in the back of their truck. After that we headed directly to Morelia, where we all just went to sleep early so we could get up and spend the day exploring.

Morelia was a colonial Mexican city much like many of the others we have visited thus far. It is the capital of Michoacán, or the state that sits to the west of Disticto Federal or DF (Mexican’s way of saying Mexico City). Morelia was founded in the 1500s and was first settled by Spanish nobility and religious orders. There are many cathedrals and churches throughout the city. Like all others there is a main zócolo, where we headed first to quaint and popular café called Café Catedral. Here we people watched, had pancakes, and drank the best malteadas yet. After that Lindsay, Alyssa and I just wandered the streets, in and out of shops, as we made our way down to the aqueduct. We then headed back to the hotel to pack and went to lunch. After lunch, Caitlin, Wendy, Meagan, and I got food supplies for the next two days (peanut butter, bread, nutella, and jelly), and wandered around a market looking for bootleg DVDs to watch on our bus ride. We later got more malteadas to go and headed back to catch the bus to Pátzcuaro. On our way we stopped in U***** (cant remember the name right now), but it was so great. We stopped because some people wanted to get guitars and they make them and sell them here for really reasonable prices. This place had a lot of people walking around, a lot of energy, and adorable shops; obviously a lot of woodwork since that is what the town is known for. Honestly, I would recommend that people go here and skip Pátzcuaro all together and it is really sad that the town did not even make it into either of my guide books. Also on our way we watch the movie 21 and if you have not seen it I suggest watching it, it was pretty good. We actually got to Pátzcuaro before it was over and all 16 of us stayed on the bus watching it in the parking lot for 20 minutes.

The next morning a bunch of people got up early to go for another hike to over look the lake here, but I realized that I was not going to get to sleep in for another 15 days and decided the hike was not worth two extra hours of sleep. That morning we took a boat ride to Isla Janitzio. This was an island on Lake Pátzcuaro made up of indigenous people. Here we climbed to the top where you could see the other islands on the lake. Here we were all talking and discussing how strange it would be to us to be born and die on this island, when we know so much about the outside world. But if you never knew what existed outside of your island you would have no reason to leave and explore, because you wouldn’t know how much is out there. Either way it was an interesting place to see, but if you never made it here, I don’t think you would be missing that much. The rest of the day we were on the bus headed back to Cholula. When we got back all I could think about was fruits and vegetables since I had lived the past two days on peanut butter and nutella. On the bus we watched 7 Pounds. I know it is probably not out yet on DVD in the U.S. because we got a bootleg version, but when it comes out it is another movie I recommend checking out.

We had two days before we had to repack our bags and head out to Mexico City. To clarify we got back from Pátzcuaro on Monday night and we left early Thursday morning to go to Mexico City. On Tuesday I went with Nick and a Canadian friend down to the zócolo here in Cholula to meet with a group of seven Mexicans that want to learn English. We went to a great café and had coffee and just talked in Spanglish over all different topics for 2 hours. It is something they do every Tuesday so I am going to try to go every other Tuesday. I am not going tonight because I had some serious blogging to do and I have a final exam tomorrow (which I am not studying for obviously). Tuesday was Caitlin’s birthday, but she had a paper and presentation due on Wednesday, so we went out to Container City Wednesday night to celebrate. Container City is an area of town that is 15 or 20 train cars just randomly placed in Cholula with bars, restaurants, and shops in them. It is a neat and different place. After Container City I headed home; there is a limited period of time in which I actually feel like going out dancing and once it hit 12 a.m. and we were still in the bar, I decided to retire for the night. So anyways that catches you up to Wednesday last week. Stay posted for my Mexico City update. I will let you know that I really enjoyed it!

Also, you will have to forgive me if my writing is slowly heading down hill. I am getting closer and closer to a place where I cannot speak, think, or write properly in any language. I certainly cannot spell anything anymore. This is supposed to be a good thing; this is supposed to mean that my Spanish is getting better, but we will all have to hold on to find out if that is the case. I do feel like I am getting more comfortable talking with my family and a few other people, but I also notice that I have my good hours and my bad hours. Today I came home frustrated with someone at school (we have been having issues planning our spring break) and I was definitely able to express myself and explain why I was so annoyed, which is kind of an accomplishment in my book. It is funny when you begin something completely new what constitutes as an accomplishment. However, on the opposite end of the spectrum, last night I did not talk a lot in the car with my host mom because I just could not form a sentence properly. My biggest problem is having such a small vocabulary; it is really difficult to express yourself with a vocabulary that is 1/200th of the vocabulary in your normal language. Of course that is not my only problem, but I feel like it is the one that frustrates me the most. The good thing is that I am learning so much vocabulary everyday. Another good thing is that no matter whether I am having a good communication day or a bad one I am always getting better at understanding conversations and I have not only become accustomed to hearing Spanish all the time, but I can actually pick up pieces of peoples conversations.

P.S. Another congratulations to my cousin Caitlin who just got engaged! I am so excited for you. Can’t wait to actually meet the fiancé, Pat!

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Comments

[mom]

pictures of you
all the pictures and everything are great, but can we get some more of your friends, family and home. and YOU. please.