Advertisement
Published: August 7th 2006
Edit Blog Post
Another week down!! I realize I'm over the half-way hump and will be home now in less than two weeks!! Yikes! I have so much more I want to absorb before returning to the US.
My school week last week was slightly different. The particular teacher that I had focused a bit more on cultural aspects and day-to-day type things, which was great, but I also realized that those dang Pronombres will keep returning to haunt me time and time again. So not having those down 100% was frustrating for me. However, Dave you'll be pleased...I requested (and finally got!!!) Rosanna for grammar this week. So I hope to conquer the pronombres this week.....
The weekend brought more travels. Saturday Anne, Gabe, and I got up really early and caught a bus to Taxco, an enchanting city about 1.5 hrs. from Cuernavaca known for its silver. The city felt very European to me with the white buildings with red-roof tiles rising no more than three stories above the street level. The cobblestone streets were narrow and jam-packed with cars, buses, and people. The “buses” there are old VW vans that make one question the trek up the hills, but
it’s well worth it because at the top of one of the big hills, in Plaza Borda, is the Iglesia de Santa Prisca. The pink church is one of the most impressive, and overwhelming, churches that I’ve seen here in Mexico. It holds 23 tons of golf leaf, has a massive 256-pipe organ, and is filled high with wooden saints leaning out from the altarpiece. Personally I found it to be a little excessive, but that’s just me. However, one cannot help but be impressed that it was constructed in only 7 years when most cathedrals of the time could have taken hundreds of years to build.
The three of us spent a few hours just wandering the streets, dodging in and out of silver shops and out of the way of the VW wans!! Quinny, you would have gone crazy there!!! The jewelry selection is like none I’ve ever seen before. I thought of you more and more with every pair of “large and in-charge earrings” that I saw!! :-)
Sunday we went with a group from the school to Xochicalco which means the “Place of the House of Flowers.” The city flourished between AD 700 and
Post Xochicalco
No, I'm not wearing a white tank top in this picture. Yikes!! 900. Located high in the hills, Xochicalco was powerful and known for its warriors. The civilization is considered a bridge between the Teotihuacán civilization (which disappeared abruptly in AD 700) and the Toltec civilization in Tula in the 10th century. The craziest part of it all is that the archaeological site, which covers 60 acres, wasn’t even discovered until the Mexican Revolution. Legend has it that General Emiliano Zapata noticed bullets ricocheting off the grassy hill that they were defending and upon further investigation, the “hill” turned out to be a buried pyramid. Hmmmm…I can’t even imagine just stumbling upon a pyramid that had just been sitting there all those years waiting to be discovered. And who knows what else is under there…of the 60 acres, most of it’s still unexcavated!!
The entire site was impressive, but I was most drawn to the ball courts. The warriors and nobility played the tough ball game on I-shaped courts whenever it seemed fit. It was an honor to get to play, but even a bigger honor to win. The winner was sacrificed for the God Quetzalcoatl, the Feathered Serpent. I watched a reenactment (a video) of the ball game in a history class a few years ago and have been intrigued ever since. The game is played with a basketball size rubber ball and a stone “hoop” that is attached to the sides of the court. I can’t even fathom playing the game, especially since one could only use one’s sides of the arms and legs. Ouch! When the ball came to a standstill or was hit through the hole, the winner was sacrificed. My 21st century perspective makes me think one would never want to win, but perhaps I would have felt differently if I had lived in Xochicalco in AD 800.
The views and the big fluffy clouds made our exploring so wonderful. However, since it had been kinda cloudy all last week and I hadn’t been on an “outdoorsy” type excursion in a bit, I failed to do one major thing: put on sunscreen. So as Anne and I were enjoying a delicious comida afterwards in an old Hacienda (now hotel) nearby, she informed me that my skin was getting “more and more alarmingly red” as I ate. Um, yeah. I’ve included a picture for effect. And dad, I know exactly what you’d say to me if we were face-to-face right now… :-)
Language school continues to be a new adventure every week. Every new week brings new students, new information, and new challenges. I feel I did a lot better last week in regards to speaking more Spanish outside of school. As always I spoke Spanish at home with my host family, but my new roommates and I only speak Spanish while at home, too, so that’s been helpful. I also watched a few movies this week, bought more music CDs, and played games like “Uno” and “Go Fish,” which taught me simple things like "Me toca" (my turn) and how to be playfully antagonistic in Spanish with my fellow players.
My teacher last week informed me of an event in Mexico´s history that I have never heard of and have not been able to stop thinking about since. In 1968, in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas in Mexico City, a horrible massacre took place. In response to violent and/or unfair acts against college students by the government, the students began to protest and strike fairly frequently in Mexico City. The replacement of the Mexican flag with the red and black strike flag in the zócalo was the straw that broke the camel´s back. On October 2, the government carried out their well orchestrated plan and began shooting at everyone in the plaza. For around 2 hours the shooting took place, killing many and injuring many more. The plaza was surrounded in various ways, trapping the victims (men, women, kids, everyone) there. One or two more shooting episodes followed throughout the night, including the invasion of surrounding apartments with orders to kill. By the next day hundreds had been murdered and many more students had been stripped of their clothes (and dignity) and hauled off to various prisons. And with the Olympic games coming to the city in only 9 more days, the bodies were quickly picked up and hauled off as if they were trash, leaving the plaza as clean as though nothing had happened.
Now at this point I should note two things. 1) I learned all this in Spanish, so it's quite possible that I'm lacking some details here and there. Feel free to google it to double check my facts. 2) I refer to the government orchestrating all this, which is true, but they certainly tried their best to cover it up. The President referred to the incident once as necessary to save the country, passing the strikes off as communist threats. However, he later tried to deny any connection all all. The men that actually did the dirty work all wore white gloves or handkerchiefs on their left hands. (I forgot the name of the group) They were linked to and protected by the government, so the whole event as easy to "cover up."
As horrific as the event was, I'm happy to have learned about it. Perhaps many Americans my parents age and older have heard of the event, but I fear I may have gone my whole life and not known about it if I hadn't come to language school. It just makes me appreciate again the opportunitty to really explore their country from the perspective of the Mexican people. It became apparent that the event continues to disgust many Mexicans today. And it's important for me to know that and understand that as I prepare to work in this country.
Finally, as always, "Things I learned last week":
--When one leaves their retainer in an (open!) case on the sink in the morning...one will find the mother of all roaches on top of it that night. Sitting. Waiting.
--I'm fair skinned. Sunscreen is a good thing.
--The word "hostel" doesn't translate so well into Spanish. My teacher told me I should stick with "hotel."
--I CAN dance!!!! Especially Salsa en línea.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.107s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 5; qc: 51; dbt: 0.0835s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Mom
non-member comment
You'll still be peeling when you arrive in Nogales!!!!!!