Lights, Camera, Action!

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Running a little late to breakfast we didn't have time to eat breakfast at the hotel's restaurant so we ran to the lobby to make sure we didn't miss the bus. Expecting to have to reenact a cliche scene from a movie -the one where the main character runs after the bus and never actually catches it -it was a surprise to see that everyone was hanging out in the front lobby. In addition to seeing the rest of our group, we also saw some suspicious characters; and by suspicious we mean there was a camera (the kind reporters use) and a couple of people talking with our professor, whom we have never seen before.

Upon being told that we still had some time before we were heading out we decided to head out and buy breakfast. Heading out of the hotel and to the right was an OXXO, but we didn't really want a bag of chips for breakfast, so we headed out of the hotel and went to the left. We passed by a cute little cafe, which unfortunately at the time wasn't open, but kept walking to the end of the street where we discovered a vendor that sold tamales; four kinds: a chicken with either salsa roja or salsa verde, and a strawberry or pineapple. I opted for the chicken with salsa verde and strawberry. This goes without saying but they were delicious!

Returning back to the hotel, the reporters were still there as with everyone else from our group. A few more people decided to go buy tamales and then finally among all of the chatter and side conversations within our group the professor summoned our attention and enlightened us on the purpose of the reporters. Apparently they wanted to snap a couple pictures and tag along throughout the day so they could get some video of us 'in action' and possibly get an interview. Very exciting. First order of business was to snap a picture of us in the front lobby; nothing better than a tired morning picture!

* here is the link to the article they ended up writing on us! http://pulsored.com.mx/web/?p=4020 *

*And here is the link to the news story that aired on TV! http://www.sndigital.mx/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=26912&catid=43&Itemid=75 *



After snapping a few pictures, because you can't snap just one, we loaded up everyone on the bus and began our day. It was kind of cool though, the elections were going on this morning and because of the tension there was two body guards of sorts, or security guards, that were also going to come along with us just in case something happened (nothing did end up happening though).

Today's focus was textiles! We first went to go see how one group of men make woven blankets -the kind that you usually see someone bring home from Mexico. From start to finish we got to see how they did it; it was so cool!

side note: I need to think of another word for cool because it's becoming apparent that I overuse the word...

first they showed us how they died the thread with the different colors, my favorite one was the red color. The red color came from a bug (it's starts with a 'c' I think) that is found largely on cactus plants; the bug itself looks white/clear, however, when you squish it the bug turns becomes pulverized and turns into a vibrant red color. The blue color was also extremely interesting; it is the hardest color to dye and dyeing blue traditionally is becoming less and less common because of the complexity of the steps, among other issues. In one of the steps they steep the wool with the indigo dye and hot water; this was by far my least favorite, the smell was indescribably horrid. I definitely opted out of checking out the wool when the steeping indigo dye and wool came around.

Next they showed us how they weave it all together on the humongous loom that takes up the entire room. This was particularly interesting to see, especially once you saw the finished product and then tried to go back to the loom room and figure out how in the heck they did it! Pure skill!

Naturally we wanted to buy some of the textile work so we boarded the bus and went to their shop. After doing some shopping -and trying the most delicious pizza I have ever had, courtesy of one of the guys in our group who went off by himself to grab something to eat -we traveled to our next destination.

The bus traveled down a bumpy road and stopped beside a home nestled in between the brick wall that lined the street. Inside the home revealed a small front area that resembled that of a shop. It had a counter to the right of the room which held an old school cash register, a little stand with business cards, and a small collection of his work.

Trying to fit all of us into the front room proved to be a smidge difficult; but we did it.

This man who had been making these masks for the huehue's for decades is incredible; he passed around one of his pieces of art and boy, was it a sight to see! The mask was so life-like, it was actually quite scary. One of my friends put on the mask and used her hair to cover the part where the mask met her face; when we took her picture you could barely tell it was a mask that she had on... she just looked as if she had had some work done haha.

Our next visit was to the workshop of a family of wood carvers. Upstairs of their workshop is where they shaped the wood, carved it, and if they were putting extra detail they would bring out the wood burner. Downstairs was full of all the different pieces of work they have created. Each and every piece they created was a masterpiece; there was so much attention to detail and so much passion put into the work, it really came through and created some fantastic pieces!

By the time we got done at the wood carving place we began to make our way over to a friend of Yolanda's to eat lunch. Lunch consisted of lots of tortillas, chicken with pumpkin mole and rice, and of course no meal would be complete without corona and agave tequila. One of the greatest things I love about food culture in Mexico is that you don't need a knife and fork, you can use your hands and get messy; it's socially acceptable. And for the record, tortillas make for great cutlery.

Tonight was the last night in Tlaxcala, and there wasn't a whole lot to do as the bars and such were still shut down due to the elections so we couldn't even go dancing. Everyone did there own thing tonight, some went for a late swim, while a few others crowded into our hotel room to catch up on journals and watch the tv segment that featured our group!! It was so neat -and slightly awkward -seeing ourselves on tv, my one friend even got interviewed! So cool!!

Later that evening my friend and I decided to go find some food to eat, we wanted to find some tacos. It took us a surprisingly long time to find anything, most everything was closed as it was past 11pm. Outside an Oxxo we located a vendor selling tamales, yes, it wasn't the infamous street tacos that I had been longing for, however I could 'settle' for tamales.

Another great day in my homeland 😉

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