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Published: March 6th 2008
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On the Beach
Here we are, the first day on the beach in the city of Veracruz I have been terrible about writing in this blog! But finally I will describe thewonderful weekend that I had (now almost 2 weeks ago) Liz and her boyfriend Nick came to visit, they arrived on Friday, the 22nd of Feb. On Saturday we headed to Veracruz, Veracruz which is the closest beach to Puebla, only a little over 3 hours in the bus. Veracruz is a very important port city in Mexico and there is a naval bas there and other cool things to see. Veracruz is on the Atlantic Ocean and many people say that it is ¨fea¨meaning ugly, especially compared to the other beaches in Mexico, but I will tell you it is definetly nicer than what I´m used to!
We arrived at 12 pm and as soon as we stepped out of the bus, it was very obvious that we were in a completely different climate. We were no longer at the altitude where Puebla sits, but in the hot, humid tropical climate of Veracruz, which was really great for Liz and Nick coming from Boston! We found a hotel right in the city center and I chatted with the hotel owners who were from Spain and
Dinner
Here is Tal and I at dinner..note the tropical music band in the background! got us a pretty great deal. A few friends that I know from here at the University met up with us. Carlos, one amigo is from Veracruz, so he knew everything. They picked us up and basically guided us all over the place. They took us to a really nice beach where we had snacks and just relaxed until the sun set. Then we went to dinner in the¨zocolo¨(town square) and our Mexican friends treted us to Mariachi serenades. But, what I liked even more were the groups of musicians who play the famous Veracruzana tropical music. It was really cool! I had a type of grilled fish marinaded in garlic and oil, it was one of the best fish dishes I have ever had (except for my mom´s salmon, of course!) Then of course we had to check out Veracruz´s nightlife! We went to a club which was a lot of fun because it was Liz and Nic´s first time. We danced the night away and then slept really really well!
On Sunday we woke up at a decent hour (at about 10) and all headed to a beach called Chachalacas. We were so lucky to have our
Group at Dinner
Here we are in the zocolo eating, it was packed! Mexican friends because we never would have found this beautiful place! The beach here, while still in the state of Veracruz, is about 40 minutes outside of the port city and it didn´t even compare, it was so beautiful! Because it was Sunday, the beach was filled with Mexican families, everyone just drove their cars, trucks, motorcycles , or whatever right up onto the beach. The water was perfect tempurature and very clear. We had a really good lunch on the beach, including mangos on a stick dipped in chilli powder (sounds wierd, but its great!) We had a really nice day on the beach and then the sun started to get low and we knew we had to get back for class in the morning ;( But of course out car got stuck in the sand! But we handled the Mexican way-everyone laughed for a good 10 minutes and then we started to dig without any rush. We tried a few different tactics for maybe 40 minutes until a hero with a jeep and some type of amazing device to pull cars out of the sand came buy and got us out! We headed back with our friends to
Beach Food
Here is a nice man selling corn on the cob with chilli on the beach, sooo desicious! Puebla, which was great because we didn´t even have to take the bus! One of the greatest things about this trip for me was that Nick, Liz´s boyfriend, although he does not speak a word of Spanish got along really welll with my Mexican friends. It was really amazing to see how people could relate and really enjoy each other´s company despite thelanguage barrier. Although of course all Mexicans by the time that they are in the University speak English impressively, it was just really cool to see!
So that was a great weekend, and this past weekend I spent mostly in Puebla, just hanging out with firiends, but on Saturday, during the day we went to a field trip to Cantona, which is a BEAUTIFUL site of ruins from over 1000 years ago. The Mexican government is not putting money into excavating it for soem reason, so there was literally no one there! This was so cool because there was no one selling things, and no lines of tourists, just our small class and our teacher. Cantona was my favorite archeological site so far because it is at an even higher altitude than Puebla so the views are
Car in the Sand
Here we go, trying to push the car to NO avail! breath taking. Also at Cantona there are 24 ¨ball courts¨where the ancient peoples used to play a game, similar to today´s basketball and the losers were sacrifced tot gods. The things that is so cool about there being 24 courts is that thisismore than at any other site in MesoAmerica and it has been thought that MAYBE it was kind of like a Las Vegas for the ancient people to come and place bets etc. But nobody knows!
This weekend we are headed to Oaxaca City and the ruins around the city. I have heard nothing but great things about Oaxaca city. which is the¨ärt capital of Mexico¨ We leave at 6:30 AM (yes AM) on Saturdayand return Sunday night around 9 pm. I´m really excited and will write soon!!!
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