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Published: January 8th 2009
Hello everyone! This is the first entry in Blair and Laura´s three-month adventure through Mexico, Central and South America.
To begin our trip, we are staying with our friend Elba in Morelia, a city in the Michoacán state. We were delayed an extra day by a snowstorm in Minneapolis, but finally flew into Mexico City on the 31st, and took a bus to Morelia. But the adventure didn´t end there. We taxied to Elba´s house only to find that no one was home! It was a little alarming. But as we were sitting on the front step, Elba´s neighbour offered, in english, to help us. We sat in his house and watched t.v. while he ventured around the corner to Elba´s aunts´house. His mother brought us juice and fruit. But the best part was the small white dog that kept Laura, in particular, quite entertained and happy. And perhaps too soon Elba´s aunt came, helped bring our things to her house, and then us to Elba.
Elba´s parents, brother, and extended family have taken us in and do not tire of trying to communicate in broken english/spanish. It is very hard to talk to people, since our spanish is
Cathedral
The Cathedral took more than a century to build, and is covered with murals and gold inside. The ceiling is hand-painted, and its organ has 4600 pipes. terrible and most people do not know much english, so it is great when Elba is around and can help translate. We are learning a lot of Spanish, though, although it mostly pertains to music and food, so may not be the most helpful in our future travels. The family is also showing us around the city, cooking us food, and giving us helpful tips about Mexican culture and customs. We have made a few amazing day trips to nearby towns.
For New Years Eve, the family (and us) had a giant supper. Everyone sang songs, accompanied by guitar. The songs were in spanish, and we couldn´t sing along... so we had to sing songs on our own. We sang Cool Yule (a song we are both very familiar with, due to Junior Jazz Choir!), Can´t Help Lovin´That Man of Mine, and the Voyageur song. Around midnight (and for a while afterwards) we heard gunshots going off in the street, as is apparently a custom here. As Elba says, "you can do pretty much anything in Mexico". We stayed safely indoors.
Morelia, as we were told many times before we got here, is a beautiful city. The city
Aqueduct
El acueducto was built in 1785-88 to transport water around the city. It has 253 arches! centre is a World Heritage Site, and fantastically, is a few minutes´walk from our house. It is a very cool place to walk around, and since it´s a university town, there are many good-looking young people strolling, shopping, and making out. There is also food everywhere - one of our favourites is late-night (i.e. midnight) taquito stands, which fry different types of meat and onions and things and serve them in mini tacos. Delicious! We have also discovered a flavour of ice cream called Pasta, which is very popular here, and tastes like sweet cream.
The houses in Mexico are much smaller than those in Canada. Also, there are no front yards. In most cases, there aren´t even front doors. Garage doors open directly onto the sidewalk. This is a little puzzling for newcomers who don´t realize they need to knock on the garage door to get the attention of those inside. We spent at least a minute deciding how exactly one would get inside Elba´s house. Behind the garage doors are (sometimes open air) patios where you can park your car or just hang out. Elba´s aunt has lemon, lime, manderine, and baso trees on her patio.
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John C
non-member comment
Oh my goodness.
I have never so instantly felt so forlornly envious in my entire life. It already sounds awesome!