During February 2007 I took four weeks of lessons at the Spanish Institute of Puebla. I then traveled around Mexico for two weeks in March to practice what I learned, see the sites, and enjoy the warm weather. Following is a day by day accounting of my experiences on the trip.
Note that you will find a collection of trip photos at
http://picasaweb.google.com/royyem/Mexico2007
Put your mouse over any one to see the caption, or double-click to view it in a large format (recommended). You can also view all the photos as a slide show.
To play the videos later in this blog, click twice on the arrow below the image. Due to a YouTube incompatibility with my camera's file formats the videos had be converted to lower-resolution .mpg files :-(. Some day I hope you can see the originals.
You will encounter several maps like the one below in various formats. If one is off-center you can move it by dragging your mouse. You can zoom in and out by clicking the + and - in the upper-left. Also, you can click in the "Map|Sat|Ter" boxes in the upper-right to alter your view.
View Larger Map
I eagerly anticipated my journey but the days before I left were quite intense. I seemed to spend all my time doing things that absolutely had to get done prior to my Saturday departure.
2/1-Thurs
Today I got a call from a company called Unica in Waltham. Can I come in for an interview Friday? Can I prepare a 30 minute presentation? Well, there goes Thursday afternoon…
2/2 - Fri
I delivered the presentation to Unica. It went quite well and they subsequently said they’d like to pursue my candidacy for a training position...if we can do that while I’m in Mexico. Unfortunately, they didn’t have time for the actual interview....we know very little about each other. I did look over a Student Guide and it appears to be something I can teach. I’ll have to learn more about databases and SQL, however.
I had only a few hours to pack before having to drive to Northampton, to bring the cats to Ingrid. As I arrived it began to snow, and I had to drive home in a blinding blizzard. It was the hardest drive I’ve taken in many years, very slow and requiring tremendous concentration. I arrived home exhausted and stayed up until 2 AM packing.
2/3 – Sat
Got up early and drove Maggie to the home where she’ll be staying. I felt very sad and nearly cried on the way, but when she excitedly played in the snow with the 2 girls, I knew she was going to have a wonderful visit. After all, SHE didn’t know I’m leaving her for 6 weeks!
As always, I finally finished everything and Alexandra drove me to the airport for a fond farewell. The trip from D.C. to Mexico City was very slow due to 250 mph head winds (that’s what they said) – it took 90 min just to get to Atlanta. My plan was to catch the last (11:30) bus to Puebla, but the hour + delay meant I would miss it. So I began asking about airport hotels. As it turned out there was an unscheduled 11:59 bus, which I made with 10 minutes to spare. Puebla is about 2 hours Southeast of Mexico City.
In Mexico City I called the school and they said my host family would meet me at the airport with a school sign. I was expecting a husband and wife but when I arrived I was sort of met by 2 women, 70-ish and 30-ish, with no sign. It took a long time and a phone call to determine that they were indeed my host family (anfitrionas). I subsequently learned that at 4:30 on the Friday before my arrival, the woman who was staying with my original anfitrionas reported that they didn’t have a refrigerator. So they moved me. Finally got to bed around 3 AM (Central time), and it took a couple of days to catch up on my sleep. What a start!
2/4 - Sun
Day 1 was quite difficult as I could barely communicate with my anfitriona,
Maria Teresa (aka Teres). The other lady, Gabrielle, is her niece. After a slow morning we all went to lunch, then to Gabrielle’s house to watch the Super Bowl. But we were 3 or 4 hours early. I played with her 2 niños, watched TV and took a walk...quite boring and I was SO tired.
Muy interesante watching the Super Bowl in Spanish, although I missed all of the fun commercials. In case you’ve forgotten, Los Potros defeated Los Osos!
2/5 - Mon
My first day of school. After a morning’s introduction we were given a Spanish test: twenty multiple choice questions and an essay. I think I got 3 right, but they saw fit to put me into Level 2, advanced beginner. I’m in the largest class, with
5 students. There are less than 20 students total and, surprise, most are my age or older. One of my classmates, Joseph, is sharing Theresa’s house with me. We’re in the only “double up” situation, undoubtedly because of the problem with my original hosts.
My fellow students are here for a variety of reasons: Joseph has apple orchards in New Mexico and employs Mexican labor. Bill is from Canada and like me just wants to learn Spanish. Rogelio is in a religious order and has been living in Mexico for 3 years, but hasn’t learned Spanish well. Jamie discovered Jesus and just moved here on a mission to spread the word. The latter two will be back for more courses.
Each day we have class from 9 to 1. Lunch lasts from 1 to 2:30, with choice of a specific Mexican (owned by a Canadian!) or a Vegetarian restaurant. Both are very good, although I have little idea what I’m eating. Today we had a mushroom soup, a vegetable stew, chicken wings in some kind of barbecue sauce, rice, pasta, and salad. As it turned out we went to the Mexican restaurant almost every day, and there was enough variety that I never tired of it.
At 2:30 I go to el Zócalo, a public square at the center of every town. There I meet my guide and spend 2 hours walking around the city and talking solely in Spanish. Most of the guides are college students. This week my guide is Carlos, who’s an architecture student. He knows so much about the various buildings and their history, it’s fascinating. It’s suggested that we go to various cultural sites, and one day we toured a library that housed antique books. But most days we just walk around the city and chat.
Once back at school I usually read my emails. I can then either take the 10 minute bus ride or walk a half hour back to the house. Then I do my homework, which typically takes 30 to 40 minutes. Somewhere in between we have dinner, which tends to be something fairly light. And by the time I’m done with all that my head is too full to learn vocabulary. Instead, I might spend a half hour reading something in English before going to bed around 10. It’s a loooong day.
2/6 - Tues
I really like my instructor (maestra), Claudia. She understands and speaks English pretty well but talks almost exclusively in Spanish. Although she often talks quite quickly, she enunciates well and is easy to understand. She says everything three ways and slows down when necessary.
The lessons are quite interesting and varied. We begin each day by going over the homework for 20 to 30 minutes. Afterwards she might explain a new topic, such as how to conjugate in a new tense. She’ll then hand out a sheet with 2 dozen sentences that are missing the conjugated verbs. We’ll fill them in then read the sentences aloud.
We then engage in a wide variety of exercises. She’ll hand out sheets of pictures which we’ll describe to a partner or have a conversation about. We’ll listen to a dialog or song, or read a story, then answer questions about it. Some days we’ll go to the sunny balcony and play a word game. Breaking up the session into different activities really helps to keep it interesting.
We were given quite a few books. There’s a textbook and a workbook that we use for both lessons and homework, and we get additional handouts each day. We have an excellent student Spanish dictionary that provides often understandable examples of word usage. It also tells you where to find verb conjugations in the indispensable conjugation book.
Prior to coming I was told I wouldn’t need a Spanish-English dictionary, but that was obviously wrong. I bought one and use it all the time when I want to know the Spanish version of an English word. When I go the other way I usually look it up in the Spanish dictionary first to see if I can figure it out.
Add to those my class notebook and the little notebook for recording new words when walking with my guide, and I’m glad I have a knapsack. Oh, it’s a new knapsack I bought from my chiropractor that has an air tube at the bottom to take the weight off my back; it’s fabulous.
2/7 – Weds
Today’s Jamie’s birthday. We all gathered and sang…what? It sure wasn’t “Happy birthday”. It went on forever and I didn’t understand the words they handed out.
After lunch we took a class trip to the nearby town of Cholula. We first visited two of the most baroque, ornate and intriguing churches I’ve ever seen, one Spanish and one Indian.
We then visited one of the world’s largest pyramids, but didn’t get to see much of it. One pyramid was built on top of another, the whole thing was covered by earth, and a church was subsequently built on top! It wasn’t until the 1930s that the pyramid was discovered. We walked one of the tunnels that went through it but there wasn’t all that much to see. Still, I found its existence to be pretty amazing.
I was disappointed that the guide spoke only Spanish. I didn’t really learn as much as I wanted about any of these sites.
2/8 – Thurs
This morning we visited the Volkswagen plant. VW is the biggest employer in Puebla and I think this is the biggest auto factory in the Americas. We were greeted at the gate by 2 6-foot frauleins with straight blond hair practically down to their very short skirts – quite a shock after a week seeing only short, dark, round Mexicans.
The tour was more interesting than I thought, and I was glad I asked one of the women to translate the tour guide’s comments into English. It felt like cheating but I got a lot more from the tour. I asked her if this was the biggest VW factory and she replied, “No, my father works at one in Germany that’s bigger than Monaco!” Weeks later we concluded that the VW plant was probably the reason why so many of our guides were learning German in school.
During breaks and after class I try to keep up with my email and write this blog. I expected to find additional characters on the keyboard but was unprepared for how really different the keyboards are down here…it makes typing an email extremely laborious. Among the most dramatic differences:
· Characters like : and – are on the bottom row. Worse, ? is on the top row and all special characters are moved left one position.
· The character, ñ, is to the right of L, and beyond that is the accent mark, ´. It doesn’t print until you hit the next key so that it goes over the correct character. Unfortunately, I typically hit that instead of Enter, which is farther right than I’m used to. So I think I’m hitting Enter, nothing happens, then the next character gets an accent and I have to undo everything!
· In the U.S., the upper case of a number key is a special character. In Mexico, each number key has two special characters. One is typed as in the U.S., by pressing the Shift key. The other is typed by pressing a totally different key, called Alt Gr, located next to the space bar. I need to press this key to access such special characters as @ and #.
2/9 – Fri
After the first couple of days I didn’t see Theresa’s niece Gabriele again until my last day. Two other nieces, who are going to med school in Puebla, live in Theresa’s house during the week. We almost never see them and they never try to talk to Joseph or me. Thus, we don’t have a family situation, which is too bad.
Theresa has a weird work schedule – 10 to 1, 4 to 8, and uses a good chunk of the time in between on a long commute. It seems crazy to me, but isn’t uncommon here.
Each night Gabrielle’s friend Rosalba comes over and cooks our dinner…we never learned what that deal was. Dinner tends to be fairly light – tuna fish, or fried ham and tortillas. I had to lobby to add veggies.
The dynamic is interesting. Rosalba sits (or, at times when she is there to fix a meal, Theresa stands) and watches while we eat. If there’s anything we need she hops right up and gets it. Very “traditional” and it makes Joseph and me a bit uncomfortable. Once, when we had to delay our dinner I told Rosalba I’d cook it myself, but she couldn’t handle that!
Aside: the gender roles are very ingrained here. For example, men who work in dangerous or extremely noisy factories tend to not wear protection…it just isn’t macho. Also, the school director Antonio says he can’t hire male teachers because they keep hitting on the female students.
Rosalba is in eighth year English and teaching middle school English (which is hard to believe considering how little she speaks!). A couple of times per week we help her with her English homework and it is HARD! They’re teaching her a very formal and convoluted way of speaking. I’d say, “No one talks like this!” and she’d reply, “But that’s the assignment.” So Joseph and I try to figure out the best answers to the questions. It’s very peculiar though.
Tonight we went to dinner with Rosalba and her boyfriend Dario. He’s really nice, speaks great English, and we had a good time. When we got the bill there was an added charge of 1.5 pesos. I inquired what for and was told that there’s an extra charge on diet drinks (“Coca light”) as opposed to regular Coke. Never found out why. Weird.
2/10 – Sat
I spent today wandering around Puebla and getting to know the city…it really comes alive on weekends. Hundreds of people walking the streets, zillions of street vendors selling:
Food - which I’d better not eat
Clothes - many American knockoffs
Toys - really cheap plastics, which I suppose is what they can afford. Balloons and blowing bubbles are hot items. Many Disney characters, Spiderman, etc.
CDs and DVDs – All CD’s are $1, homemade .mp3s. Although I’ve seen kids with all kinds of rock shirts, the only non-Latin group I’ve seen is The Beatles - they are incredibly popular here.
Homemade crafts – none of which inspired me to purchase.
I wanted to go with classmates to my first bullfight tonight but they had an all-star bullfighter and it sold out. So instead we went to the Cultural Center to see a free Mexican folkdance show. Very colorful costumes. For one dance all the dancers chose audience members as partners and a “sweet young thing” invited me! I wish I’d had the presence of mind to give somebody my camera…Oh well, I guess I can’t record *everything*! Afterwards I attempted to find the local nightlife but, except for numerous couples making out on the Zócalo benches (lovers are not shy in Mexico), there was nothing doing. Carlos later told me that Puebla is a very conservative city.
It’s also huge. The sign as you enter town states there are a million people, but people say there’s actually 3-4 million. It’s very traffic-y and people drive like crazy. Don’t jaywalk because they don’t stop! Bus drivers start up as soon as the last person has a foot inside the door (although they usually pick you up even if you aren’t at the bus stop). And I like that the traffic lights flash fast green for several seconds before the brief yellow.
Except for the area around the Zócalo, I don’t find Puebla to be as pretty as other Mexican cities. It doesn’t have much to offer for tourists and there aren’t many…which makes it a perfect place to learn Spanish!
2/11 – Sun
When I first got to Puebla it was very cold, and there’s no heat in any of the buildings. But it gradually warmed up through the week and I spent this morning outside, shirtless, studying my Spanish. I am very fortunate that the t-shirt and shorts weather remained for the duration of my trip, and I never again got to use the jacket, fleece, and long-sleeve shirts I was instructed to bring with me. Sunny and dry every day, pleasantly cool at night, I could not have had better weather.
While I’m thinking of it, they have the weirdest blankets here. In several places I slept the blankets had a braided, 3” fringe all around which I found very annoying – the braids would poke my eye or go up my nose, and I had to wrap my sheet around them as best as I could. The water in Puebla is different too: very hard. I can’t even get suds from Dove soap.
This afternoon Jamie and I attempted to play tennis at the local club. What a joke. The court was an incredibly hard concrete that quickly wore out the balls and our shoes. It imparted a forward spin to the balls so that they’d shoot ahead and bounce really high. We had fun running around in the sun, but it sure was schoolyard hacker tennis.
2/11 – Mon
I can’t believe how sleepy I am. I’ve been going to bed at 10 and getting up at 7:15 and still feel like I need more sleep. I guess thinking is wearying. I should try to do less of it!
My guide this week is Waldo, who led the excursion to Cholula. He’s working on his PhD in history, specializing in Mexican Indian culture, and is a wealth of knowledge. Unfortunately, he’s not especially forthcoming as a guide or outgoing as a person. He’s a nice guy though and we did have some good conversations. I decided it’s a good week to visit historical sites.
Today we visited Museo Amparo, Puebla’s jewel and one of the top anthropological museums in the world. An early room had huge reproductions of cave drawings from France, Utah, Australia, Norway, and Mexico, showing how similar these drawings were around the world.
Another room had a timeline (I bought a poster) across 5 continents between 2400 B.C. and 1500 A.D. It’s fascinating to see that the birth of Buddha occurred at approximately the same time as Cleopatra’s reign, the creation of Venus de Milo, and the building of the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan. And how recent the Egyptian pyramids were built compared to many of the objects in the museum.
The artifacts are of a type that would be familiar to you – figures of animals and people, utensils, bowls, jewelry, etc.
I found it remarkable how well done most were and that they were in excellent condition. I especially liked a prehistoric figure of a man thinking that could have been carved today, as well as dolls with moveable arms and legs.
The objects represented hundreds of civilizations leading up to the Mayas, the Aztecs, and then the Spanish. You could see from the art how the people moved from solitary, agrarian communities, to ones that began to trade and create societies, to the introduction of war, to the Spanish coming and killing everybody in the name of Jesus.... Having Waldo explain the history of each culture added immeasurably to the experience.
I also learned that the Celtics lost their 18th straight game. Glad I’m not home to witness that!
2/13 – Tues
Oboy. I woke today with an upset stomach and by the time I got to school I began having shivers. Carolina had that bug and it lasted a week (her friend said, “You give new meaning to ‘tossed salad’!”). The director gave me an antibiotic to take for 4 days and that cured it. But I’m constantly wary of what I’m eating.
Afternoon Waldo took me to the ex-Convento de Santa Rosa. The guide spoke so quickly I didn’t understand a word, and afterwards Waldo walked through it with me again and explained the important parts. It’s a fascinating place. The nuns would enter and never again have contact with the outside world. They grew most of their own food, and the Mother Superior would hand a shopping list through a slit in the door & someone would get them other items they needed. They’d literally wear a crown of thorns to bed so that they would sleep poorly and not have impure dreams about that other sex. Afterwards Carolina, who’s a retired nun, said that when she joined her order it wasn’t really all that different.
Once an ex-convent, Santa Rosa eventually became a textile and crafts center and is now a museum. It’s filled with sculpture, pottery, masks, clothing, and items for Festival and The Day of the Dead. Kind of like a follow-on to Museo Amparo. Artisans still sell home-made goods in the courtyard.
In the basement is a huge kitchen whose walls are paved with bright yellow Talevera tiles. Supposedly, this is where mole poblano (literally “stew from Puebla”) was invented. The local specialty, it’s chicken breast in a (non-sweet) chocolate sauce. Although far better than what I’ve had in Boston, it’ll never become my favorite dish. Coincidentally, we had it for lunch today!
2/14 – Weds
Happy Valentine’s Day! It’s a big holiday here. Guys give their novias bouquets of…balloons! Balloon vendors everywhere for the past few days and today I saw some women with 3 or 4 huge “bouquets”. Chocolate’s popular too. The school made us foam hearts and handed out heart-shaped lollipops and chocolate kisses. Lollipops are very popular here too. What’s not popular is cigarettes. I don’t remember ever being in a city with fewer smokers – maybe 10%. It’s wonderful. The citizens suck lollipops instead.
Aside – just before I left for Mexico I watched a boxing match in which the Latin boxer was famed for his entrances. On this night he entered on a horse wearing cowboy gear sucking on a lollipop. I can’t imagine Sonny Liston entering the ring with lollipop in mouth!
Today I had a sudden realization that Claudia had been talking non-stop for 3 or 4 minutes and I understood everything she said! Wow, was that a wonderful feeling.
Wednesday is tour afternoon but, unlike Cholula, the remaining 3 tours aren’t free. I decided to not go on them because I didn’t think I’d get that much from Waldo’s Spanish explanations. From student reports I made the right decision.
With Waldo gone, Carlos was my guide today. He took me to a part of Puebla I hadn’t seen and explained the architecture and the history of the area. It was fun and interesting.
2/15 – Thurs
Navigating Puebla’s Streets:
View Larger Map
Puebla has an interesting street organization. At the center of town, as in most Mexican towns, is El Zócalo - a tree-filled village green or Common. In Puebla it’s a block square in size and contains some old palm trees, lots of benches, and is a very active center of town.
The main north and south roads intersect at Zócalo and change their names when they do. I won’t tell you all their names or you’ll be more confused than you’re about to become! I spend most my time around Calle 16 de Septiembre, which runs south from Zócalo. Parallel to this street are the Calles, numbered 3, 5, 7... to the west of 16 de Septiembre and 2, 4, 6...to the east. My house is on 7 Sur, which is 3 blocks to the west of 16 de Septiembre and south of Zócalo.
Avenidas run east-west. To the north of Zócalo they’re numbered 2, 4, 6...; to the south they’re numbered 1, 3, 5.... Furthermore, to the east they’re named Oriente and to the west they’re named Poniente. I live off of 41 Poniente. This means that I’m 20 city blocks south of Zócalo and 3 long blocks west. My school is on 11 Oriente, 1/2 block from 16 de Septiembre. Thus, my walk to school is about 15 blocks north and 3 blocks east; it takes about 20 minutes at a good clip. Alternatively, I can take the bus for 30 cents…if it chooses to stop!
Straightforward, right? So why did it take until now for me to figure out my way around this place?
2/16 – Fri
Today Waldo took me to the Cultural Center to see a movie. It was hosted by his academic advisor and the movie’s director was there, so we had a most interesting conversation beforehand. Even better, it had English subtitles!
De Nadie is a documentary about the plight of illegal aliens…in Mexico. Mostly Hondurans, many of whom lost everything they owned in a hurricane (sound familiar?), they have to traverse Mexico to get to the “promised land”. Along the way they’re attacked, beaten, raped, and killed by either gangs or the police. A film-festival award winner, it was quite a harrowing movie to sit through.
Today in class we finished our discussion of direct and indirect pronouns. They say English is a funny language. Well, I’m learning that Spanish is too, as the following example shows. Skip to tomorrow’s entry if you know Spanish or aren’t interested in language structure.
Take the following sentence:
I eat ice cream in the kitchen.
“I” is the subject and “eat” is the verb.
“Ice cream” is the direct object and “kitchen” is the indirect object.
In Spanish we write the same sentence as follows¨:
Yo come helado en la cocina.
In English we can substitute pronouns for the actual words and say:
I eat it there.
The same is true in Spanish. We can replace the word “helado” (ice cream) with “lo” and “en la cocina” with “le”. But the pronouns come before the verb and in reverse order. Thus, the sentence would read:
Yo le lo come.
So when I want to say this sentence I have to ask myself “What are the direct and indirect objects, what are their pronouns, and where do they go?” Gee, that’s asking a bit much! But wait, there’s more.
It was decided that “le lo” doesn’t sound very good. So we replace “le” with “se”, giving us:
Yo se lo come.
Which basically translates to I there it eat.
One last thing. Let’s change the sentence to
I want to eat ice cream in the kitchen.
Now there are 2 verbs. One is conjugated (want) and the other is not (to eat). The Spanish version is
Yo quiero comer helado en la cocina.
Where “quiero” is “want” and “comer” is “to eat”.
I can rewrite this using pronouns as:
Yo se lo quiero comer.
When this structure occurs, you can simply take the pronouns and stick them on the end of the infinitive:
Yo quiero comerselo.
This translates to a slightly more familiar I want to eat there it.
Great in theory, but I despair at ever coming to grips with it in practice!
2/17 – Sat
Jamie and I went to play tennis again. All the courts were taken but two men asked us to play doubles. This was much more fun than the last outing…a more normal court for one thing. And pretty good competition. Plus, I learned words for lots of tennis terms, like deuce, ad in, wide, etc.
Afternoon I walked around Puebla again. Took lots of photos. Bought a fabulous bio magazine on Bob Dylan…in Spanish. I actually discovered it early last Saturday but didn’t want to carry it around all day. Then during the week I couldn’t find it again. Turns out, they only put it out on the weekends. What’s that all about?
In Spanish, “ice” is hielo and “ice cream” is helado. So why is “ice tea” te helado?
2/18 – Sun
Today we met at the school at 7:30 for a class trip to Teotihuacan, north of Mexico City. My alarm didn’t go off and Theresa awoke me at 7:00. During the night my watch decided to reset to midnight on January 1, 2000…but why did it choose today? Anyway, I was out the door in a flash and just made it on time.
Teotihuacan was perhaps the oldest Mexican civilization, circa 200 B.C., and it’s quite well-preserved (although much of the artwork has been moved to museums). It has two huge pyramids, the Temple of the Sun and Moon. Everyone warned me about how hard they are to climb, but I found them surprisingly easy…especially as compared to, say, Chichén Itzá. The quantity and quality of structures on the well-laid-out site is truly impressive.
Afterwards we went to Mexico City and visited Chapultepec. It’s a *huge* and pretty park with a lake for boating, museums, and lots & lots of vendors. Within the park is a very high hill that provides a 360 degree view of the entire city…at least what is visible through the smog.
Atop the hill is a fortress, el Bosque de Chapultepec, where Emperor Maximillian lived. During his reign he imported an amazing collection of furniture, tapestries, china, and artwork from France. The rooms are stunningly beautiful, albeit quite out of place for Mexico. It must have cost a fortune…no wonder he was executed!
Adjacent to the park are the famous anthropology museum and a couple of art museums. Lots to see when I return to Mexico City. There’s also the National Auditorium and I noticed that the day after my course finishes they’re hosting a Cold Play concert. Now that would be kind of fun to attend!
Finally, we drove to Mexico City’s enormous paved Zócalo. Visited the Cathedral and square, then wandered the streets. Got to watch the very formal military lowering of the gargantuan Mexican flag. As soon as the soldiers marched away some Aztec dancers “reclaimed” the square with drumming, dancing, and incense.
We returned home in the dark at the end of a very nice day. A few regrets though: Waldo was again our guide and I would have liked more English information at Teotihuacan. And more time…making 3 stops was too much. Also, in my haste, I forgot about hat and suntan lotion, and in the altitude I got quite the neck and nose burn…
2/19 – Mon
My new guide, Chava, is quite outgoing and flamboyant. He’s a language major and fun to talk to. Today we revisited Museo Amparo. But whereas Waldo explained everything in a serious, historical sense, Chava asked me lots of oddball questions like, “On the timeline, when would you like to live?” and “What do you think that figure is thinking?” That got me to use the language differently, and we had lots of laughs making fun of the various artifacts. Very different and irreverent.
I realized that I’m in danger of running out of money. I learned that many hotels and buses are “efectivo” – cash only! I have limited traveler’s checks, I left my bank cards at home, and I don’t have credit card pins because I never had to use them for cash. Not to mention that one credit card decided that my Mexico purchases could be from a stolen card and blocked its usage. I had to call the fraud dept. to reactivate it. In the future I’ll plan better. But for this emergency Antonio allowed me to write a check to the school and gave me cash. Whew!
2/20 – Tues
Truly amazing day, with an uncomfortable beginning. We were asked to sign a pledge that we’d speak only Spanish. I knew I couldn’t keep that pledge and felt out of integrity to sign it. I weaselled out by adding, “cuando es possible” - “whenever possible”!
After only an hour’s class we traveled to a town named Huejótzingo, about an hour away, to experience a traditional Carnival (Mardi Gras). Participants marched the streets wearing various bright, elaborate costumes and masks that mocked the Spanish and represented the various other cultures that have been in Mexico. Marching bands and drummers played truly horrible music.
On the way there we were all given earplugs and we quickly learned why. The overwhelming sensation was the sight, smell, and sound of guns being continually shot off. It was so very different and not a little unnerving, especially when one marcher spooked a horse.
As I walked around with Jamie, all the men wanted to dance or pose for photos with her…not very often they see a tall blond in those parts! There were zillions of food booths but I was too scared to try anything. Jamie got some pineapple (a huge bag for $1!) which was maybe the best I’ve ever eaten.
Unfortunately, I learned later, someone sliced open Jamie’s purse and made off with her wallet and cell phone. That put a damper on one of the most unique and exciting days of the trip.
2/21 – Wed
Fun afternoon. Chava took me to a museum that used to be the home of Jose Luis Bello y Zetina. It was filled with wonderful art from all over Europe that he collected at antique markets because he never wanted to leave Puebla. The guide realized I didn’t speak Spanish really well and, although others were on the tour, talked slowly and directly to me to make sure I understood everything. I really appreciated that and got a lot from the tour.
There was one painting I didn’t understand and as we were leaving Chava explained it to me. The artist, Arrieta, painted rich people’s possessions side-by-side with poor people’s to show equality. It was effectively executed, but the nobles of the day didn’t want to consider that and no one bought his paintings; he died broke.
As Chava explained this a woman came out of an office and corrected him. As he continued his explanation, the woman repeatedly came running out to correct his mistakes and provide more information. Chava sat writing feverishly, a schoolboy taking notes! Finally, she took us into her office to see her portrait of Arrieta and paintings she did in his style. She was obviously a huge fan and jumped at the chance to share her abundance of knowledge. It was all just too funny and we had quite a laugh afterwards.
Tonight Joseph and I saw “Buscando Para Felicidad” – “Pursuit of Happyness”. Fine (although tense) movie, Will Smith was excellent, and we had a great time reading the Spanish subtitles.
2/22 – Thurs
Class is beginning to accelerate. We’re learning new tenses every 2 or 3 days. Today we began Subjunctive. It’s not difficult, but the vast variety is swimming around my head – when do I use a particular tense?
Chava didn’t show up so Waldo was again my guide. He brought me to another museum, Jose Luis Bello y Gonzalez. This was a truly weird place.
Like yesterday’s museum, this one had furniture and antiques, but that’s where the similarities ended. Yesterday’s was free, this one cost 10 pesos. The ticket seller spent 5 minutes having us read a 2-page memo from the cultural ministry explaining that the price was indeed 10 pesos even though the ticket said 5 pesos.
After 10 minutes looking at some pretty boring furniture we decided to examine the 2nd and 3rd floors. A guard told us it was closed…there’s nothing on those floors. Gee, so why didn’t the ticket seller spend the 5 minutes telling us *that*? What a waste.
I later talked to Antonio because I was struck that the names of yesterday’s and today’s museums was nearly identical. He confirmed that both buildings were owned by the same individual and that today’s collection was originally even better than the one I saw yesterday. He was at that museum when an earthquake hit, and he helped carry fragile pieces down to the street. They were all moved to a safer location. Which begs the question, why does today’s museum even exist? I guess I’ll never know.
2/23 – Fri
I’ve put a lot of energy into planning my free time. For example, this weekend I considered visiting Vera Cruz, the coastal city where Cortes landed, but I did a lot of reading and couldn’t get really enthused about it. Actually, I would like to have gone last weekend to see their Carnival. It was described as, “A little like New Orleans but more similar to Buenos Aires, with multitudes of topless women.” I didn’t learn more than that and, whereas the topless women were tempting, I really wanted to see Teotihuacan.
Also, at the conclusion of the course Antonio suggested that I head north. But I wanted to see Oaxaca, which is 4.5 hours south. So I decided to head there this weekend even though I would have preferred more time there than just a weekend. As an added incentive, my housemate Joseph decided to join me. The map shows the mountains that surround Oaxaca. They're brown and dry but still a picturesque setting.
View Larger Map
We left class before lunch and took a long, hot, jiggly bus ride to Oaxaca. The terrain was mountainous but not spectacular or pretty. Very dry and brown.
The town itself is lovely; much smaller and quieter than Puebla. Being a tourist town, many residents spoke some English, something we weren’t used to. There are numerous art galleries and stores, the specialty being beautifully carved and painted wood animals and black pottery. We found a lovely restaurant where I had a cold avocado and shrimp soup and a kind of chile relleno.
2/24 – Sat
Awesome day. While Joe slept in I visited 3 markets. Bought a fanny pack - now that I’m no longer wearing a jacket I need something to hold my dictionary, notebook, & pen while I walk with my guide. I also bought a mesh bag – I’m trying to buy small souvenirs and not too much, but with all the Spanish books and my winter jacket I have more than fits in my suitcase. It’s interesting seeing all the stalls and the different items that they sell.
Today is Flag Day, and walking back to the hotel I was diverted to a square with bands, soldiers, students in uniforms, dignitaries making speeches. Very formal and colorful.
Thereafter we took an all-day tour that first went to Monte Alban, one of the oldest archeological sites in Mexico. Our animated guide there told great stories – in English – which made that tour one of my favorites. He related the history of the site and painted a picture of life in the pueblo:
· A priest would talk from the high point to 40,000 inhabitants below and the perfect acoustics (he demonstrated) would carry his voice. Then he’d disappear in a puff of smoke, travel through hidden tunnels to a distant building and reappear, thereby reinforcing his magical powers and authority.
· The Zapotec inhabitants would have to carry water from way below to the arid high plateau. Thus, they built a large cistern and invented charcoal water purification by 300 B.C.
·
They erected the town along a perfect rectangular grid except for one arrow-shaped building that indicated the exact point where every 52 years the sun, moon, and Venus aligned. They used that building to plot the equinoxes and solstices and determine when to plant, harvest, etc. You can see both the arrow-shaped building and the cistern (in ground on the right) in the Monte Alban photo.
· One thing that they didn’t figure out was that their mercury-based paint led to early deaths of most inhabitants.
· All the major pre-Columbian sites, including Teotihuacan and Chichén Itzá, were abandoned within 100 years each other, but no one knows why.
2 thermometers swore it was in the high 90’s but it was so dry it felt very comfortable. I counted my blessings that I had suntan lotion this time and that I wasn’t in the Boston deep-freeze!
Afternoon we visited a studio where they created the trademark Oaxacan painted animals. These weren’t the garden-variety ones that are sold everywhere in town. Rather, they first studied a block of wood to see what animal it represented. The more elaborate ones took a week to carve, then another week in the hands of a painter. They sold for hundreds of dollars, so I satisfied myself with a few photos. They were remarkable though.
Our last stop was to a black pottery (barro negro) studio. In the 20 minutes it took our guide to explain the process the artist, who had 50 years experience, carved a lovely vase without a pottery wheel! And made it look so easy. He or an assistant would create intricate designs in the clay and then fire it in a pit behind his studio.
We were told that pottery making became a dying art once plastic was invented. Then a woman discovered that you could make it really shiny by rubbing quartz on it. And someone else found that undercooking it would make it bright black instead of the traditional gray (and thus more saleable). The downside is that you can’t put water into it or it disintegrates. I guess that keeps the price down because small but nice pieces sold for as little as $3. After having visited the expensive painted animal studio, these items sold like hotcakes!
After Monte Alban I asked about lunch and our guide told us we’d stop at 3:00. But we never did. We got back to Oaxaca at 5 and he asked, “Does anyone want to go to lunch now?” Glad I had a candy bar along the way….
Instead, Joseph and I went out to dinner. We then walked around town and spent time at the Zócalo where a brass band was playing Strauss waltzes. A brass band?
2/25 – Sun
We spent our last morning at the Museum of Culture of Oaxaca. It houses works from pre-history to the present, and features artifacts from Monte Alban. Outstanding were a skull covered in tiny pieces of turquoise and an amulet of a head carved in gold (by and large I didn’t see much gold pre-Columbian art…I guess Cortes took it all…). We rented English audio guides that disappointingly told us history but rarely explained the pieces we were looking at.
The museum itself was connected to the incredible Iglesia de Santo Domingo – now there was a huge chunk of gold! Every window appeared to look out onto a different courtyard; the place was huge. One courtyard featured the most spectacular cactus garden I’ve ever seen.
I bought a tiny bottle of Mezcal, pre-tequila, to try. It had the proverbial worm in it. When I got home the worm was gone from the unopened bottle. How does that happen? Did it drink itself into oblivion?
2/26 – Mon
We’re beginning our final week of class, but one weekend away and I forgot all my Spanish! To make matters worse, Claudia is accelerating her presentation. Today she covered 6 forms of imperatives and the dreaded direct and indirect pronouns. How am I going to remember any of this?
Carlos is my guide again, per my request. Today he wanted to show me “modern Mexico” and took me to the big shopping mall…a place neither of us would venture on our own. We got ice cream, which has been a rare treat down here. And along the way we stopped at a Mexican sex shop!
I’m starting to plan my post-class itinerary. The director, Antonio, gave me tons of great suggestions, including a reasonably priced Mexico City hotel where I can leave my extra belongings while I travel. So it looks like I’ll spend my first night there. Carlos and Chava both told me that it will be very hard to get tickets to the sold out Cold Play concert – scalpers charge double and frequently counterfeit. Hotels at other locations are relatively expensive on the Web – I think I’ll show up and see what I find. That allows me to be more flexible as well.
2/27 – Tues
Class is a whirlwind. Finished imperatives and began progressive tense. None of it is hard, it just takes tons of practice.
Today Joseph and I went to Mercado Carmen and got cemitas for lunch. Everyone says the stand in the market makes the best ones and I couldn’t leave Puebla without trying this famous dish. A cemita is a sandwich on a large, round, bulkie roll. Start with 2 layers of deep-fried mystery meat, then pile on ham, lettuce, onions, jalapeños, cheese, some other stuff, and more jalapeños. The busy stall made about 20 of them at a time. They cost $2 and were so big that Joseph and I split one. What a bargain! Delicious too.
Carlos took me to the Revolution Museum. It was in this house that Aquiles Serdan and others were attacked and shot by the government in 1910, thereby sparking the Mexican Revolution. The house pretty much remains as it was, including the smashed mirror and bullet holes in the wall. Lots of interesting historical memorabilia too, including the student uprising immediately prior to the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. I’d all but forgotten about that.
2/28 – Weds
Carlos and I took a long walk to Parque Ecologico. It’s the dry season and the park wasn’t all that pretty.
Some folks boating on the pond. The jogging trail had working traffic signals!
Tonight I had a phone interview for a job back in the States. Sounds like they have a huge mess that they need someone to clean up. Besides that, it didn’t seem appropriate for me.
3/1 – Thurs
More tenses, fast and furious. Another long walk with Carlos, this time to Puebla’s Regional Museum. Lots of pre-Columbian artifacts like I’ve seen in other museums, but it was still pretty interesting. As we left we saw a couple who had turned the car radio loud and wrapped each other in a romantic dance. Not a common sight in the USA.
Tonight was our end-of-course banquet, and I had quite the scare: just as I arrived home I realized that since we didn’t get homework (which we never do) I’d left my books at school (which I never do), along with all the restaurant info…I had no idea where the banquet was! So stupid.
I called the school and no one was there. I had no idea how I was going to find the restaurant. Suddenly, to my great relief, Joseph (who arranged to go earlier) awoke from a nap, so I made it to the banquet after all.
What a fun evening it was. People dribbled in slowly in true Latin fashion, so by the time we actually saw some food we were several drinks into the party and feeling good. The many-course dinner was awesome, especially a rich lasagne filled with a black mushroom that I was told grows on top of corn.
Our director, Antonio, was quite convivial, and we all connected great. We shared our high and low points (in Spanish of course), and Antonio handed out certificates and personalized mugs. I realized that tomorrow is the last time I’ll see all of these people, which made me sad. I wouldn’t mind joining Jamie and Rogelio in Level 3…
3/2 – Fri
Finished my formal Spanish studies. We played a bunch of Spanish games and wrote short stories, then did the typical end of course stuff and said our good-byes. Afternoon Carlos and I walked all around Puebla for a final time. And in the evening Rosalba and Dario and even Gabriela came to say good-bye.
Our final project was to write an essay and incorporate a few items that Claudia listed on the board. Only after we finished did she tell us what those objects represented. I found my story to be somewhat humorous in light of those meanings.
Woods – Your attitude towards life
A Lake – Sex
A Key – Your professional success
A Wall – Death
What was on the other side of the wall? – Your afterlife
Without knowing those meanings, here is what I wrote (in Spanish, of course):
Yesterday I walked in the woods. There were many trees with leaves of red, yellow, and blue, and the branches were made of chocolate! Grass surrounded all the trees.
I walked along and encountered a large lake. In the lake there were many fishes and an enormous black whale. I was walking by when it jumped out of the lake.
I walked some more and behind a large, green onyx rock I found a key made of gold. I put the key in my pocket.
I was walking when I saw a wall with a small door. I put the key in the door and opened it. Behind the door I saw a woods with a lake, a key, and another wall…
Tomorrow I’m on to new adventures.
3/3 – Sat
View Larger Map
Wow, what a start to my travel week. I took an early bus to Mexico City. My hotel is conveniently located; a quick bus or Metro ride to anywhere I’d like to go. I arranged for them to hold my extra belongings while I’m traveling.
I went to the National Auditorium to see if I could get a ticket to tonight’s Cold Play concert. “No, we’re sold out,” the ticket seller said. I gave him my little sob story about coming all the way from America and only needing one ticket, etc. He went away and returned in a minute beaming: “We have 1 ticket, for $120.” Well, I was hoping to see a show in Mexico but I didn’t really know this group, so the price seemed too steep. I regretfully turned him down.
As I left the ticket window a girl stopped me and said she had an extra ticket – the back corner of the theater for $36. I gratefully accepted!
In quite the pleasant mood I walked across the avenue to visit Museo Antropología, perhaps the largest anthropology museum in the world. Architecturally, it’s a rectangle of large rooms around a gargantuan courtyard. Half of the open courtyard is covered by a 275’ long concrete platform supported by a single pillar.
Each of the dozen or more rooms features a different Mexican civilization, such as those who built Monte Alban and Teotihuacan, the foremost being an amazing collection of Aztec artifacts. Behind the rooms were outdoor gardens with numerous larger pieces and major structures. I can’t imagine ever having been in a museum with so many pieces: after 3 hours my brain was completely fried and I was just past halfway through the museum!
I casually wandered through the remaining rooms, and then went upstairs where they had dioramas, music, and tapestries depicting various aspects of pre-Columbian Mexican life. It’s a truly remarkable museum, impossible to see in one visit.
The Cold Play concert was quite enjoyable. Nice rock tunes and tight musicianship, although I would have preferred more jamming. I never went to my ticketed seat, instead sitting in the 2nd row balcony, dead center. Very nice sound.
My one big complaint about the show was that the lead singer couldn’t hit any of the high notes…either he has no voice or lost it. By mid-show he was having the audience sing the high parts, which sounded funny with a collective Spanish accent. The audience also did their version of The Wave. Each time it circled the arena it stopped, everyone cheered, and a minute later it started up again.
What I’ll remember most about the evening was the scene outside following the show. There were at least 100 souvenir booths, most of which were selling Cold Play t-shirts (playeras) as well as other items. The bootleg Ts were all different and high quality.
In the U.S. competing vendors might try yelling louder to attract the buyers’ attention. In Mexico they yell faster. I found fascinating to meander the narrow, crowded corridors between the lines of vendors’ tents with all kinds of voices chirping “Playera, playera, playera” exceedingly quickly. As luck would have it I had honored Antonio’s warning to not carry too much cash, so I maxed out on a couple of Ts and a CD.
On the way back to my hotel I was propositioned by the cutest little prostitute I’d ever met. Oh, the curse of empty pockets!
3/4 – Sun
Today I took the bus to Zitácuaro. Each route seems to have its own bus line and it’s nearly impossible to learn schedules remotely. I got used to wandering around a bus station until I spotted my destination.
Zitácuaro is a small town nestled up high in the low mountains. Everyone there seems so friendly and I had numerous conversations. One guy told me about his son, an aspiring actor, and showed me copies of letters he sent to people like Mel Gibson and JLo trying to arrange an audition. He couldn’t understand why they hadn’t replied and wanted me to get in touch with them for him. I was somewhat relieved when he walked on.
I walked through many stalls, most selling veggies – great prices although some looked pretty grim. I then walked up a huge hill that had a lookout providing wonderful views of the city and its surrounding mountains.
Late afternoon I returned to the Zócalo for a festival. There were many different folk dancers, all in gorgeous and colorful costumes.
I took numerous videos of their enchanting dances. Somewhat out of place was a trio of belly dancers, one of whom was certainly the most talented I’ve ever seen.
As it got dark the vegetable stalls were replaced by people cooking many unusual dishes, such as soncorundas, bland cornmeal accompanied by a spicy sauce. And the folk dancers gave way to a concert by a Latin band, Grupo Huracán: 3 keyboards, 2 drums, and 2 singers.
The band was very entertaining and the crowd went wild. The singers threw posters of themselves into the audience. Women and girls would climb onto the stage and dance with the band members. The style for younger women is bare midriffs, although the majority are bulging out of their openings. Eeewww!
I connected nicely with one lady who was there with her boyfriend and we danced a lot. I couldn’t figure out what her boyfriend thought of that. Having walked all day, however, my knees were pretty tired. And every time I stopped dancing she prodded me to start again! By 9:30 I’d had enough and retired. But I had an unexpectedly enjoyable day in a town I’d never heard of.
So why am I in Zitácuaro anyway? And why did there happen to be a festival? The answer to both is: butterflies.
Before every winter all of the monarch butterflies (mariposa monarcas) in North America migrate to a couple of locations in Mexico to procreate. In early March they all return north. In the autumn the older generation dies and the younger flies back south.
This is the time of the year when the mariposas become active in preparation for the long journey north. For 3 weeks Zitácuaro and surrounding towns have mariposa festivals like this one. And this is the best time to see them. So here I am in Zitácuaro, ready to go see the butterflies. I originally planned to go today but when I arrived I was told I didn’t have enough time for the short tour. So tomorrow’s the day.
3/5 – Mon
Today must go down as the most incredible day of my entire trip. For starters, here I am still in Zitácuaro.
My plan was to catch the 10:00 bus to Ocampo, then take a shuttle to El Rosario mariposa refuge. But when we got to Ocampo the driver didn’t stop and his assistant (there’s often a 2nd guy who takes the money) told me not to worry. Yeah, right. After ½ hour more we reached the small town of Angangueo. The assistant pointed to a bus parked outside a vegetable market and said, “That’s the bus you want to take…we’re much closer to the park than Ocampo.”
It was 11:30 and I learned the bus departed at 12 and took an hour, so I walked around town to see if I could find out where to catch the return bus to Zitácuaro. I met a young fellow who seemed to want to communicate something very important, and brought me to his friend who spoke some English and could translate.
He said that the bus indeed took me to El Rosario, but wouldn’t return to pick me up until tomorrow. But for $35 he’d be my private guide, take me there and bring me back. It seemed preposterous so I declined, but it certainly added to my feelings of upset and unease.
I returned to the bus and discovered it full of villagers laden with shopping bags of produce – they’d come to the big town to do their week’s shopping. I squeezed into the back and waited. And waited.
About 15 minutes after the scheduled departure time a man announced that we had to switch to the smaller bus around the corner. Crammed in the can we finally departed. And quickly ran out of road. Thereafter it was barely-graded dirt all the way.
We did see some interesting primitive villages as the bus gradually dropped its contents. Which included me after an hour of bouncing and lurching. Finally, I arrived at El Rosario. After a quick lunch it was 2:00 and I hadn’t started to see the park.
I climbed higher and higher along a very restricted path. Along the way I met two women who had come up through Ocampo with no problems; they offered to take me back with them. Great. No way I was going to take that dirt road back to Angangueo to perhaps find a bus back to Zitácuaro! I felt more relaxed but that also meant keeping some track of where they were.
I saw an occasional butterfly but nothing to make me feel that this whole adventure was worthwhile. However, after 20-30 minutes I got to the top and las mariposas were swarming. Thousands. Millions. They flew over and around me, their silent wings almost audible, their breeze not quite felt. I walked through a gorgeous meadow to a grove of trees whose branches were completely covered, as though with orange Spanish moss.
I could have stayed for hours but I didn’t want to lose track of the women. When we got to the park exit I was surprised to learn the women didn’t have a car. When they stopped to eat I went to the parking lot alone to see if I could catch an earlier bus. After ½ hr of seeing no one I went back to find the women and they were gone. After some investigation I learned that the combi bus to Ocampo stopped a mile away, so I went hoppin’ down the road.
To my relief, I did find a bus. And it did take me to Ocampo. But for some reason I wasn’t able to communicate to the driver or his assistant that I needed to find the bus to Zitácuaro. However, once in Ocampo the assistant motioned for me to follow him. We walked a couple of blocks to a taxi stand. For the best $8 I spent the entire trip he took me directly to my hotel.
I question how intrepid a traveler I am. In retrospect the day was a unique adventure. But while it was happening I was frustrated, annoyed, and on edge, and my return trip was always in the back of my mind, keeping me from being fully in the mariposa moment.
This evening, in need of comfort, I temporarily abandoned my Mexican experience and ate pizza, beer, and ice cream. Afterwards I moved all of my photos to my flash drive to free up my camera memory. The tiny, thumb-sized object is now one of my most important possessions!
3/6 Tues
There are no easy routes from Zitácuaro to either Guanajuato or Querétaro, so I decided to spend a day in Morelia, the capitol of the state of Michoacán. It’s a pretty Spanish colonial town composed mostly of pink stone. There are several interesting sites:
· The corridors of the Palacio de Gobierno (government building) are covered with some wonderful murals.
· The main cathedral next to the Zócalo is pretty incredible but my guide book failed to mention that the important cultural artifacts had been stolen and replaced with replicas.
· On the other hand, my guide book was pretty accurate when it compared the inside of Iglesia Guadalupe with a Faberge egg. It’s one of the most gorgeously ornate churches I’ve ever visited. Enjoy the tour:
· The city is also known for its arcade de dulces – an indoor series of dozens of stalls, most of which sell indigenous candies. I tried a few and found them to be quite dreadful!
One day is enough for Morelia but I now don’t have time to visit both Guanajuato and Querétaro. Last night at the pizza place I met a couple who winter in the lake town of Pátzcuaro and said it’s gorgeous, so I’ll take a day trip tomorrow.
3/7 Weds.
Despite misgivings I decided to take a tour. After the El Rosario hassles I didn’t want to waste a day finding things, plus the tour would take me to places outside Pátzcuaro which I wouldn’t be able to see on my own. Unfortunately, my fears were well-founded.
In spite of promises to the contrary, the guide didn’t speak English. By the time the tour car arrived it was too late to take the bus, and a couple of people on the tour offered to help translate, so I decided to go.
We stopped in a few lake-side towns en route to Pátzcuaro. First was ½ hour in Quiroga – to shop. I found that to be an annoying way to start a tour, although I bought a lovely leather wallet for $8.
Next was the interestingly-named Tzintzuntzán, where we examined some ruins and visited a 16th century Franciscan monastery with thirty-three 300+ year old olive trees. It featured a corn statue of Christ in a glass crypt. The statue apparently grew and they had to add an extra section to the display case to accommodate it. A miracle! It was an interesting stop but a long one and the explanations in Spanish were mostly lost on me. An interesting fact was that the missionaries’ first task was to teach Spanish to children. Not only do kids learn faster than adults, but also parents would see the good care the missionaries took of the kids and be more open to them.
It was after 1:00 and as we finally headed in to Pátzcuaro we asked the guide to stop for lunch. He agreed, but instead took us to a factory store where they make fine painted ceramics from corn stalks. Very impressive but I was not in the mood to shop. When, thereafter, he tried to take us to another shopping place (what kind of kickbacks do these guides get?) I got upset and demanded to go to lunch. The other tour members agreed so he reluctantly took us to a crappy restaurant in town. I was quite disgusted.
After lunch we took a half-hour ferry ride to Isla Janitzio, the largest island in Lake Pátzcuaro. The pyramid-shaped island is dominated by a gigantic statue of Morelos, a hero of the independence movement after whom the town of Morelia is named. The statue is a mosaic of stone with a stern visage and a fist raised high in the air. Notice the people near the base.
We walked upward along winding, 10 foot wide pedestrian streets lined with crafts, foods, and souvenirs. Lovely-looking restaurants overlooked the lake. At the top of the 20 minute climb we reached the base of the Morelos statue and learned that, like the Statue of Liberty, we could climb the circular stairs inside. Which, of course, we did.
The walls were lined with murals depicting Mexican life as the stairs spiraled up, up, up. At the top we were able to look out through the head and even the raised fist. We could see a long way in all directions (although the day was far from clear) and discovered the lake, islands, and surrounding land to be devoid of interesting landmarks. We were actually in the most interesting thing around!
So we walked down the statue and returned to the boat, the mainland, and our hotels in Morelia having seen nothing of Pátzcuaro itself. As I’ve pointed out, there were a few interesting sights along the way, but I was pretty disgusted by the guide, the tour company, and the way that the day unfolded. I’m very happy to be moving on tomorrow.
3/8 - Thurs
For my last stop I chose Querétaro over Guanajuato because it’s closer to Mexico City…even though a woman I met told me there isn’t much to do and the guidebooks didn’t have much exciting to say about it either. They were right, but I love the town anyway!
What I liked most were the numerous winding, pedestrian-only streets that led to lovely squares with restaurants and interesting statues.
One of my favorite statues was of a cellist whose strings were formed by the flowing fountain’s water.
I visited the Museo de Arte, a supposedly modern art museum in an old monastery that featured mostly 16-17th century Jesus pieces. The top floor contained a large gallery that appeared to have attractive modern art but when I tried to enter a woman told me it was being prepared for an artist’s opening that evening…and handed me an invitation to attend!
My hotel is right across the street from the lovely, tree-filled Zócalo. Very bucolic, with another great statue-fountain. At dusk a man played very schmaltzy organ music and Querétaro’s septuagenarian population danced up a storm while the young un’s stood around and watched – a fun, folksy scene.
This evening I went to Rafael Rebec’s opening. I understood some of his speech and enjoyed his artwork. Very varied: paintings, mixed media, sculpture, dioramas (with magnifying glasses to see particulars differently). Noticing me examine one work he took me by the arm and explained it. And on the way back to the hotel I passed a small gallery that was also having an opening, so I visited that one too. What a happenin’ town! I had such a fun day that I decided to stay another.
3/9 – Fri
Magical day – very casual and relaxing although I did a lot. I walked across town to see what I think is the longest aqueduct in the country: 5 miles long with 74 arches. There’s also an interesting mausoleum honoring those who brought water to Querétaro.
I visited Convento de la Santa Cruz, which features two independent but connected churches; I forgot to ask why. One has gorgeous blue stained-glass windows with whimsical designs. A Franciscan student gave an interesting tour in English, showing us how they got and stored water (the last arch on the aqueduct) and food, cooked, bathed, etc. They had two or three working sundials. We saw the austere quarters where Emperor Maximillian spent his final days before being led out of town to face the firing squad.
Oh, and while I’m discussing history, Querétaro is also where the treaty was signed that ceded half of Mexico’s territory to the U.S. after the Mexican-American war.
The guide also described a legend regarding a stick that grew into a tree with thorns that are exact replicas of Christ’s cross. The monastery is one of the only places in Mexico that this tree can grow. I bought a mounted cross thorn, certainly the most unusual (for me) souvenir I picked up on this trip.
I found a tiny restaurant that served the national dish, pezole, which I’ve wanted to try. This version had maize and chicken in a red broth. It was delicious and the heat snuck up on me. The restaurant had orange walls and was authentically decorated with Mexican artwork – pottery, etc. – except for one wall with large photos of Marilyn Monroe and The Beatles!
The remainder of the day I relaxingly visited a couple of museums, a few churches, and hung out at the Zócalo. The Museo de la Ciudad (City Museum of Art) is an incredible old building containing rooms off of rooms, archways leading to courtyards containing stairways leading to more rooms, courtyards, and archways. Not to mention dog gargoyles… every turn showed something new.
3/10 Sat.
Today I bused back to Mexico City then took the Metro to an area called Coyoacán. It’s a lovely area featuring Colonial-era architecture and is home to the artistic community. Prior to the 20th century it was a neighborhood apart from the city, but it was eventually surrounded by the sprawl. Still, it has a very different in feel than other parts of the metropolis.
I visited the home of artist Frida Kahlo, which was truly stunning. Not only did it tell about her life, but every room was spectacularly cluttered with her art, variously whimsical, practical, and depressing, but usually beautiful and colorful.
From there it was a short walk to the home of Leon Trotsky. The entry room had a fabulous photographic history of his later years: the destruction of his family by Stalin; his fleeing to Mexico with his wife; the early years living with artists Kahlo and Rivera.
I toured the dark, depressing rooms with strong security features. Sadly, the security couldn’t prevent someone from their inner circle eventually assassinating him inside the house.
My plan thereafter was to take a leisurely stroll through Coyoacán. Wouldn’t you know it, for the first time in weeks it turned cold and rainy. I had to walk through the area to reach the metro, but it wasn’t a very enjoyable tour.
3/11
On my last day and I woke up early and slipped in a tour of Templo Mayor and Palacio Nacional prior to the day’s planned activities. Play this video to hear the sounds of vendors near the Palacio and the Cathedral.
Templo Mayor is the site of the major Aztec temple and community, built in the 14th and 15th centuries. There are 6 levels of construction, each one burying the previous. Unfortunately, much of the construction was destroyed by the Spanish invaders. But the large site that remains tells so much about the Aztec civilization and way of life. What’s most amazing is that it is right next to Zócalo, abutting Catedral Metropolitana (the biggest church in Latin America) and Palacio Nacional (the office of the President of Mexico and home to an amazing collection of gigantic Diego Rivera murals that depict the history and civilizations of Mexico), yet it was accidentally “discovered” in 1978! And once unearthed it led to a treasure trove of artifacts that fills five fascinating floors of a connected museum.
Afternoon I returned to Chapultepec and visited the Museo de Arte Moderno. The museum is round. Inside there are 2 side-by-side open circles, with gallery walls emanating like spokes on a wheel, giving the museum an airy, open feel. I found the collection to be as interesting as any art museum I’ve been to, and I spent several hours there.
I wanted to walk around the park afterwards but the gorgeous morning evolved into another rainy late afternoon so I returned to the hotel. When I arrived I discovered that the large Metro plaza was hosting a (covered) Dominican rock festival, so I listened to music and practiced my Spanish with various people…a very congenial and fitting way to end an amazing adventure.
