Mexico City and Teotihuacán

Mom and I got in to Mexico City on Thursday.  Boy was that an experience.  When I said I was worried about security... I think I had reason. From the bus terminal we got in a taxi (careful that it was actually a legit taxi since Jennifer and Alyssa warned us that there are quite a few that aren't and will just end up taking all your money instead).  Lucky for us, our taxi driver was a really good person and everything seemed completely normal until out of the blue the taxi driver leaned over and locked all the doors and told us to roll up all the windows. Bad part of town, apparently.  I was terrified. Plus, traffic was absolutely awful. Worse traffic than I've ever seen.

Preview of Mexico City traffic: green light and complete gridlock

Of course the traffic then made it pretty much impossible to get through any of the streets that would lead to our hotel, and rather than leave us on the street (where our taxi driver assured us we'd be mugged), our driver took us to a different hotel that he knew.  It was a little sketch at first, especially when he pulled into the underground garage instead of dropping us off out front on the street and then we found him creepily standing in the hotel lobby behind us while we were checking in, but a quick Google search when we got up to the room assured us the hotel was at least somewhat legit.

Anyways, after the hour and a half we spent in the taxi, Mom and I were both pretty frazzled. I personally was ready to pack up and head home, but since we were both actually starving we decided to go out and find something to eat.  We ended up in this Middle Eastern cafe a couple blocks from our hotel. Funny enough, the guy that owned it was from Uruguay and there was not a single person who worked there from the middle east but falafels were just too tempting to pass up.  The food was actually surprisingly good and the owner was a complete sweetheart, offering us anything and everything he had.  After lunch, we decided to see what was around.  Our hotel is about a block away from Alameda park and El Palacio de Bellas Artes.  The park is nothing super special but Bellas Artes is absolutely gorgeous from the outside.

In front of Bellas Artes

Also, on the way back we passed a gay friendly sex shop, a sleezy gentlemen's club, and CHINA TOWN! Haha. Sometimes, I could swear we were back in LA.

To be on the safe side, we signed up for a guided day tour on Friday.  The tour was half Mexico City and half Teotihuacán.  We started out at the Plaza de Tres Culturas: the Aztec ruins of Tlatelolco (apparently a huge marketplace back in the day), a 17th century Spanish cathedral, and a modern Mexican university.

Plaza de Tres Culturas

What I thought was interesting was that when the Spaniards conquered the area, they broke down the structures of Tlatelolco and used the stones to build their cathedral. Then, with the cathedral, they attempted to convert the people living there to Catholicism. From there we went on to see the Basílica de Guadalupe.  There's no way I would have ever chosen to see this on my own but I'm really glad we had the opportunity to do it.  The basílica is actually made up of 3 different churches, all dedicated to the Virgen de Guadalupe.  The newest of the 3 was built in the 1970s.  Apparently we chose the right time to visit the basílica because it was packed with people, each group of people sporting a different color/outfit.  As our guide explained, every year in the two weeks before Christmas people travel from all over Mexico to light a torch with the fire from this church and then they carry that flame back to their hometowns.  Later while we were on the freeway, we actually saw some of these groups running/biking along the road, carrying the lit torch.

The last stop on the tour was Teotihuacán, the famous ancient Aztec ruins just outside the city.  The pyramids were really pretty amazing.  So much larger than the ones we saw in Monte Albán.  Mom and I definitely got our workout climbing to the top of the Pirámide del Sol.

Top of Pirámide del Sol

Also, after we saw the pyramids, our guide took us to the newer part of the site which included the city's temple and the walls that used to be the houses for the most important leaders of the town.  It was such an incredible feeling walking through the rooms people used to eat and sleep in. You could kind of imagine what the village used to look like.  After the ruins, we finished the day off with some yummy fajitas at a restaurant just outside of Teotihuacán.

FAJITAS!

I think that might actually be the first time I've eaten fajitas here in Mexico.

Today, Mom and I were feeling a little more adventurous and decided to do some exploring on our own.  This morning we took the metro to Frida Kahlo's old house.  It was the place she grew up and then lived with Diego until she died.  Recently, they've redone it into a museum to display some of her artwork, along with a bit of Diego's. The artwork was neat but I was even more impressed with the house which was absolutely huge and had a gorgeous garden out back.  I imagine it was the perfect place for two artists to live.

After that, we stopped in a cafe for coffee and a light lunch.  The guy working there must have thought my Spanish was hilarious cause every time I opened my mouth, he was so obviously fighting a smile.  Oh well. From there, following Dana's advice, we took the metro to Chapultepec, walked through the park past about a million and one street vendors until we eventually ended up at the Anthropology Museum.  The museum was one of the coolest I've ever seen.  It ranks right up there with Body Worlds, probably the only other museum I've ever really appreciated in my life.  There were all kinds of artifacts from all different indigenous tribes, all over Mexico.  And some of the artifacts were 2 or 3 times bigger than me!  (How they got them to the museum, I have no clue.)  My favorite rooms were Teotihuacán and Oaxaca, mostly because I could relate to them.

Museo Nacional de Antropologia

For dinner tonight, Mom and I went to a restaurant called Girasoles just behind Bellas Artes.  It was recommended to us by our tour guide yesterday so we thought we'd give it a shot.  I had some great arrachera with beans and guacamole, and Mom ordered a chicken with a creamy nut/chile sauce which was also excellent.  For dessert, we ordered flan drenched in cajeta (Mexican caramel) and blackberry sauce. YUM.  Sadly, when the bill came we didn't even have enough money to pay for it.  We've been so careful not to end up with a surplus of pesos at the end of our trip that we were actually short.  Thank goodness for Visa! ;)

Tomorrow is our very last day in Mexico.  I wish I could say I'm sad to leave but after 3 days of this ridiculously smoggy/borderline extremely unsafe city, I'm really looking forward to going home.  Plus, I kinda miss Cosmo (mi perro) and Frankie (mi pez). Oh yeah, and maybe mi hermano. But only a little. Hehe. USA in 24 hours!!!

San Miguel de Allende

So, San Miguel de Allende wasn't anything like what we expected. We got here this morning by bus and kind of just spent the day wandering around.  I think Mom and I both expected it to be more like a mini-America since there are apparently so many Americans that choose this city to retire in. I don't quite understand why. It's pretty and quaint but definitely nothing special. I think I'll want a little more interesting place to retire in. The church in the center of town was pretty cool though.  It reminded me a little of the Disneyland castle.

Parroquia de San Miguel

For dinner tonight, one of the guys who works at our hotel recommended a place called La Bugambilia because it is "la más tradicional."  Well, the place served far from traditional Mexican food but I had an excellent American-ish chicken fillet in a tangy orange sauce.  Also, it was the first time I'd seen real wheat bread since I left! Yummy yummy.  Mom ordered a margarita which then had to be followed by a decaf coffee and flan before we could walk home. Such a lightweight. I love her. Haha.

Tomorrow morning we're off to Mexico City. I'm a tad bit nervous security wise, but I'm really looking forward to seeing the Anthropology Museum and Teotihuacan. :)

El Fin y Guanajuato

Our program officially ended last Friday. It felt so good to finally turn all those papers and exams in but it was definitely a little bittersweet, knowing that everyone was leaving the next day. I'm really going to miss everyone.

The group in front of Santo Domingo <3

I have to say this quarter has been one of the best, most educational and truly life changing experiences I’ve ever had.  There's so much I'm going to take away from it and so much I think I can apply to my life in general.  Also, I've finally decided for sure I want to go to med school so I guess that means I'll be studying for the MCAT this summer. (Yipee!)

Right now, I'm with Mom in Guanajuato.  She got in on Saturday morning to Oaxaca. We spent a couple days there just hanging out and doing some shopping.  I took her to El Tule for lunch, which I think she really liked. How could you not? Literally best tlayudas ever. Also, for the very first time I saw the inside of Santo Domingo.  You'd have thought sometime in the last 3 months I would've been curious enough to venture in, but I guess I sort of failed on that front.  As it turns out, the inside is really really gorgeous and definitely worth the time. I'll have to post pics later. On Sunday we had a nice afternoon coffee/snack with Michelle, Jane, and Jane's parents who were also still hanging around in Oaxaca.  

Jane's parents, Mom, Me, Michelle, Jane at Nuevo Mundo

I know we're all going back to Davis in winter but it was actually really hard to say goodbye to them.

Yesterday, Mom and I took a plane to Guanajuato.  Mom had a little panic attack in the Mexico City airport when they said our plane had been canceled but as it turned out there was another flight leaving at the exact same time so no big. We've been here in Guanajuato for a day and a half now.  The city is so different from Oaxaca.  It's much smaller and more cutesy, less street vendors, and the people that live here are definitely a lot better off. Also, it's a lot younger crowd than in Oaxaca, since the university is here.  Yesterday we didn't do too much except walk around and get food.  I was a little disappointed to find that my delicious Oaxacan black beans had been substituted for only mediocre Guanajuato-an(?) pinto beans but I did thoroughly enjoy my enchiladas. ;)

Today, we did a little more exploring. There's a street here called Callejón del Beso which is so narrow the balconies on either side of the street are practically touching. 

Callejón del Beso

As legend has it, two young lovers (the girl from a wealthy family and the boy a poor miner) would exchange kisses in secret across these balconies.  Unfortunately, the girl's father, who did not approve of the boy, found out about their romance and as our guide book put it, "the couple met a tragic end."  I guess a little like a Mexican Romeo and Juliet? 

We also went to go see El Museo de Las Momias.  (Yes, that would be momias as in mummies!) 

¡¡Momias!!

 I thought it was really neat but Mom had to go back and wait for me at the beginning. I don't think it was her thing. Haha.  After that we grabbed lunch in the square across from Teatro Júarez.  Tortas with french fries.  It was a little americanized but the french fries were gladly welcomed on my end. I honestly cannot wait to get home and indulge in real American food!

We finished off the afternoon, visiting Diego Rivera's old home.  This was the house he lived in until he was 6, before his family moved to Mexico City. The first floor was a display of some of the rooms, furnished typical for the time period. The second and third floor housed a bunch of Rivera's works.  I'm not normally big on art museums but I thought it was kind of cool.  I had no idea he had so many different styles. Each painting looked so different from the next; it was hard to believe the same artist did all of them.

Tomorrow morning we leave for San Miguel de Allende. I hope it's warmer there. It's absolutely freezing here. (Okay, maybe not freezing but compared to Oaxaca, it sure feels like it.) Also, our hot water in this hotel works for literally no more than 5 minutes before it shuts off and gets all cold. So unpleasant but I think I'm going to attempt to wash my hair tonight. Eek. Wish me luck! 

Good Times

 Sometimes I really love this place. Jane and I had a gorgeous morning run yesterday up into the mountains at the top of the Escaleras de Fortín. I'm really going to miss the view from the top of those stairs. Last night we had a great Thanksgiving dinner. About 20 of us showed up and the food was actually surprisingly close to a real American dinner. Plus, the cooks/waiters were all beyond amable. I stopped to talk to the laundry lady this morning and she told me that she's decided to raffle off a piece of barro negro pottery to one of us Americans. She gave me a lottery ticket--numero dos. There are 7 of us that come to visit her. Cross your fingers! Now I'm sitting in Brujula with my americano doble and about to knock out some of these papers. Yeah, so maybe I'm a little sad that we'll be leaving soon.

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

Curanderas and Cave Exploring

Yesterday, we had pretty much the equivalent of a class field trip to Capulalpam, yet another pueblo out in the mountains. I feel like we've traveled to so many of these tiny little mountain pueblos now. You'd think it'd get old but each one has been really unique.  The purpose for this field trip was to visit with curanderas and learn a little about curanderismo though that ended up being only a small portion of our day. We left the city at 7:30 in the morning. I was under the impression that the pueblo was only a little over an hour away but if I've learned anything on this trip, it's that no one ever actually knows what's going on. Anywho, with stops and all, it took us nearly 3 hours to get there.  I didn't mind too much since I've always really liked long drives and I don't have a problem with car sickness. Speaking of car sickness, thank goodness no one got sick this time. I think our driver was a little tamer.

After about an hour, we stopped at this restaurant/store that was literally in the middle of nowhere. Probably the best way to describe it would be the mexican version of a roadhouse diner. 

Me and Helen outside the restaurant

Some of the boys ordered food, but most of us just got some hot chocolate or atole. I'm so hooked on the atole here.

After that, we got back in the vans and less than 5min later made another unexpected pit stop, this time at a molinillo factory. I say factory but in reality it was a family's house with a little workshop in the back, though it was pretty incredible the amount of molinillos they were able to make there. Molinillos are effectively wooden whisks used for making a pot of hot chocolate. The verb "moler" in Spanish means "to grind" which is basically where "molinillo" comes from. Here's a picture of a one I found on Google Images.

Molinillo

It was kind of neat watching the man make them. They start with a big block of wood and carve it down. Once they get it into a club like shape, they attach it to this machine which rotates it around and allows them to carve it more precisely and evenly on all sides. I know they serve a very functional purpose but they really are a work of art.


Anywho, soon enough we were back in the vans. It took us another hour or so before we got to where we were going.  When we got out of the vans our guides walked us over to the church in town. I'm not one to spend a lot of time touring churches but what I really liked about this one was the wooden sculptures they had on the inside. They were huge (probably about 10 feet tall and another 10ft wide) and they were so intricate it was hard to imagine anyone could have possibly carved it. It must have taken ages.  The other thing that was pretty neat was that the courtyard in front of the church had two different entrances. As our guide explained, one was the entrance for the living and one for the dead. He also said that when someone dies, they enter the church through the entrance for the dead but leave through the entrance for the living so that the afterlife can be filled with happiness and rejoice. Kinda cool idea.

After the church, we finally made our way to see the curanderas.  I'm not sure if I explained before in other posts what a curandera is but they're the traditional mexican folk healers.  They normally use herbs, massages, pláticas (chats), limpias (soul cleanings), etc to cure their patients.  The curanderas that we visited had a little less traditional set up.  They still practiced all of the traditional treatments and rituals but instead of practicing out of their separate homes, they had come together to form a combined practice. In addition, the curanderas are situated right next to the town's centro de salud.  This allows them to work closely with the doctors there. I thought it was really neat to see such a cooperation between western medicine and traditional mexican folk medicine. As one of the curanderas explained, both types of medicine have their limits and that's by why having doctors and curanderas work together, they can actually reach out to more people.

The curandera showing us different herbs they use

One of the curanderas talked to us a little about the different herbs they use and what purposes they serve. She went through about a million different kinds and held up examples of each but the two that I actually remember were guava leaves which are used to cure stomach pains and diarrhea (note to self: find me some of those guava leaves) and rueda which people sometimes drink as a way to abort their babies at home since abortion is illegal here in Mexico.  After our herb talk the curanderas offered us free limpias which are supposed to get rid of all the bad energy surrounding you and really purify your mind and soul. I was pretty excited because limpias and curanderismo are things we've been reading about since the beginning of the quarter and I couldn't believe we were actually going to have the opportunity to experience it. Let me just start by saying it was QUITE the experience. Here's the video of my limpia.

When the curandera cracks the egg into the glass of water at the end, she's looking at the different shapes the egg white forms. Each shape symbolizes something negative she's removed from my soul by doing the limpia. In my case, she told me some people were sending me bad vibes, that I'm stressed, and that I had a little bit of susto (fright). Also, I didn't realize this until I went back and watched the video but towards the end she mentioned that my feet get cold. Did she actually know that my hands/feet are cold 24/7?? Creepy.


The day didn't end there though. After that we walked just outside of the town and ended up on this small trail off the main road which led into the mountains where there are actual caves. As we were walking there, Doctora and I had a little conversation about what we were going to be doing. She told me, and I quote, "Basically they would never allow you to do this in the US." Great. Haha. I really had no idea what we were in for but let me just say we did some pretty intense cave exploring. 

Exploring the caves

Because of the flash in the picture it doesn't look like it was actually that dark but let me assure you it was pitch black.  Also, it was really wet and muddy so we all came out looking like a mess. A few times the guides had us stop and turn off our flashlights so they could show us some of the neat shadows the rocks make on the wall. I had a really hard time seeing any of the figures they described. It was decided I have no imagination.

After our little cave expedition, we ended the day at a restaurant out in the middle of the mountains. At this point it was already starting to get dark and I think we were all getting kind of tired. I didn't actually order anything to eat but I stole a bunch of Helen and Alyssa's tostadas which came with their really yummy looking trout. The ride back to the city wasn't anything too exciting. We watched Leap Year which was kind of a silly movie but it had a really cute romantic ending. I always seem to fall for those. Anywho, after such a long day of traveling and touring, I really knocked out by the time we got back. Today's been a bit of lazy day. I should've gotten a lot more work done than I did

Back in Oaxaca and Missing Puerto

Last night's sunset in Puerto Escondido

We just got back this evening. The bus ride was fairly uneventful. Some people got sick (as per usual), we stopped for lunch in this really cute little town in the mountains, and Alyssa brought her pirated version of Inception which we all had a good time watching.  Coming home to an empty room was a little depressing. I miss having everyone so close by. Also, I'm really starting to miss home home. 13 days until Mom gets here. :)

Sexo en la Playa

What a week this has been. I'm not even quite sure where to begin.  Between class, papers, and enjoying the gorgeous beaches here in Puerto there's been so much going on. The official countdown til the end of the quarter is 15 days and I can't decide if that makes me really excited to go home and see my family/friends or really sad to leave Mexico and everyone here. I think it's a little of both but in any case, 15 days means it's really time to get down to business as far as classes go. 2 papers (one individual, one group) and a final. I think I can do it?

At this point, my group is just about done with our group paper. We're writing about teen pregnancy in Mexico which has turned out to be quite an interesting topic.

Working hard on our paper

On Wednesday our group interviewed one of the doctors here in Puerto. What we found out shocked me. The majority of students in Mexico receive only one class period of sex ed in all of their schooling but even worse is that since so many students drop out of school early, lots never actually receive any formal sex education.  The kids are even less likely to talk about it with their parents so almost all the information they receive comes from their peers.  Also, contraceptives are not always seen as socially acceptable. I would've expected a higher use of contraceptives initially and then as teens get more comfortable with their partners the rate of contraceptive use would decrease. Apparently this is not even close to reality. Only 1 in 10 teens in Mexico uses contraceptives the first time they have sex. Insane. Probably the most shocking of all though was that for those young girls that do get pregnant, most never tell their parents.  The parents only find out because they recognize the signs in their daughters.

The theme for this week's classes was reproductive health which fit in perfectly with our group essay topic.  We had a couple guest speakers, one of which talked about contraceptives and contraceptive use in Mexico and the other talked about parteras which are similar to midwives in the US. The second guest speaker actually ended her lecture with a demonstration of the traditional role of a partera from pregnancy through birth of the baby.  Erica volunteered as our pregnant woman and Edgar as the daddy. We had a lot of fun watching them.

Edgar and Erica

Giving Birth

Yesterday, we actually had the opportunity to visit some parteras at their houses.  We got to speak with 3 different parteras which was reallyy neat. One showed us the room in her house she used to deliver babies.  There were 2 different beds: a hard wood one for delivering the baby and a softer one for after the baby is born.

Talking with one of the parteras in her house

I think the best way to describe parteras is as SUPER midwives. Not only do they deliver your baby, they open their houses to you. They sit with you and coach you through all of your contractions,  prepare special teas to alleviate the pain and hot chocolate to keep your contractions coming.  After the baby is born they bathe you and the baby, wash all your clothes, and prepare a home cooked meal for you. Most don't charge for their services but instead ask for whatever the mother can spare. In some cases the woman doesn't have any money to pay the partera but none of the parteras had a problem with that.  They told us that they understood what it was like to be poor and therefore were sympathetic.

When we were visiting with the first partera, I asked her who had delivered her own kids.  I expected her to say another partera or a friend but instead she replied that she had given birth to all 8 of them by herself. A lot of times, when she started getting contractions she would run next door to get the neighbor and ask them to come over to cut the umbilical cord.  I can't even imagine.

Right now there's a lot going on educate the parteras since most have never had any formal medical training. In most aspects, this isn't much of a problem because though they have no medical education, the parteras are really good at what they do and have been doing it for years.  The problem is with high risk pregnancies.  In reality, parteras are not as well equipped to deal with high risk pregnancies as hospitals and centros de salud so right now there's a big push to help parteras identify the signs of a high risk pregnancy so they can refer those women to a hospital.

One of the books la Secretaría de Salud give to parteras

 Today, we went to a local middle school to give sex/contraceptive talks to all the students. I was SO nervous before we left. Not only was I going to have to explain to a bunch of 13 year olds what a condom is and how to use one, but I was going to have to do it in Spanish.  Let's just say I was definitely prepared for the worst--middle schoolers pointing and laughing hysterically and me making a quick dash for the exit. Thank God that is not what happened and on the contrary, today was probably my favorite day all week. There were 5 of us in the group: Mayra, Jennifer, Ally, Alyssa, and I.  We divided up the material so that we were each presenting on something different. I was blessed with the condom/banana demonstration which I was pretty ecstatic about. Actually, I think I had maybe a little too much fun making flaccid jokes out of our squishy bananas. Haha.

In any case, we arrived at the school during their recess.  I saw the kids looking around and staring at the huge mass of gringos that had just invaded their school and once again thought for sure we were doomed.  By the time we made it up to the classroom even Mayra, our only fluent speaker in the group, was nervous. In short, we were a mess.  I'm not sure how we pulled it off but we did and I think we did an okay job. We started with a quick question and answer to break the ice and see how much the students already knew. Then we briefed them on the 3 most common contraceptives for their age group: injections, birth control, and condoms.

Condom Demonstration

After that we broke them off into groups and had each group present on one of the other types of contraceptives (IUD, implants, patches, etc).  Finally at the end, we had some fun and did a banana/condom race between two guys in the class.  Neither one put the condom on completely correctly but it ended up being a good learning experience for everyone in the class.

Us with all the students

Now, I'm back at CasaMar writing this blog post and soaking up some rays by the pool. This weekend there's a surf competition going on at Playa Zicatela. It actually started this morning but lasts all weekend. I think I'm going to head over there tomorrow and watch for a bit.  Sunday morning we leave to go back to Oaxaca. I'm not at all ready to leave the beach. Also, Doctora mentioned that we're going to be taking the more curvy road back since the one we came on is now blocked off. Yes, apparently there's something more curvy than what we took initially. Can't wait! ;)