Laura's Vacation Blog: November 2019

Mexico City, Week 7

This week, my school had a 4-day break so I didn’t have classes Monday-Thursday. I hired a private tutor for the 4 days and tried to shore up some of my grammar and vocabulary before my classes resumed. I’m finally feeling pretty good about conveying ideas in Spanish and not sounding like an idiot. However, I still really struggle with listening. In class and with my host, I do okay ( provided I give 100% of my attention to listening). In public, it’s a gamble if I will understand. Often not.

This past weekend I went to the Lagunilla market— perhaps not as good as the tour guides would have you believe. It’s in a *not great* neighborhood and there was a lot of clothing and new furniture for sale...and pirated music/movies.

My first stop was in the giant market of dresses and suits for quinceañeras, weddings, and other celebrations.

Tianguis in the street—I walked around through the labyrinth for a while but had sort of a feeling that I didn’t belong there.

On the route home, I stopped at the public library—huge!! And, it the architecture was pretty remarkable. Seven stories of stacks.

On the way home, I passed by a cat café. I didn’t go in but I might circle back there another day.

Mexico City, Week 6

This was the last week of my three week class. We had our final exam and our oral presentation (I did mine on Luis Miramontes, inventor of the birth control pill). After our last day, some of my classmates and I went to Xochimilco for a fun afternoon of boating on the canals. On Saturday, I went to Puebla and on Sunday to Cholula.

We had all sorts of snacks for our little cruise.

At the dock, the colorful trajineras all lined up.

Angels for sale in Puebla—it was a very church-filled city.

La iglesia de Nuestra Señora de los Remedios on top of the Great Pyramid

Some folk dancing in Cholula’s main square.

Puebla’s cathedral lit up at night. It was a big night for weddings—I stumbled upon 2 just walking around.

Some of the special tiles that adorn some of the buildings in Puebla.

Things got really raw at the market in Cholula.

Mexico City, Week 5

So much happened this week but I have few photos to show for it. I had a problem with my phone not being able to make a cellular call and the software update required was failing to install. I made a trip out to the Apple store and after about 10 minutes of troubleshooting, the Apple genius gave me a brand new phone! My phone wasn’t under warranty— I bought it used off of eBay. Pretty sweet! I believe Apple had a recall on the model—I didn’t ask.

I also made an appointment to have my hair cut. Everything went fine up until I needed to pay. My Visa card and my bank card were both declined. I didn’t have enough cash so I asked if I could go get some and come back. I went to 3 ATMs and my card was declined at all of them. Then, I tried to call my bank and my phone appeared to be out of roaming credits so could only can the local telecom provider. Luckily the salon agreed to wait until the next day for payment. On my way home, I stopped at the ATM that I had used successfully before and my card worked fine. Uggh! The bank said that the Mexican banks never contacted them so the decline was coming from the Mexican side.

On Saturday, things went downhill...dysentery strikes twice! By early afternoon, I knew something was wrong and all night I was awake feeling like crap.

I’m still recovering. Oh well, here are some photos from the week.

A giant ofrenda I spotted at a church on my way to school.

Tejocote fruit and sugar cane for sale in the market.

I visited the Museo de Arte Popular. They have dozens of piñatas hanging from the balconies.

These paper mâché creatures, called Alebrijes, are part of the folklore of Mexico.

Un pavo real

Paper mâchè bull fighting ring

The museum had a whole gallery devoted to masks.

Mexico City, Week 4, part 2

On Saturday, I went with some friends to two cemeteries to see some of the traditions for El Día de los Muerto. During the day we visited Mixta Alpa and in the late afternoon and into the evening we visited Mixquic. Mixquic is now very touristy and attracts around 100.000 people to the cemetery. It was very crowded but we arrived early and had a chance to see the cemetery before it was completely overrun with other tourists.

A street decoration made from sawdust.

My group of friends: Me, Chelsea, Allison, and Joe. Chelsea, Allison, and I are taking the Spanish class together.

Our day started with a little performance to get the group in the mood and to share a bit of the history and legend of the Day of the Dead.

So many flowers!

The cemetery in Mixta Alpa was a festive place. Families were picnicking, music was playing and everything was decorated for the Day of the Dead.

These two, La Catrina y El Catrin stood to welcome visitors to Mixquic.

A Catrina in the street.

The lightning was beautiful— it made for great ambiance. (Notice the crowds)

Candles lit the cemetery which was awash in flowers decorating the graves.

Here, a woman sits among the decorations at the grave of here family member.

My camera had some trouble with the lights but I did capture the smokiness from the incense burners that were throughout the cemetery.

The tower of the church lit up with the cemetery in the foreground.

An ofrenda in one of the houses.

An ofrenda in the street.

Mexico City, Week 4, part 1

This was a big week mostly due to festivities leading up to El Día de Los Muertos.

We had a “cooking class” at school and our task was to make hot chocolate to be served with store-bought pan del muerdo, a popular sweet bread served for the holiday.

Ofrendas, or offerings in the courtyard of my school. Many of these have patterns designed from colored sawdust on the ground. Marigolds are universally popular and many of the ofrendas have favorite foods of their deceased loved ones.

There is a giant park near my apartment with some clever landscaping. I was there at 2:07.

I visited the Castillo de Chapultepec on Thursday with a friend from class. There is a lovely garden overlooking the city.

In Chapultepec park, we stumbled on an army band playing to commemorate the holiday.

A Juan O’Gorman mural in the palace.

The facade of the Castillo.

I went to a big parade last weekend and the people watching was perhaps better than the actual parade. Adults and children alike were all painted up for the day of the dead.