Monarch Butterfly Reserve!

Millions and Millions of monarch butterflies preparing to migrate north to the US and Canada flock together in this high mountain forest...its like something out of a dream!

Surprise trip to Tlaxcala

This past weekend was filled with all sorts of fun things; I went to the birthday party of a niece of my host family, a fiesta for my program to welcome all the host families and friends, and a picnic in the park with friends from my history class. This mexican picnic consisted of eating tostadas which are large tortilla chips with salsa, sour cream, cheese...kind of like large nachos in a way. Then out of nowhere, my host mother and sister appeared in the park (I have no idea how they found me in such a huge place) and informed me we were going to Tlaxcala. I had no idea where or what Tlaxcala was like, but I happily joined in the family excursion and we were off to Tlaxcala, which was about an hour way and beautiful! It is kind of like a miniature version of Puebla, only located more in the hillside and with narrower streets. We walked around the beautiful zocalo which had lots of beautiful fountains and children jumping in moon-bounces (they are super popular here for kids). We then went to an art museum where there was a beautiful show of paintings by a local artist, we saw a puppet show in the park and climbed up lots of stairs to an old church. Despite the fact that we were tired, we had to visit the "pocito" which is a well that was supposedly blessed by a saint. Unfortunately, it was closed by the time we got there, but my host parents bought a jug of water from the pocito for 15 pesos to bring back to puebla...Mexico is an interesting place haha! By this time the sun was beginning to set behind the hills, dark clouds rolled in sprinkling a couple raindrops and soon after the moon appeared. We had one more place to visit, a stunning church on top of another hill, Octolán. When we arrived the sky was filled with dramatic clouds and birds flying to the church to roost for the night. Thank goodness it was time to walk down to the city by this time because we were beat!

Trip to Tlaxcala

My host family took me on a surprise trip to nearby Tlaxcala on sunday. Its a beautiful little city with lots of churches and beautiful buildings.

A weekend in Veracruz

I have been incredibly busy these past few weeks and Its hard to believe that I have been here in Mexico for more than a month! I am starting to have a more settled schedule, but every day and week is different and I am always doing new things. This past weekend I traveled to Veracruz, a port city in the gulf coast which is about 3 hours from Puebla with some of my friends from my program. Veracruz is one of the first places that the spanish conquistadors landed in mexico and it has been a very important port for hundreds of years. One of the interesting things I learned about the city is that there was a substantial african slave population in Veracruz, which influenced the culture, specifically the music and dance in the city.
We left for our adventure on friday and took the bus, which is the most common way to travel around mexico and is very organized and comfortable here (better than greyhound). Unfortunately, the weather was not very great for our first two days in the city- cloudy and cold, which was a bummer because we were hoping to spend a lot of time on the beach. However, we found other things to do thanks to our handy guide book including a museum about the history of veracruz, the aquarium which had a lot of beautiful fish and dolphins, an old fort on an island which protected the port and lots of yummy restaurants. The last day the sun finally came out and we headed to Boca del Rio to find a beach. However, this proved more difficult than we thought because the coastline is very developed with many hotels and we found ourselves hoping over walls and a bit lost. However, eventually we found a free and public beach and felt the sand between our toes. The water was too chilly to swim, but there were palm trees and everything! Soon, my friend Jessica and I were very hungry and went off to locate a restaurant and the only one that we could find that didn't have a huge wait was very elegant complete with a live band and a playground for kids to play on! However, "vale la pena" as we say in Mexico (it was worth it) because the food was incredible- delicious guacamole and shrimp and vegetable quesadillas! Another highlight of the weekend was the famous gran cafe en la parroquia which has been there for 202 years and serves "lecheros" basically coffee with steamed milk, but what is special about it is that you have to tap on your glass with your spoon and the waiters come over and pour the milk right into your glass and its delicious! (see photo below). We had lots of fun adventures, but I was happy to return to my mexican family and home- Puebla is really starting to feel like my home base. And I missed my host family!

Café in Veracruz

There is a very famous 202 year old cafe in Veracruz where they have delicious coffee and you have to tap on your glass in order for the waiters to serve you the steaming hot milk. Que rico!

Veracruz

The patio of the museum of Veracruz

more photos!

Churches are everywhere in every shape and color. Just like in central park, the pigeons flock to the city center.