Chichen Itza and Tulum

After leaving Merida, we continued on to one of the biggest tourist attractions in Mexico: the ancient Mayan city of Chichen Itza. This impressive site is considered one of the "New seven wonders of the world!" The most famous and incredible structure is the pyramid in the center of the site that was built to be a representation of the Mayan calender. The number of stairs and levels correspond to the months and years and are also aligned with the pattern of the sun in the sky! On the spring equinox, many people gather to see how the sun creates a shadow on exactly half of the pyramid- its hard to explain but it sounds very cool! You can also clap in from of the pyramid in a specific place and the echo is very loud and unusual sounding. The site also includes a huge ball court, which is for a game that most Mesoamerican civilizations played, a sacrificial platform with hundreds of skulls carved into it and an area with hundreds of stone columns lined. There is also a Cenote, one of the underground open caves nearby which archeologists believe was used as a place to make sacrifices to the gods as well as make offerings of gold and other valuables. Today, there are lots of iguanas who like to hang out in the shade and stare at the tourists! After cooking in the heat for so long, we decided it was time to swim in a cenote! We visited one that was very touristy, but very beautiful- the water is turquoise, clear and cold. There were wines hanging down and little fish swimming around. The water felt so refreshing!
That evening we got on the bus once again to head to the beaches of Tulum. This town is on the caribbean sea a couple hours south of Cancun- so it has the same beautiful beaches but it is less touristy and less developed. We stayed in an another hostel that had little cabañas and an outside kitchen. We actually ran into other travelers we had met in Merida there! The first day, we visited the Mayan Ruins in Tulum which are right on the coast in front of the ocean which is very spectacular. The buildings are less complex; it was a trading city in the past. From there we walked directly to the beach and were surprised and happy to find it practically empty! We were there in the off season, so we settled ourselves under a palm tree and slathered ourselves with sun screen. The sand was soft and white and the water was warm and clear! It was like paradise! We spent most of the day on the beach and Joselo built himself a little fort with palm leaves. When we returned at night, we discovered that despite our attempts to prevent getting sunburnt, we were looking quite red!
The following day, we walked through the heat (the things you do to save money!) to 2 more Cenotes that were more like ponds than caves, but were still very clear and deep. We also cooked a huge feast for ourselves of breaded shrimp and pasta using the open kitchen in the hostel which was lots of fun! My favorite time on the beach was when we went in the evening and got to see the sun set behind the palm trees (unfortunately the sun doesn't set over the ocean there.) The last day, we went to the beach one last time before getting on the bus- for 24 hours! Somehow we survived that grueling journey back to Puebla, although our backs and necks were quite unhappy with us. When I reached my host family's house, I slept all day and night to recover!
I'm so glad that we seized the day and had this adventure to the Yucatan- it was a grand finale to finish an awesome semester!

Time in Mérida

The grand finale of my many trips around Mexico was a weeklong trip to the Yucatan Peninsula with two of my friends, both named Anna and my mexican boyfriend Joselo. My friend Paige lived and studied in Mérida last semester and she inspired me to make the long hike down to the tip of Mexico and it was worth the 17 long hours in the bus. We finished our last exams and papers of semester, went to our program's goodbye party, said goodbye to friends and headed off to the heat and the beach. After attempting to sleep on the bus and watching bad movies, we finally reached our first destination- the city of Merida. We stepped off the bus and immediately started sweating like crazy because it was so hot. However, we were very grateful that we had booked a hostel that had a swimming pool! We arrived at what was our cheapest and favorite hostel in Mexico where we stayed in boys and girls dormitories with fans and were provided with free internet, breakfast, pool, hammocks and salsa lesson! Although the heat was unbearable during the day (we spent most of it in the cold art museum and the pool), it cooled off at night and we got to explore the city a little bit. The huge Zocalo was filled with people and food venders and I ate a huge, delicious tamale (cooked corn meal wrapped in corn husk) and churros (stick of friend sweat bread). The next morning, we headed out to see the famous flamingos on the tip of the yucatan. After taking 3 buses, we finally arrived at the reserve which was in the midst of many private estates and discovered much to our dismay that it was not flamingo season. With a sigh, we climbed the watch tower to see the beautiful view and then posed as flamingos, because we figured it was the second best thing to seeing the real thing. The good news was that Progreso, a large public beach, was not far away, so we headed to the market for some amazing mega-tacos and then to our first day at the beach, slathered with sunscreen! That evening, we joined in the hostel's free salsa class with our fellow travelers which were from everywhere from South Africa to Brazil. Despite the fact that salsa is no easy business, by the end of the night, Joselo was leading me around the dance floor and everyone was having a blast! Joselo then took me out to a lovely restaurant and the Annas went out to eat with our new german friend that we met at the hostel. Our time in Merida came to a close, and we were sorry to leave our lovely hostel and a vibrant city that slept during the day and came alive at night.

The pool at our hostel where we spent most of our afternoons- laying in the hammocks and cooling off in the water.

Delayed Guanajuato Post

I am catching up on the trips I still haven't written about. Here is my entry about our program trip that we took in the beginning of May: After one day to rest and repack my bags after our trip to Chiapas, we headed off traveling once again, but this time everything was organized by our program so we could relax! We first visited the city of Queretero for a day; it is a city filled with parks and museums. After eating the famous enchiladas from the city, we headed off to find the art museum. We were all pleasantly surprised to find various shows by contemporary mexican artists (we are a bit tired of mesoamerican and colonial art by then). Several of the artist's work was quite abstract and some of my friends were having a hard time relating to it so I suggested a tactic I use with the school tours: use you imagination to find images in the art. We ended up have a blast finding clowns, cities and who knows what else! We also saw an amazing exhibit by a realist portraitist in which it felt like you could reach out and touch the people in the paintings. After buying a cone of pinon ice cream (sweet pine nut= yummm), my friend Jessica and I set off on an adventure to find the ancient aqueduct that carried water to the city. We arrived as the sun was setting and were surprised to find a very long and beautiful aqueduct stretching for at least a mile.
The next morning we traveled to our next destination- the city of Guanajuato which I absolutely loved! The city is built in the valley and along the steep mountainsides so the streets are narrow and cobblestoned and there are hundreds of little alleyways and plazas. However, one of the most unique things about the city is that there are a series of underground roads under the city which actually used to be underground canals. These tunnels allow there to be less traffic and make it easer to get around the mountains. Another distinct thing about the city is that practically all the houses and buildings are painted very bright colors, so when you look down on the city from below, its like looking at a rainbow of colors. The main church, for example is painted bright yellow and red. After we dropped our things off at our hotel, which had a beautiful view of the city, we went off in a tour bus which took us around to see the architecture of the city and various famous tourist sites, such as a museum that holds the famous "mummies" that were found in a graveyard in the city. However, unlike egyptian mummies which are preserved through a human process, these mummies were preserved, they believe, because of the minerals in the water and soil and/or the climate. When someone went to dig up the bones of the dead of someone's family who was no longer paying rent for their space in the graveyard (a common practice in mexico), they discovered that the body had been preserved (hair, skin, etc). Anyways, we got to see these creepy, weird mummies. And of course the lights went off in the middle of the museum for 5 minutes, which really creeped us out- we were left in the dark with the mummies! Other activities of the day included visiting an old mine, because Guanajuato used to be a rich mining town (thats why the city sprung up in such an inconvenient place for building houses). However, my favorite part about the city was just wondering around the charming streets that felt like italy or some other place in europe and seeing all the little gardens, houses and statues that were scattered about. The city really had a magical and happy feel about it- I would love to live there! The next morning, my friend Jessica and I had breakfast in the main plaza looking out on the church and the statue of peace, sitting under umbrellas and sipping coffee. Who says you have to go to europe to experience the european life style? We then found the statue of Diego Rivera, who was born in Guanajuato, and posed with the famous artist- closest thing to meeting the real guy! Then we had to leave, but I promised myself that I would be back because I had already had fallen in love with this city.

A photograph of the entrance to one of the city's underground streets which were decorated with potted geraniums.

La Playa!

The amazing beach of Tulum- tropical paradise!!!

The Tulum Ruins

The Mayan ruins in Tulum are located right on the ocean!

Cenotes!

Cenote Escondido y Cenote Ikil: geological sink holes that are filled with refreshing ground water and are crystal clear. We had lots of fun swimming in them! Because there are no rivers in the yucatan peninsula, they were both sources of fresh water for the Mayas and they were believed to be a connection to the afterlife. Anthropologists have found gold offerings and the skulls of human sacrifices in the cenote sagrado at chichen itza.

Chichén Itzá

Hundreds of columns and the famous and impressive pyramid that was built according to the mayan calender.

Merida

The cathedral at night and our amazing hostel in which we paid 124 pesos each night for: a pool, garden, free breakfast and free salsa class! My favorite hostel in mexico!

Guanajuato

Queretero

Posing in front of the Aqueduct that brought water to the city

San Cristobol de Las Casas

Next Stop: Chiapas

I left Oaxaca with my friend Karisa and we headed to the state of Chiapas which is even further south to meet up with our other friends from the program. Unfortunately, at this point I came down with a bad cold so I wasn't able to fully enjoy my first day in San Cristobal de las Casas. However, I made the most of it and still enjoyed the trip a lot! The really cool thing is that I studied a lot about Chiapas in one of my spanish classes in smith and the indigenous movement for autonomy that took place there in the 90s (the zapatista movement) so it was very interesting to actually be there and see little zapatista dolls in the market. The city of san cristobal was different that I expected, because even though chiapas is one of the poorest states in Mexico, the city was very prosperous and filled with lots of elegant organic restaurants and hippie travelers from the west. However, there were also very young children begging and selling things on the street like in every mexican city which is always hard to see. My friend and I spent one morning exploring the huge market and marveling at all the beautiful and cheap things to buy- I wanted it all! Too bad my suitcase has a limited amount of space! The city was having free screenings of documentary movies when we were there, so we headed to garden of a cafe to join in on the screenings. I also went to a small museum about the history of coffee in Chiapas, because it is one of the main producers of coffee in mexico and about the work of a coffee cooperative there. Overall the city was very happy and alive and the weather was great so I was sad to leave so soon! We left the city beyond to travel though the many hills, valleys and forests of Chiapas and the highlight of the trip was passing by a school with a Zapatista mural like I had studied in smith. However, we were all shocked to discover that there was a military checkpoint along one road and that everyone was being stopped and the cars were being searched. I have no idea why exactly, but because Chiapas is on the border with Guatamala it is possible they were checking for drugs or immigrants. Anyways, we arrived at one of the most famous waterfalls in Chiapas, Agua Azul where the water is bright, tropical blue! And the best part was we got to swim in the water and it was really refreshing because it was so hot out! However, Palenque, the ancient Mayan city was even hotter! I was really excited to see Palenque because I had also studied about it in an architecture class in Smith. The site was built in the middle of the jungle and has many impressive pyramids, but is also the site of the tomb of Pacal the great which was the first pyramid discovered in mesoamerica to be used as a tomb instead of for rituals. Another interesting part of the ruins is that the Mayans built arches, but they didn't know how to use a keystone so the arches look more like triangles than arches. The heat was so strong that it was hard to fully explore all of the ruins (the sweat was dripping down my back). When we returned to the hotel, we all took very cold showers! The next day, my friend and I took a 10 hour bus ride back to Puebla and I had one day to rest and regroup before heading off with my program on another trip.

El árbol más gordo del mundo

Oaxaca Part 2

Our adventures continued in Oaxaca- The next day my mom, Eric and I joined one of my friends from my program and her parents on a tour of sites in the surrounding countryside of Oaxaca. (My Dad decided to visit various local artists with an american friend and had a wonderful time getting to know some Mexican artists). Our first stop on the tour was another Zapotec archeological site called Mitla that was built around 1000 AD much later than Monte Alban (which was founded around 500 BC). This has to be one of my favorite mesoamerican sites in Mexico because the decorations of the palace were so incredible; each design was made of individual pieces of stones that were placed together like a puzzle and anthropologists believe this is what has helped the building survive despite earthquakes because the stones are able to shift. I love the repetitive patterns in the stone which make the site very artistically impressive. We then traveled though the mountains and pueblos to visit hierve de agua (boiling water) which is the site of petrified waterfalls! The funny thing is that 2 different villages claim it and so you have to pay 2 different villages (only about $1 each) to pass through). What happened is that there are 2 mineral springs on the top of the mountains that overtime have formed these massive waterfalls made of stone. It was beautiful and the view was incredible! After this we visited a place where people make Mezcal (the very strong alcohol that Oaxaca is famous for). The mezcal, like tequila, is made from the agave plant, which looks a little bit like aloe but it huge. They cook the middle part in a fire pit, let the fibers ferment and then use a distiller to create the potent stuff (which we got to try of course). After stopping to eat, we headed to a village that is famous for the amazing rugs they weave using fibers dyed with natural colors. My mom and I both enjoyed the demonstration a lot because we have woven before. I wanted to buy all the rugs, but they are too big to bring back in a suitcase. I told the man that I would return when I have my own house and an empty suitcase! We also visited a women who designs embroidered shirts, a beautiful church and our last stop was the widest tree in the world! A cypress tree that is 38 feet in diameter and more than 2,000 years old and it was absolutely amazing to see. Imagine if that tree could talk!! It was interesting to see how a tree could bring so many people and give so much to one village. The next day we rested after our long day, did some last minute shopping (we found lots of great gifts in Oaxaca) and I said goodbye to my family because I was about to head off on another adventure!

Visiting Oaxaca Part 1

After visiting Puebla, we headed to Oaxaca city which is about 4 hours south-west of Puebla and is a favorite place of many Mexicans because it is full of art, life and culture. It was a lot of fun to explore such a rich city with my parents and everyone was right when they said we were going to love it! We stayed in an adorable hotel which had 3 courtyards with very lush gardens filled with flowers and tropical plants. The first night we were there we found a delicious restaurant that had a rooftop terrace overlooking the city and we eat a great dinner of traditional oaxacan food. The next day we headed to Monte Alban, which an incredible archaeological site that was built by the Zapotec civilization on the top of a mountain. Our guide was great and explained to us about their way of counting time, the symbolism and usage of their buildings and temples and information about the local flora. Not only were their ruins impressive, but also the view of the city below. In the afternoon, we visited the village nearby where many artisans create the famous "alebrijes" which are carved animals painted in bright colors and are absolutely gorgeous and we got to see some people painting and carving them which was very interesting. We also saw a demonstration of how artisans still make the famous black pottery without a potters wheel and how they shine it with a rock to make the ceramics gleam. The next day we visited the city's botanic garden which shows off all different species of plants native to Oaxaca, including many different types of Agave and cactus. We also went to an ex-convent that has been turned into a history museum where we saw the treasures of a Meztec tomb that include gold necklaces, turquoise earnings, and incredible carvings. That night we witnessed the procession of silence in the city for good friday in which all of the statues of Jesus and Mary are taken out of the churches, decorated with flowers and paraded though the streets very soberly. It was strange and beautiful and a very different experience of Easter than the eggs and bunnies that we have in the US.
To Be Continued.....

More photos of Oaxaca

Oaxaca!

An artisan demonstrating the traditional techniques of black pottery y the Zapotec city of Monte Alban

Puebla with the Family

The patio of the hotel where we stayed and Talavera pottery on display at the factory

The family Comes to Puebla!

So sorry that I haven't posted anything in a month! I was finishing up with my finals and then I was traveling throughout mexico for 2 weeks with family and friends. It was an amazing trip and I not only got to show my family around my new home, but also visit new parts of mexico that are very different from Puebla! Anyways, I have a lot of catching up to do and I am sorry that I won't be able to tell you/ show you everything here on the blog but I promise when I get back I will fill in with the details!
So the first 5 days of my vacation, my parents and brother arrived in Puebla to visit the place that they had been hearing about for the last 4 months. Although we did lots of touristy things, they lucked out having me as a guide/ translator and I introduced them to my host family and my boyfriend's family so they got to know some people here! My brother right away loved the food (it was a bit tough with my parents because they don't eat a lot of meat/ spicy food) but they found yummy things to eat too. We stayed in a old colonial hotel in the center of the city (which i'm afraid doesn't sleep) but they were good sports about the bar that played music all night long! We went shopping in the saturday market, where my mom bought a puppet, visited the artists studios, the restaurant of the China Poblana (see photo), the cathedral, the widest pyramid in the world in Cholula, an amazing church that was designed and built by indigenous people and a talavera pottery factory among other things. However, for me one of the highlights of the trip was seeing my two families meet- my real family and my mexican family! We had a lovely afternoon, eating (my host mother is an amazing cook), exchanging gifts (my dad painted them a painting which is now on their wall), playing with Valentina and playing music. Although my family only stayed for a little while, I think they got to see a pretty good window into my life here in Puebla and got to practice their spanish a bit (although I did a lot of translating, which was fun and tiring!) They saw how I have not only fell in love with the place, but the people here and how open and welcoming they are. I am grateful to have such a wonderful family and I'm so happy they came to visit!

Photos of Cuetzalan