Malo Poblano- the famous dish from Puebla made of many spices including chile and chocolate
My mexican sister and her baby valentina with my birthday Piñata!
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Fiesta de Cumpleaños!
Malo Poblano- the famous dish from Puebla made of many spices including chile and chocolate
My mexican sister and her baby valentina with my birthday Piñata!
Thursday, January 13, 2011
My host family!
I have been super busy getting to know my host family here in Puebla and trying to figure out what classes to take which is a interesting adventure, and frustrating, so I haven't had any time to write another blog post. However, I am putting aside some time to write about my wonderful host family, now that I have been here for about a week. I live with my two host parents, Rosi and Adolfo who are an adorable couple who call each other "corazon" which means "heart"...they are so sweet! They have been hosting students from my program for something like 6 years so they have a lot of experience with taking care of american girls! Their daughter Mine and her husband Anor and their baby of 16 month live in the house right now too! I love having the baby in the house and I like to play peek-a-boo with her and other games. They are all very, very nice and have made me feel very welcome! I have my own room and bathroom! The first night that I arrived, my family immediately called me "Sarita" and held a "fiestita" - little party- to welcome me including a cake. Little did I know that the family tradition is for the celebrated person to have their face pushed into the cake! Much to my surprise and laughter...I ended up with cake on my nose!
On our "free day" with our families last weekend, I went with my host parents to the huge and gorgeous cathedral in the center of Puebla for the sunday mass and I really enjoyed the experience in such an incredible temple. After the mass, we gathered with other Poblanos (people from puebla) around the various performers in the zocolo (central plaza of the city)- clowns, aztec dancers, etc. It was so fun to see all the families and kids spending time in the center, buying balloons, eating, etc. They then took me to a "must see" in Puebla...el volcan mas pequeno del mundo (the smallest volcano in the world!) There is also I large volcano on the horizon of Puebla, but this one is only 2-3 stories tall...a baby volcano! They also took me to see Cholula..the next city over where the colonists built a cathedral right on top of the largest pyramid in mexico...very symbolic, eh? I got to see it at night, all light up which was beautiful!
Other general things about my host family- my host mother loves to feed me!! Here in Mexico the main meal of the day is in the afternoon at 3ish and my host mother prepares fruit, tamales, soup, lots of things. They also introduced me to Cemitas, which are the "mexican hamburger" and HUGE! My host mother has taught me how to navigate around puebla on the crazy busses which have no defined schedule which i am eternally grateful to her for! well, I could talk about them for quite a long time, but I must go and have dinner with them now! I promise to post again soon about puebla and my adventures with trying to pick classes soon!
On our "free day" with our families last weekend, I went with my host parents to the huge and gorgeous cathedral in the center of Puebla for the sunday mass and I really enjoyed the experience in such an incredible temple. After the mass, we gathered with other Poblanos (people from puebla) around the various performers in the zocolo (central plaza of the city)- clowns, aztec dancers, etc. It was so fun to see all the families and kids spending time in the center, buying balloons, eating, etc. They then took me to a "must see" in Puebla...el volcan mas pequeno del mundo (the smallest volcano in the world!) There is also I large volcano on the horizon of Puebla, but this one is only 2-3 stories tall...a baby volcano! They also took me to see Cholula..the next city over where the colonists built a cathedral right on top of the largest pyramid in mexico...very symbolic, eh? I got to see it at night, all light up which was beautiful!
Other general things about my host family- my host mother loves to feed me!! Here in Mexico the main meal of the day is in the afternoon at 3ish and my host mother prepares fruit, tamales, soup, lots of things. They also introduced me to Cemitas, which are the "mexican hamburger" and HUGE! My host mother has taught me how to navigate around puebla on the crazy busses which have no defined schedule which i am eternally grateful to her for! well, I could talk about them for quite a long time, but I must go and have dinner with them now! I promise to post again soon about puebla and my adventures with trying to pick classes soon!
Sunday, January 9, 2011
3rd Day: Teotihuacán
When I first found out that we were going to visit the ruins of Teotihuacán and climb to the top of the Pyramid of the sun, I was a bit nervous because I do not like heights as I already mentioned. However, this ancient city was so fascinating and the pyramid is so solid that I was fine and the hardest thing for me was the energy it took to climb up all those stairs!!! Teotihuacán was founded around 200BC and was abandoned around 650AD and the city was home to around 125,000 people! When the aztecs found the city hundreds of years later, they believed believed it was built by giants because the buildings are so colossal. They named the two main pyramids after the sun and the moon, but anthropologists today believe that they were actually temples to the god and goddess of water- a precious resource in the area then and still today! Today the land is very arid and covered in cactus; a possible explanation for the collapse of this civilization was the loss of natural resources. We not only climbed to the top of the pyramid and saw the incredible view of the ruins and took lots of pictures of course, but also saw the rooms of one of the palaces and the frescos of jaguars, flowers, etc. After we rested for a bit after the long hike up and down the pyramid, we went to a workshop where artisans still carve statues and jewelry out of obsidian (a smooth, very black stone) like the Teotihuacans did. We also learned about the many uses of the agave plant then and today which is somewhat like a large aloe vera plant. It was used as paper, soap, to make pulque (the first alcoholic drink of mexico) and as fiber. We eat our lunch (which is the biggest meal of the day in Mexico and usually around 2-3pm) at a restaurant with a mexican buffet and were serenaded by two guitarists playing traditional music which is quite common! we also learned that in mexico, people but chile, lime and salt on their fruit such as watermelon! On the bus ride back to mexico city (which is about an hour away) I think we all fell asleep- we were exhausted from climbing so many steps. It was so incredible to be in the same place that people were around 2,000 years ago and for it to be the top of a pyramid!
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Mi Familia Mexicana
With my host parents Adolfo and Rosi and the adorable welcome sign and balloons! My host family is so sweet!
2nd Day in Mexico City
Unfortunately I haven't had time to write more blog entries because I have been so busy seeing and doing so many amazing things! However, here is a summary of my second day in Mexico City:
The morning was devoted to the national museum of anthropology which is world famous and HUGE...you could spend days there because there are so many incredible things to see and learn. The museum is devoted to the history, art and culture of the many mesoamerican civilizations that existed in Mexico- of course the Aztecs and Mayans, but also lesser known groups and artifacts as well. The sculptures, architecture, pottery, murals etc of these civilizations are beautiful and fascinating and our lovely tour guide Ivan explained a lot of it to us (in spanish!) The museum really inspired me to want to learn more about mexico's history and I also realized how history classes are in the US hardly mention these great civilizations which is really too bad. When when left the museum, we saw a spectacular performance of a traditional Totonac ritual of the "voladores" in which 4 men climb to the top of a 100 ft pole and attach themselves to 4 ropes and then fly upside down (!!!!) from the top of the pole to the ground and each volador rotates around the pole 13 times which in total equals 52 turns which represents the 52 year cycle of mesoamerican calender. I hate heights so I cannot imagine how they do this, but it was amazing to see and must be like flying. I took a video of a part of it that I can show people when I return!
In the afternoon, we went to the top of the hill in Chapultapec Park- which is a huge park somewhat similar to central park only with palm trees and many more vendors selling much more stuff- to visit the historic castle there which was built in the 18th century and became the palace of the french emperor of mexico Maximilian in the 1860s. The castle is now a historic museum, but the restored rooms and gardens of the castile are like rooms of a european castile and the view of the city is incredible!!! In the museum part, there were more murals about the history of mexico by famous artists- its amazing how important murals are in Mexico! We returned to the castle at night to see the performance of the Ballet Folklórico of mexico which was outside and used the castle as the backdrop. The dance performance was incredible- there were about 40 dancers and many, many different dances from all parts of mexico and live traditional music as well. one of the most energizing, fun and beautiful dance performances i have ever seen and the costumes were soooo gorgeous too!
The morning was devoted to the national museum of anthropology which is world famous and HUGE...you could spend days there because there are so many incredible things to see and learn. The museum is devoted to the history, art and culture of the many mesoamerican civilizations that existed in Mexico- of course the Aztecs and Mayans, but also lesser known groups and artifacts as well. The sculptures, architecture, pottery, murals etc of these civilizations are beautiful and fascinating and our lovely tour guide Ivan explained a lot of it to us (in spanish!) The museum really inspired me to want to learn more about mexico's history and I also realized how history classes are in the US hardly mention these great civilizations which is really too bad. When when left the museum, we saw a spectacular performance of a traditional Totonac ritual of the "voladores" in which 4 men climb to the top of a 100 ft pole and attach themselves to 4 ropes and then fly upside down (!!!!) from the top of the pole to the ground and each volador rotates around the pole 13 times which in total equals 52 turns which represents the 52 year cycle of mesoamerican calender. I hate heights so I cannot imagine how they do this, but it was amazing to see and must be like flying. I took a video of a part of it that I can show people when I return!
In the afternoon, we went to the top of the hill in Chapultapec Park- which is a huge park somewhat similar to central park only with palm trees and many more vendors selling much more stuff- to visit the historic castle there which was built in the 18th century and became the palace of the french emperor of mexico Maximilian in the 1860s. The castle is now a historic museum, but the restored rooms and gardens of the castile are like rooms of a european castile and the view of the city is incredible!!! In the museum part, there were more murals about the history of mexico by famous artists- its amazing how important murals are in Mexico! We returned to the castle at night to see the performance of the Ballet Folklórico of mexico which was outside and used the castle as the backdrop. The dance performance was incredible- there were about 40 dancers and many, many different dances from all parts of mexico and live traditional music as well. one of the most energizing, fun and beautiful dance performances i have ever seen and the costumes were soooo gorgeous too!
Friday, January 7, 2011
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