Tuxtla Gutiérrez (22-23 dic)

Tuxtla is the capital of Chiapas, and where I started my travels through the state. It’s pretty small and there’s not much to do...I did all the cool stuff on my first day there and then was pretty bored my second haha. But when I got there Sunday morning I met this Spanish guy named Carlos at breakfast and we decided to go to el Cañón de Sumidero together. It’s this giant canyon in the next town over called Chiapas de Corzo. When the Spaniards were fighting the indigenous population there, and the Chiapas realized that they were going to lose, they decided to jump off the cliff en masse instead of facing defeat to the Spaniards. I really wanted to hike to the different miradors at the top of the canyon, but apparently that takes about 3 days (or an overpriced cab ride), so I settled on taking a boat down through the canyon.  The views were spectacular! The highest point of the cliff is 1km straight up! Una locura. There were also some waterfalls we saw along the way, and lots of wildlife. The entire boat ride was a little over 2 hours, and when it was over, we wandered about the town a bit before heading back to Tuxtla.

It is HOT here! Like 36 degrees in the day. I love it. Except for the fact that you could not pay me to wear pants in that kind of heat. Yet the men here apparently have never seen legs before and feel the need to comment on them when I walk by on the street. Like why do I have to sacrifice the comfort of not getting sexually harassed for the comfort of not getting heat stroke??

After we got back to Tuxtla, we went to the zoo. It was pretty cool; it only has animals native to Chiapas, and they all live in environments as similar as possible to their home environments in the wild. Like all the animals that could be dangerous to humans are obviously caged in, but they have huge enclosures that they can run around in, and many of them have stone walls instead of cages, and you view the animal from above. And there were some animals that were just free to roam about the entire zoo! Super cool.

That night Carlos headed to San Cristóbal de las Casas, and I probably should have gone with him, but I had already paid for 2 nights at the hostel in Tuxtla, so I stayed there. The next day I wandered about the city a bit before going to a marimba museum. It’s an instrument kind of like a glockenspiel or vibraphone, and is traditional to the region. We had seem some playing in the zócalo in Oaxaca, but had not known what they were called. Every night in the parquet Marimba in Tuxtla, they have musicians playing and people from the town dance the marimba. I went that night to watch which was pretty cool. All Mexicans know how to dance! I’m so jealous! Monday I tried going to a few other museums, but they were all closed. I wandered through the botanical gardens and went to a couple little markets and the zócalo (where they have an ice-skating rink and a fake snow hill to slide down). But yes, there’s not much to do there.

I am currently on a bus to San Cristóbal and am literally in the clouds.  And we just keep getting higher! I’ll be spending Christmas here, and although I’ve been told its cold, I think it will pale in comparison to the crazy ice storm everyone is facing back home right now.

Feliz navidad!

Puebla

El Zócalo

Well my travels have gotten off to a bit of a rocky start, but it’s all smoothing out now.  The bus company doesn’t accept foreign credit cards online, and I’m not eligible for a Mexican one yet.  So I couldn’t buy my ticket in advance.  I showed up to the bus station Friday over an hour before the bus I wanted to catch was (to Tuxtla), and after waiting over 45 minutes in line, I was told that there weren’t any available until Sunday!  I didn’t want to wait until Sunday to go, so instead I caught a bus to Puebla, hoping I could get a bus from Puebla to Tuxtla Saturday night instead of Sunday.  Except now I was going to be getting into Puebla at like 1am with no hostel reservation.  Oh, and I also forgot my teacher credential, which gets you a 25% discount on all bus trips during the holidays!

The inside of one of many churches I saw

Luckily the first hostel I showed up to in Puebla had a free bed, and I was able to get a Saturday night bus to Tuxtla, so all is good now.  But travelling during holiday times is horrible—the bus stations are all like zoos!  Like imagine how busy airports and stuff are in Canada during the holidays, and then put 5 times as many people.  There are just so many Mexicans.

Loving the hand-painted tiles everywhere!

Puebla was actually really nice though.  It’s only 2 hours from DF, so I think I’m definitely going to come back for a weekend in the new year, as I did not see nearly as much as I wanted to.  Also, in Cholula, the next town over, there are ruins which I want to check out.

The Cathedral...pretty much like every other Cathedral

First I went to the Ex-Convento de Santa Rosa, where apparently the nuns cooked the first ever mole.  There was a museum attached that I wanted to go to, but it was closed for renovations.  So then I checked out the Museo de la Revolucion which was pretty interesting.  From there I went to one of the many markets and had some delicious mole enchiladas.  Mole is just like the best thing ever.  I then went to the Museo Amparo which was incredible! I wasn’t going to go, as I had read that the museum was known for its colonial art (which doesn’t interest me at all), and its pre-hispanic artifacts (which do interest me, but I’ve already seen the best collection in Mexico at the Museo de Anthropologia in DF, and all the other collections kinda pale in comparison).  But I was walking by and decided to look in at what exhibits they had on, and it was free for the 2 weeks around Christmas!  There was an amazing exhibit that was 3 floors of the photographer Kati Horna’s work (who has the same birthday as me!).  She was born in Hungary, and then moved to Germany because of the First World War.  Then she lived in France for a bit, before travelling through Spain documenting the civil war.  She eventually settled in Mexico, and her work was so interesting.  Even some of the shots taken in the 30s looked like they could be today.  The way she captured human nature and had that transcend the time and place which it was shot was really cool.  Like there was a photo of these kids playing while the Spanish civil war was happening around them.  And aside from the clothes they were wearing, it could have been a shot from today.  And then there was this one called Museo de Cera, which was a shot of a couple wax statues, but she caught the unimpressed face of a teenage girl reflected in the glass.  Her husband was a graphic designer, and she did a lot of cool photo-collages with him as well.  I think my favourite though was a group of 3 photos called Muros de Mexico.  Almost all her work was in black and white except for these 3 shots of colourful walls on the streets of Mexico.  The colours were so vibrant!  They were very reminiscent of Rothko, except in photography form.

View from the roof of Museo Amparo

The roof of the museum had a beautiful view over the whole city…you could see all the different church tops standing out amongst the tops of all the other buildings.  The first floor of the museum also had a cool installation piece by Edgardo Aragón.  There were about 15 large flatscreen TVs in portrait view next to each other forming a semi-circle around the viewer.  And on each screen was a musician suited up, standing on some rock of other formation in the middle of the desert.  And then they all started to play, with the background behind each one of them static, and them the only ones moving on the screen.  It was a pretty cool experience.

One of the circus acts at the Posada!

After that I went to another museum where I saw the plans and projections Ernesto Tamarinz made of a number of sculptures and monuments he created around the country.  And then I saw an exhibit by an artist named Fernandez Ramírez Osorio.  He had work in a number of different styles, but I most preferred his abstract work.  I then got a tour of the Palacio de Ayuntamiento (the legislative assembly), before heading to the Zócalo to check out the Posada celebrations.  They had piñatas for the kids the break filled with toys for kids whose families’ can’t afford to get them presents which was nice.  And then they had some pretty cool circus acts.  I couldn’t stay long as I had to catch my bus to Tuxtla, but I’d say it was definitely an enjoyable detour.

And now on to Chiapas!

December in DF

I finally got my IFE (voter ID card).  Well I didn’t actually get the card, but I got approved for the card, and on the 23^rd it will be ready for pick up.  Once I have my IFE I can get into museums for free on Sundays, and open a bank account other than an “express” account, and get my passport, and get my social security number for free healthcare and stuff.  Finally!  They make you jump through hoops to get stuff here, and there are so many services in Mexico you can’t access without you IFE.  So yay!

Los maestros de primaria 

I also got an apartment!  I don’t move in until January, but it’s BEAUTIFUL!  My friend lives there now, but he’s moving to Guadalajara at the end of the month, so I’m going to take his room.  His roommate had a party, so I went to it to meet her and she was super nice, and said that the other roommate is leaving as well and there’s going to be a French exchange student living with us.

My Secret Santa present with my Secret Santa!

So I have my IFE, an apartment, and…3 jobs?  Yea, I’m not quite sure how that happened, but now on top of working at the school and the private classes outside of school, I’m also working on an iPad app.  Miriam had been doing it back in Toronto and recommended me to the people for more work.  It’s actually pretty cool, the app has all these different children’s books, and the kids can touch anything in the illustration, and a label will come up saying what it is (table, girl, window, etc.).  So my job is to go through each page of the books and highlight and label everything.  It’s kinda boring, but I can sit outside where there’s wifi and work on it, and it’s fairly simple, so more money for travelling! Yay!

The grade 3/4 Spanish teacher taking a swing at the piñata

December at school has been full of interruptions with the kids practicing for the Christmas play and doing other Christmas activities (because you’re allowed to celebrate Christmas at school in a Catholic country).  The students from preparatoria put on a Christmas play about a church group putting on a nativity play, and they had the kids from primaria sing various songs throughout.  They were so adorable!  My kids did Silent Night, and then the Justin Bieber version of “Santa Claus is Comin to Town,” and I even choreographed a little dance to it for them, which was super cute.  The final week of classes half my grade 3s were away, so it was super calm.  We had to make a piñata with each class for the posada, and then the kids had to make presents and cards to give their parents.  And the kids that were in dance or theatre were constantly being pulled from class to rehearse for their end-of-the-year show.  So I was essentially a babysitter for the last week of classes.  On the final day we had a big pic-nic/potluck, and then the posada, which is a Mexican Christmas tradition.  First you sing some traditional posada songs, and then you get to break open the piñata! All the kids were very excited that it was my very first posada.  Also during the last week, there was a lunch for all the teachers, and we all exchanged our secret santa presents.  The grade 5/6 English teacher had me, and gave me this beautiful handmade shawl from Oaxaca!

El Zócalo all lit up for Christmas!

Outside of school, has been pretty quiet…I went out to celebrate one of the teacher’s birthdays one night, and then one day I went and saw the final fútbol match of the season at a bar.  The team my Mexican friends were cheering for lost to Léon.  Aside from that just getting super stoked for Christmas vacations!

Real Mexican (25 nov- 1 dec)

I had the best week!  I had my first private English class with a woman who is the head of HR at a company.  I've been hired to do some extra classes on the side by this Canadian guy who owns a language school, so it was cool to have my first one.  He's going to try to get me more classes in the new year when more kids sign up, but he's giving me anything that comes up now which is nice.  The lady was super nice, and it was a conversation class, so it was pretty chills.  I swung by the hostel afterwards for the BBQ night and got to see all my friends there which was really nice.  Friday was a PD day so I only had to go in for 4 hours which was great.  I also learned never to wear shorts in Mexico City.  They weren't even that short!  But I had to deal with so many creepy catcalls...never again.  After our meetings the teachers learned a dance that we have to perform at the Christmas pageant...I'm not really sure why the teachers have to dance in it, but it was fun (if a bit ridiculous).  Afterwards I went out with all the teachers to a mall nearby for some ice cream, and it was really cool to get to know them better outside of class.  They're all so sweet!

That night I went to check out an apartment, and initially I thought it was the prefect location, because it was walking distance to 4 different metro lines!  So after seeing the apartment I asked if it was safe to walk the 4 blocks from the metro home alone at night and they were like "definitely not. You need to take a cab," and then I was like uuuuh ok, well I'm just gonna take the trolebus now (the stop was half a block away), and the guys were like "yea...we'll walk you there."  So I definitely don't want to live in a place where I can't even walk half a block alone at night safely...pretty sketch.

My friend Steve that I met when I was staying at the hostel had left DF and then come back, so I went out to Condesa to meet up with him and a Swedish guy later, and it was really fun!  Saturday I became a true Mexican...I went to a pulqueria.  My friend Jonathon said I HAD to go experience one since I had never been, so we rolled up to this old building with saloon type swing doors and walked into this place filled with old Mexican men.  There was one table of young guys, but I was the only female in the entire place.  So we each ordered our pulque, and then when they brought it to our table we each got a 1 litre jar!  And this stuff is really heavy--it's like a meal!  So that was a surprise.  And then one of the old guys was like "Come here you have to have a taco with us!  It's tradition!"  And then they all had to cheers me and they all applauded for me when I left.  It was pretty funny/ridiculous.  We then headed to the south of the city to a bar to try some Mexican specialty called Pedo de Gorila (Gorilla's fart).  And then we went all the way up north to go to apparently the tacqueria with the best guacamole in the city.  So now I'm like a Mexico City pro.

Sunday I checked out an apartment that I love.  My friend is moving to Guadalajara at the end of December, and he said I could take his room if I want it.  The apartment is so beautiful, and there's a market across the street and a panaderia and tortilleria next to it!  and the kitchen and bathroom were decorated with hand painted tiles, and there's roof top access!  I want to live there right now haha.  After that I met up with Steve again in Coyoacan and walked around.  It's so cute there!  It doesn't even feel like you're in Mexico City...it's like it's own little town in the south of this massive city.  Lenin came and found me there and then we went to this open air cinema thing which was super cool!  It was a German art house film with Spanish subtitles, but I still managed to understand most of it, so that was encouraging!

There's seriously so many things to do in this city, you would never run out of things to do even if you spent your whole life here.  It's insane! and awesome!

Exploring Mexico State (19-24 Nov)

There are so many things I don’t understand about Mexico. Like how there are not more half-blind women. Seriously though, they all take the time during their morning commute to do their makeup, and they apply mascara on a moving, lurching subway train. How have more of them not poked their eyes out?? And they all have black eyelashes to begin with, I don’t understand the necessity. Also, they use like half a bottle with each application. On the rare occasions I do use mascara, it’s about 2 swipes on each eye and I’m done in about 30 seconds…they will literally be going back and forth between each eye for a good 5 stops before they move onto their lips.  And using lipliner on a moving train seems like almost as bad an idea is poking a wand of black goo super close to your eye.

Also, little girls here have dyed hair and wear makeup.  And not like dressup makeup, or temporary pink streaks.  Like full on faces of makeup and highlights in their hair.  It’s kinda creepy.  I haven’t seen this on any of the kids at school, but I have on the street.  At school, the kids have to their dress uniforms on Mondays, and all the little girls have these adorable little bows in their hair.  And some of their hairdos are really intense!  Like all gelled back…it’s pretty crazy!

Last weekend I went with the guys I met in Guanajuato and some of their friends to this little farm type place and we had a BBQ there! They were all super nice, and at one point this old lady came by where we were.  We had climbed under a fence to get there, so we thought she was going to get mad at us, but then she just started chatting and joined us for our BBQ! We made her some tacos, and she gave us some chilacayote, to throw on the grills. She was super stoked that I was from Canada…I was the first Canadian she had ever met! And since it was starting to rain a bit she said I had to come back and see her village on a day with nicer weather… so sweet! Although it drizzled a bit, it was still like 15 degrees yet they were all dressed like they were ready for snow! I was in shorts and a tanktop, and Fer, one of Jonathon’s friends, was wearing a toque and winter coat!!

After we got back to the city we headed to a bar where I tried pulque! It’s this thick drink made from cactus and it was pretty good. And then we went to a mezcalería for some mezcal which was also delicious!

I’m still apartment hunting…I really want the hostel manager’s apartment (he moves next week), but it’s a two bedroom, so I need to find a roommate if I want to take it. It’s walking distance to one of the only 2 public pools in the entire city, super close to 2 metro stops, and has a market on the street just outside every week!  But everyone that’s considered taking it with me hasn’t been able to commit L

Work is good, everyone is super friendly, and my Spanish is improving a ton!  There are still soo many museums I want to check out here, and so many cities I want to visit while I’m here…and I can’t wait to travel around during Christmas!!