Zacatlan

Today was an exceptionally beautiful day in Puebla.  The sky was clear, and there was a beautiful view of the nearest snow-capped volcano this morning.  As the day wore on and the sky got hazier, even the distinct outline of the surrounding mountains was difficult to distinguish from the clouds that always seem to get caught on the highest peaks.  The landscape is so different from Indiana, but I’m growing to love the mountainous cradle that holds this city.  Last weekend, we ventured further into the state of Puebla, to the small town of Zacatlan de las Manzanas (Zacatlan of the Apples.)

Before going to the town, we went to the Valley of las Piedras Encimadas (literally, stacked rocks).  A few of us rented horses (mine was named Canela), and took a tour of the park that way.  Its basically a series of strange rock formations, some of which resemble, for example, King Kong or a mother and baby, but it was a beautiful morning and a fun way to see the valley.

As you may have guessed from the name, Zacatlan is famous for its apple crop, and the various ciders, juices, and fruit liqueurs made from these apples.  We toured a small cider factory, and sampled some sparkling cider. The town also has a history of clock-making, so we toured a small clock museum.  After the tour, they told us there was a “robot show” that we should check out, so we went out to the front of the building to find a series of doors that opened one by one to reveal vaguely creepy life-size dolls that danced.  Each was supposed to represent a different state of Mexico, but what really stuck with me was the fact that most of the dolls appeared to only have left hands. Not exactly what we were expecting, but we got a laugh from it.

The highlight of the day for me was visiting the Tuliman waterfalls.  We had to hike down a long switchback road for about 40 minutes to get to the waterfalls themselves, but it was a picturesque view of valleys and mountains the whole way down, culminating in a series of low waterfalls and rapids.  We swam in one of the pools between falls despite temperatures cold enough that a few people completed their ice bucket challenges in the water.  After we dried off, we decided to ride back up in a pickup and stop at another waterfall along the way.  The cascada we stopped at was a grand series of three falls that threw up enough mist to cover the rocky walls surrounding them with greenery.  And in a way, riding in the back of a pickup was a part of our initiation to Mexico just as much as getting out of the city of Puebla and into the country.

 

 

Tomorrow we are going to the port of Veracruz for the weekend.  We’re going to go to the first Mexican beach of our stay, and see some of the historical parts of the port.  I helped plan this trip, and the process definitely made me appreciate travel agents, so this weekend will feel like a well-earned vacation.  Look for pictures soon!

First Week of School

The semester has officially begun!  Classes started Monday, and it feels good to be getting into a routine.  I’m taking four classes at UPAEP, a university here in Puebla, and in two weeks I will start an internship in a hospital where I will be shadowing doctors and observing medical practices in Mexico.  Although we haven’t done much yet, I think my classes will be interesting; I’m taking Cultures of Pre-hispanic America, Dialogues Between Science and Religion, Drawing, and Physics.  Everything is in Spanish except Physics, which is hard enough in English.  

There are other Notre Dame students and Americans in all of my classes besides Drawing.  The professors are very understanding, and most of them know a little English, so they try to slow down and explain if they see that we aren’t getting something. 

The Mexican students are eager to help, too. My drawing class consists of mostly first year graphic design majors, so I am quite the oddity.  When they found out I was from the U.S., half the class piped up, “I have a cousin in Sacramento! My aunt lives in Houston! I have family in Maine!” I explained that Indiana is pretty far from all of these places, but it was cute to see them trying to connect with me.  When the teacher explained what materials we would need, and they saw that I was confused, they all pulled out their pencils and sketch pads and walked me through everything and where I could get it.  Some things are get lost in translation (for instance, the teacher was trying to translate the word “penumbra,” or the space between light and dark, and he came up “twilight zone”) but with some Spanglish and hand motions I think I’ve gotten most of the important points.

We don’t have syllabi or book lists for most of our classes, and its much more common for people, students and teachers, to come to class a few minutes late.  Sometimes I find myself wishing for the structure of Notre Dame, especially as I watch everyone else go back to class there, but I’m learning to enjoy the more relaxed atmosphere here.  Tomorrow we are going to a small town in the state of Puebla called Zacatlan, so look for pictures of that soon!

Orientation Week 2

We just finished our second week of orientation here in Puebla, and I’ve already started to refer to our host family’s house as home.  I’m starting to get a sense of the city and the culture here.

Cholula is the smaller city right next to Puebla; one of its claims to fame is that you could go to a different church every day of the year there. One of the most famous Spanish churches is located on top of a pre-Hispanic Toltec pyramid with the largest base of any pyramid in the world.  That’s some pretty loaded historical symbolism.  Everything is brightly colored, with a lot of oranges and yellows, but in a colonial style.  From the top of the pyramid, you could see the two volcanoes, Popocatepetl (Popo for short) and Izaccihuatl, which in Mexican folklore represent a Romeo-and-Juliet type story of two lovers.  Popo, the active volcano, is the weeping warrior, while Izaccihuatl, which is inactive, is his sleeping princess.  Cholula also has great night life and lots of tourist-y shops.

The church of Our Lady of the Remedies, which sits atop a pyramid formerly dedicated to the Mesoamerican deity Quetzalcoatl.

I’ve been to the center of Puebla (el centro) a couple times now, but there is something new to see every time.  The zocalo is the square in the middle of town, and the grid of streets radiates out from there.  The cathedral is located in the middle, along with a fountain and plaza.  Everything is beautifully designed, with cobblestone streets and Spanish architecture.  One of my favorite things I’ve seen so far was the Chapel of the Rosary in the church of Santo Domingo.  Our tour guide told us it was famous for the all the gold work in the chapel, and when I walked in I was impressed by the enormous golden altar.  But then, at the back of the church, I turned in to the Chapel of the Rosary and my jaw literally dropped.  Everything is covered in intricately painted gold patterns: the walls, the ceiling, the picture frames … everything.  I took some pictures, but they don’t capture being surrounded by so much golden light.

Chapel of Our Lady of the Rosary.

Orientation has been a bit disorganized, but we’ve been meeting some other international students, mainly from Europe and South America.  When we mentioned the disorderliness to our host brother, he said, “Welcome to Mexico!” The disorderliness extends to traffic (clear lines on the road are rare) and bus arrival times (supposedly every 15 minutes, although we’ve waited for 45), but in the end it comes back to people who are welcoming and open and happy to help a group of mildly confused Americans.

Our group is starting to bond as well.  I just got back from playing soccer with them, and am really looking forward to the start of classes and the rest of the semester to come.

The First Three Days

Buenos días!  We’ve been in Mexico for three days  now, and everything is starting to sink in.  We flew into Mexico City on Monday.  I couldn’t believe how huge it was; it stretched on for miles and miles, but I could see lots of soccer fields even from the air. 🙂  We took a two hour bus ride to Puebla through the mountains (at least the part I was awake for was mountainous), and met our host moms at the bus stop.  Even though the Spanish was pretty basic the first day, I felt like every interaction I had started in Spanish, and ended in me saying, “What?” and them switching to English.  It has already started to get better, though, and our host mom slows everything down for us if we need it.

Our house is in a gated community, Estrellas del Sur (Stars of the South), along with most of the other Notre Dame students.  We’ve ridden to class together the past couple days, but today we’re going to try the bus for the first time.  Wish us luck!  UPAEP, the university we’re attending, is about 20 minutes away.  We’ve started orientation classes there, which are mainly focused on medical spanish and basic medical procedures (taking blood pressure, reading a blood sample) with a healthy mix of grammar.  Our professor is bilingual, and so far its been about half and half English and Spanish, but we will have to work up to 100% Spanish by next week, when we’ll join the other international students for a second week of orientation.

This is the view from my bedroom.  Yes, those are palm trees.

On Tuesday night, we walked to, believe it or not, an English pub across the street from our neighborhood.  They had English flags and posters, and were playing old American music videos (think Ignition Remix and the original Footloose).  It was a good chance to get to know everyone in our group (there are 20 of us.)  We’re still mainly speaking English among ourselves, which for now is a nice break from the Spanish.

Yesterday after class we went to the Museo Amparo, which is in the center of Puebla.  It was about a 30 minutes walk from UPAEP, but as we got closer we could see the architecture changing to a more and more colonial style.  The museum had a great collection of pre-Colombian and Colombian art, but the best part was when we got to the roof, which had an amazing view of the city.  Everywhere we looked were colorful domes and steeples, and even the volcanoes in the distance.

I’ve gone to bed tired every night, but I can tell that I am learning a ton, and my comprehension has improved already.  This weekend we are going to a safari park in Puebla with our host families, which we are looking forward to, but I’m also excited to explore some on Saturday.  Adios!