Guanajuato, Cervantes Style

I keep checking Mexican states off my list; this past weekend we headed to Guanajuato and Queretaro (probably my favorite to say) to see a little more of central Mexico. We started on Friday at Peña de Bernal, a monolith that dominates the landscape for miles. From there we went to a vineyard and winery which had a very Tuscan feel and was a nice place to relax after the hike.

On Saturday we moved on to Guanajuato where we started the day with the mummies of Guanajuato. The conditions of the climate and the soil caused many bodies in the area to mummify naturally, and there is a museum dedicated to them in the city. We also went to a museum that was formerly a prison used by the Spanish Inquisition here in Mexico. There was some interesting history, but the atmosphere of the museum was different from what I expected, with tour guides dressed as monks, Halloween-style spider webs everywhere, and fake skeletons strapped into the torture devices. Both of these museum bothered me a little bit, but I felt like I got my first glimpse of the slightly more cavalier Mexican attitude toward death, which I will probably be seeing a lot more of with Day of the Dead coming up.

From there we headed to the mine of La Valenciana. This was one of the large silver mines in Guanajuato, which was another interesting slice of history. There is a church built over the mine, but we weren’t able to go in because there was something going on inside. For the end of the day, we made our way to the town center. The centro is pretty different from Puebla’s because the town is built right into the valley and the surrounding mountains. The streets are much narrower and more winding, so you never know when you’re going to turn a corner and find yourself on top of the city with a beautiful view.

Even better, there was a Miguel de Cervantes Festival going on this weekend, so we got to see the town at its best. The streets were packed with tourists, locals, and the occasional minstrel dressed in Renaissance garb. There was lots of live music and street food, and a group of us decided to take a tour led by a group of the aforementioned minstrels, one of whom broke character with his gauges. He had some mad cape-twirling skills, though, so it was all good. They took us on a tour of the city’s winding back streets, pausing regularly to sing traditional Mexican songs and tell us stories about the area. We finished the night with possibly the best quesadilla I’ve had here yet, and of course a heartbreaking loss to FSU. (Was is though? We’ll never really know …  Either way, love thee Notre Dame!)

Just us and some minstrels, chilling in Guanajuato. 🙂

On Sunday we went to another town, San Miguel de Allende. This is a popular spot for Americans to retire, so while the town had a Mexican feel I did see a fair number of other gringos.  There were some incredible churches (of course) and a great handicraft market. We ate at a cool café with a rooftop view and wandered into a courtyard featuring a fountain with lily pads, an orange tree, and a Starbucks, and then headed back to Puebla.

Although the Festival Cervantino was the highlight of my weekend, I loved seeing the landscapes in these states. Its very rugged and mountainous, and the towns really seem to meld in with the landscape instead of sticking out or altering the natural setting; it’s incredibly beautiful. Who knows? Someday I might join the ranks of American retirees in San Miguel de Allende.

P.S. Sorry for the lack of pictures in this post. My iPhone got stolen a music festival in Mexico City a couple weeks ago, so any pictures are stolen from someone else.

Culture Shock: 10 Things

I’ve been here for nearly two months now, and while Mexico is heavily Americanized, it retains a very distinct cultural identity that still surprises me sometimes. Here are just 10 of the things I’ve noticed so far:

1. Everything is on military time, but most things are much less punctual.

2. Hardly any Mexicans, at least in this part of the country, own clothes dryers.  Its sunny and warm year round, so they hang laundry outside to dry.  It’s common to see clotheslines on roofs across the city.

3. People really do call you “amigo.” As in people you just met, or the guy at the cell phone place, or your waiter.  Everybody’s friends in Mexico.

4. A lot of television is American, and is either dubbed or has subtitles.  Some I’ve seen so far are Friends and Keeping Up With the Kardashians. Most of the radio stations play American music, too.

5. PDA (public displays of affection) is much more common here.  Sometimes it feels like there is a couple kissing on every street corner.

6. There are Starbucks here, but the most common coffee shop is The Italian Coffee Company.

7. People are extremely sincere. If they invite you to stay with them when you visit their city, it’s not just hospitable small talk; they really mean it. This is actually a little bit hard to adjust to, but it’s also very refreshing.

8. Everyone can dance really, really well. We’ve all learned a few steps of salsa, but it’s pretty obvious who the foreigners are as soon as we start to dance.

9. The most common greeting for women is a kiss on the cheek, not a handshake.

10. It’s common to add “ito” or “ita” to the end of words, which means “little.”  Sometimes they even add it on twice, if they really want to emphasize a point.  It’s adorable, but sometimes hard to translate. For example, chica means small, chicita mean very small, and chicitita is extra tiny.

Oaxaca

Oaxaca is sandwiched between Puebla and the Pacific Ocean, and tops the list of places people tell us to visit here in Mexico. We visited the state last weekend on our first Notre Dame coordinated trip and got to see a lot of the culture native to Oaxaca, although I did not get my first glimpse of the Pacific. The drive was beautiful, and looked a little more like the Mexico I imagined with lots of mountains, hillsides covered in cacti, and terraced fields (including a couple being worked by an actual horse and plow.)

First we went to see the Tree of Tule, a giant 2000 year old tree. While the tree itself was incredible, the best part was our probably 7-year-old tour guide who pointed out various shapes in the tree trunk and branches.  From there we went to Mitla, a Zapotec archaeological site.  Zapotec and another indigenous language, Mixtec, are still fairly commonly spoken in Oaxaca, and the site was really interesting with lots of intricate carvings and beautiful views.

Then we went to a valley known for their artisan crafts and got a demonstration from a rug maker.  The pieces are really beautiful, and all the yarn is hand made and dyed with traditional ingredients.  It was amazing how much work went into each piece they made.  I tried to spin some yarn, and was not at all successful, although he assured me I could learn with three months of practice.

Then we went to the city of Oaxaca itself, where we stopped by the church of Santo Domingo.  It was beautiful outside, but we couldn’t go in because there was a wedding going on.  This is one of my favorite things about the churches here in Mexico; not only are they beautiful and historical, they are still used by people and are a part of their lives and culture.  Plus, can you imagine getting married in a place with that much history and meaning?

We stayed in a hotel in the city of Oaxaca, and we explored a little, going to a chocolate store that makes the chocolate from local cacao beans right in front of you, and a club with great live salsa music.  Sunday morning we went to mass in the cathedral in the center of the city. Although it was a beautiful church, the most memorable moment was when a dog got into the church and ran up on the altar in the middle of mass.  There are some things that just don’t happen in America.

For our second day we went to a mezcal factory. Mezcal is an artisan liquor made from the same plant as tequila that was invented in Oaxaca, and is, according to our host brother, a big thing among hipsters (he says it ‘eepsters.)  Another handicraft native to Oaxaca is barro negro, or black pottery. We saw a demonstration of how its made from a man whose family has been making this pottery for several generations. Each piece was more beautiful than the next.

Our last stop was Monte Albán, one of the biggest archaeological sites in Mexico built by the Zapotecs. Unfortunately I didn’t get to see much of this because I was sick, but I got a couple of pictures.

Oaxaca was a perfect example of all the subcultures that still exist in Mexico. I’m looking forward to seeing more of these cultures on our future travels.

La Comida aka FOOD

Our host mom is great cook, so I’ve been taking full advantage of the food here in Puebla.  Mexican food is delicious, and while it is sometimes a couple days between vegetables, I’m learning to like all the different flavors, especially the spicy ones.

Arroz con leche: This is basically rice pudding (literally “rice with milk.)  I had this at a restaurant near UPAEP.  Mine was cold, but I’ve been told its even better warm.  It was sweet and creamy and fantastic.

Pipian (verde y rojo): This is a sauce made with chiles.  It wasn’t too spicy at first, but by the end of the meal I was drinking a lot of water. The red version has a really unique flavor, a little like mole. It was served over chicken and rice (no surprises there.)

Tacos de pastor: These are tortillas filled with meat (usually pork) covered in an unidentifiable, but very flavorful, orange sauce.  The meat is carved from giant rotating hunks of meat, which you are guaranteed to see if you walk along the street for more than a couple blocks.  It’s one of those things that tastes better if you don’t think too hard about where it came from.

Frijoles (beans): Before coming to Mexico, I thought I didn’t like refried beans. But guys, I have been converted; homemade, they are perfectly flavored and creamy and they go with anything. I know, because we have them with almost every meal (including breakfast.)

Rice: Looks like plain white rice, but tastes so much better.  How do they do it?!?

Mole poblano: This chocolate-based sauce was actually invented in Puebla.  You can definitely taste the chocolate, and it’s a little bit sweet but also spicy.  It takes a ton of ingredients to make and has a very complex flavor (I sound like a foodie, right?), and it was fabulous, too.

Tinga poblana: Another traditional dish from Puebla, this one was chicken with a red seasoning that was a little bit sweet.  It made great tacos.

Posole: A soup made with broth, onions, and pork and flavored with lime juice and chili powder.  It’s apparently very popular at Independence Day parties.

Chiles en nogada: This is a traditional dish made only in August and September, partly because that’s when the ingredients are ripe and partly to celebrate Mexican independence day on September 16. It’s a green pepper breaded and stuffed with meat, fruit, and nuts.  It’s then covered in a sweet white sauce and sprinkled with pomegranate seeds to create the red, green, and white of the Mexican flag (its the picture at the top.)  Its very rich, and not everyone liked them, but to me it tasted like a sweet, flavorful lasagna.

Pan dulce: Mexican pastries are pretty different from traditional American desserts.  Our host mom’s favorite sweet bread is conchas (shells), which are a crumbly, dry pastry with a crumbly, sugary icing on top.

Our host mom serves corn tortillas with every meal, along with homemade salsa which I only was brave enough to try after a couple of days. It’s interesting (and delicious) to see this part of the culture from a Mexican home.

Mexico City

Our latest venture took us to the capital, Mexico City, for a full two days of sight-seeing.  Although I’ve gotten this impression already from my time in Mexico, seeing this ancient city confirmed for me just how young the US really is.  Mexico City is built on the ruins of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital.  Tenochtitlan was built on chinampas, man-made floating gardens in the middle of Lake Texcoco, so the oldest parts of the city are prone to sinking.  Because they were built on a lake. More than 500 years ago. Yeah, the US is a baby.

We went to the cathedral first, which is located in the center of the city on the zocalo.  It was decked out for Independence Day, which is September 16.  From there we went to see the ruins of the Aztec pyramid that is literally right next to the cathedral.  Also on the zocalo was the Palacio Nacional, which is a government building where Diego Rivera painted an amazing mural of the history of Mexico, as well as murals depicting some of the native cultures. From there we went to the Palacio de las Bellas Artes, which houses the National Theater.

The Cathedral

The Cathedral from the Aztec ruins

 

Then we went to the Castillo de Chapultepec, which was the home of the Hapsburg Emperor Maximilian I that one time when Mexico had an emperor (what? Another thing I learned from this trip is that I need to brush up on my Mexican history.) It is housed in a city park that is larger than Central Park in NYC, and had great views of the city, which is home to about 20,000,000 people. Our last stop of the day was the Anthropology and History Museum, which was fantastic. It focuses on indigenous Mexican cultures, and I could have stayed there for twice as long as we had. My inner social scientist had a field day.  We finished the day in our hotel room (after a long and fruitless search for a bar with NBC) cheering the Irish to victory against Michigan. 🙂

The view from Castillo Chapultepec

Sunday our first stop was the Basilica of Guadalupe, which was built on the site of the appearance of the Virgin of Guadalupe to Juan Diego, an indigenous man.  To convince the bishop to build a church on the site, Mary had Juan Diego fill his cloak with roses.  When he presented the flowers to the bishop, the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe was left on his cloak, and Mexico’s most beloved icon was born. The original church is sinking (because lakes are not as good of foundations as you might think), so a new basilica has been built next to it to house the image, which remains unfaded after nearly 400 years.  To see the original image, you get on a conveyer belt which shuffles you across to make sure everyone gets a chance to see.  It was amazing to see, not only because of the miracle itself but because of the clearly visible impact this small piece of cloth has had on Mexican culture.

Our last stop was Teotihuacan, one of the most important pre-colombian centers. Teotihuacan is most famous for the Pyramids of the Sun and Moon and the Avenue of the Dead.  Not only are the pyramids feats of engineering and organized man-power, but the city itself is beautifully planned.  It blows my mind that the Spanish could have seen these cities and still thought the natives were savages (there was the whole issue of human sacrifice, but still.)  We had a blast taking pictures on top of the Pyramid of the Sun, and even the climb was fun when we played the Rocky theme.

The Pyramid of the Moon, leading to the Avenue of the Dead.

Mexico is gearing up for Independence Day in a week, and I’m looking forward to all the activities around town that day.  They seem like a country that knows how to celebrate, so it should be quite the fiesta.

Veracruz

Last weekend we went on a trip to the Port of Veracruz in Puebla’s neighboring state of Veracruz. It was a great chance to see another part of Mexico.  One of the biggest differences between Puebla and Veracruz is the weather; Puebla is 8,000 ft above sea level, so it stays a nice 70 degrees, while Veracruz, right on the coast, was 90 degrees all weekend.  This was perfect for Saturday, which we spent at the beach.  

The beach was surprisingly un-touristy, which we attributed to the fact that there are probably prettier beaches elsewhere.  But the sand was soft and the water was warm, so we didn’t mind being the only gringos around.  There were people selling everything from snacks to coconuts to music on the beach, and the ocean was full of sand dollars (in Spanish, galletas del mar, literally “cookies of the sea” or “sea biscuit.”) We weren’t able to watch the Notre Dame v. Rice game, but we sang the fight song on the way home.

Sunday we explored the fort of San Juan de Ulua, a Spanish complex on the north side of Veracruz that served alternately as a fort and a jail, where the crimes for which one could be imprisoned included witchery and Judaism. Now it is a museum and historical monument.  One of the coolest things was that you could see chunks of fossilized coral that had been built into the walls.

Afterwards we went to the Malecon, which is the older part of Veracruz. I’ve started to realize that most Mexican towns have a centro and a zocalo, or square, in the center of town, and Veracruz is no exception.  Their zocalo featured lots of palm trees and a white church, among other Spanish architecture.   The inside of the church wasn’t as ornate as some of the churches I’ve seen in Puebla, but it seemed to fit the more tropical setting.  We also got ice cream (I got half mango, half pineapple … when in Rome), which is apparently a Veracruz specialty, and went to La Parroquia, a restaurant chain in Veracruz famous for their coffee.  I don’t even like coffee, and I loved it.

This week we also started rotations in the hospitals (more on that later) and this weekend a few of us are going to Mexico City on an organized trip with UPAEP, our university.  We have a packed day Saturday, but we’re hoping to catch the Michigan game in the evening.  Go Irish!

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!