Spanish 201 - Mexico Revisited
June's Other Adventures
Thursday, January 3rd, 2008
3:30 am is an ungodly hour to get up when you’ve just gone to bed at midnight. We arrived home from Cuba at 7:30 pm last evening and after time at the office, running some errands and doing three loads of laundry, I finally got to bed at midnight but was so strung out I couldn’t sleep. 3:30 came way too fast. The taxi arrived promptly at 4:15 and off we were in -15 degree weather to start our next journey.
At Pearson the ticket agent lectured us for not confirming our flight – apparently our flight from Atlanta to Leon (our destination) had been cancelled and we waited ˝ hour while he tried to rebook us. It meant that instead of arriving at 12:45 pm as per the original schedule, we had to wait six hours in the Monterrey airport and arrived in Leon at 7 pm. Minus one suitcase (glad it was Michael’s and not mine or I’d been a basket case). Fernando was waiting for us and I felt a little like home when we piled into his Ontario plated car. He and his assistant had driven here from Oakville in three days – WOW – what a drive that must have been. But worth it as now ‘we have wheels’ and he’s already sold the van for the day after we leave.
The drive to San Miguel de Allende was 90 minutes and the roads are so much better than in Cuba. But each little town has speed bumps that are really high and long and if you don’t almost stop to go over them you will ruin your car.
The shock value of seeing the Cathedral all lit up that evening was incredible. One of the most beautiful sights we have seen. Just so very very pretty – a Cathedral so unlike any we have seen in other parts of the world. We had a nice meal in a restaurant around the perimeter of the Plaza Publico (known to everyone as the ‘jardin’) – this town certainly has no shortage of restaurants. But it’s cold – colder than I thought it would be and I shivered all through the meal.
Our house is down a very narrow street – all cobblestones. It is very old but nicely kept up and very large. Our room has all the amenities we lacked last year in Merida – drawers and hangers for our clothes, towels and soap – the only thing missing is heat as it appears there is no way to heat our room. Climbing into bed reminded me of those nights in the cabin at the lake when we climbed into frozen sheets.
Friday, January 4, 2008
Our room was 14 degrees when we woke up and it’s tough to climb into a shower at that temperature – but hey – the water was warm !! We had no idea what to do for breakfast until shortly after nine Maria (our host) knocked on our door with a tray of food. Hot coffee and fruit and biscuits. Wow – room service !! Maria is very nice lady – she was wearing a parka with a fur hood all tied tight around her face and she looked frozen. Muy frio !! I think I’ll hear that a lot.
We had agreed to meet Fernando at the Plaza Publico at 10 so we started walking but when we got to the edge of town thought perhaps we should ask for directions. Yes – we were walking in the wrong direction. When we got to the Plaza we parked ourselves on a bench in the sun and hoped to warm up. In a short while a Mexican came up to us and offered to do Michael’s shoes – not knowing what was happening Michael declined and then the fellow pointed over to Fernando sitting there in his shoeshine chair smiling away. While I waited for both Fernando and Michael to have their shoes done, the lady sitting beside me told me that she brings her white running shoes to him every so often as he can get them cleaner than she can. They looked brand new. Turns out she is from Aurora Ontario so she settled in to tell me all about San Miguel de Allende. She says there are so many ‘gringos’ in this town that if any restaurant served bad food the word would get around so fast the restaurant would be shut down in no time. She said she drinks the water right from the tap and she walks around alone in the evenings with no fear as this is a very safe town. She got up to leave and came back three times to tell me more things she was thinking of – when I told her we’d been here only a day she felt she really had to indoctrinate us.
Fernando led us all over the town and we walked our feet off. This will be a ‘sneakers’ trip for me – the only shoes I can walk in. In the early morning the sidewalks are all wet as everyone washes their own sidewalk – I could even smell bleach or disinfectant. As there is no poured cement, the stones can be quite slippery when they are wet so we have to be very careful. This town is so very much different than Havana – it’s beautiful here and when looking at the Havana buildings one can only imagine how beautiful they might have been had they been kept up. This is a very colourful town with each building painted in a different colour – some pastels and some quite bright – but nothing is dingy like in Havana. They obviously take a lot of pride in their properties here – something rare in Cuba as there is no incentive there. Here I can walk and look up at the same time – in Havana I always had to look down for fear of stepping in dog poop or a hole in the sidewalk. It is easy to see why this town has one of the biggest Canadian snowbird populations in Mexico.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Today we walked up to Maria’s kitchen for breakfast. We, the students, are on the lower floor and she and her husband live upstairs. She and Michael have hit it right off and they chat away in Spanish just fine. Occasionally I will ask Michael (in English) what a certain word I’ve heard either of them say, means. She is very good in that she speaks slowly and when she sees the stunned look on my face (which is often) she will repeat it even slower. This will be a good experience for me but sometimes I think my brain is in backwards. I’ll say “helo” when it should be “olah” (I wish I’d never learned French as I get really mixed up). By now I should at least know how to say hello in Spanish.
Today was a day trip to Guanajuato City. We met Fernando in the plaza and there we met up with our driver – just the three of us. Our driver spoke broken English but I could understand him and boy – did he have a wealth of knowledge. He has a masters in history and teaches at the local university – so today was his day to shine and tell us over an eight hour period everything he knows. It was in incredibly interesting day as we stopped at little villages along the way and he told us the history of that area. Guanajuato is about 1 ˝ hour drive from SMA (as the locals call San Miguel de Allende) over the mountains. SMA is on a mountain plain, surrounded all around by peaks of various heights and shapes. Our driver knows a lot of geography as well as history and talked about the formation of this area of the country going back to the ice age. This area of Mexico is very dry and there is only vegetation that can survive in a dry soil with little rain. There is no humidity here and I’m assuming the climate is quite like Arizona. There are big ranches along the way – mega acres – most of the ranches are for cattle. Every once in a while you see a ranch with a green field of some vegetable and our driver tells us that is because they have dug their own well very deep for the water and that is a costly operation to pump that water. Our driver is into ecology and tells us that this part of Mexico is in serious trouble as the water table may not last for another TEN years. Wow – that’s too scary !!
Guanajuato is a town that was built around and over a winding river back in the sixteenth century. But long ago the river dried up so they paved the river bed and now this town, which is built on the mountain foothills, has tunnels everywhere underneath the town. I found this just so very fascinating. Thirty kms of one way drivable tunnels underneath the town. We parked in one of the underground parking areas and walked around the town – no sign of deterioration here – these buildings were built in the 1700’s and they have been painted and spiffy-ed up so that it looks like a movie set. Absolutely gorgeous. Even the university, which was built in the 1950’s is built in the same style of the old buildings so that everything fits in. Its Saturday so the artisan’s stands are everywhere with their jewelry, leather works, carvings, pottery, knitting, paintings – no lack of ‘stuff’ here.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Today is Tres Reyes Magos or ‘Three Kings Day’ in Mexico – the last of the 12 days of Christmas. It is the Mexican children’s equivalent to our Christmas as they were allowed to open their presents last night. According to the tradition, the Kings come from the Orient on their camels to visit the houses of all the children, who leave food and drink out because this is the only night of the year the camels eat. Rosca de Reyes – a sweet twisted loaf of bread also known as the Crown of the Kings – is eaten everywhere as families and friends celebrate.
We walked downtown to the library and waited for the ‘house and garden’ tour to begin. Every Sunday they tour three houses that the owners have volunteered to exhibit (and as we learned later, at least one is for sale). Volunteers were swarming everywhere, identified by their name badges – and they were all US or Cdn snowbirds. They had it pretty well organized for such a crowd – one told us that last week there were 450 people. At $15 per person they raise some significant funds every week and it all goes to support children’s programs at the library and educational scholarships for Mexican children. .Today we had six buses – they use the city buses that are not normally in use on Sunday. As each of us had a name badge with our first name and city we could easily identify where everyone came from and the group was probably about 75% US and the rest was Canadian or other parts of the world. A whole lot from Texas as for them it’s just a ten hour drive.
We toured three huge houses – all of them built within the past five years but all of them built in “the colonial style” so now I’m very confused. Each of these houses looked like they’d been built tens of years ago – so now when I look at a building I don’t know if it’s old or new and made to look old. Very smart of these people to keep all the houses looking similar. But inside was another story – wow – were they decorated !! A fascinating trip. One woman from Ottawa was telling us that five years ago she and her husband came to visit friends in SMA and after two weeks they purchased a house. Then for the next six weeks she went on the house tour every Sunday just for decorating ideas.
Around 9’ish Maria invited us upstairs for some Rosca de Reyes and hot chocolate. Boy was that good. It had warmed up quite nicely today in the sunshine but the homes, because they are all made of stone and cement, hold the cold so our room is really quite cool. The hot chocolate hit the spot. Maria’s husband was there and you can tell he’s a rancher as he really looks the part, complete with cowboy hat and boots. Two other students have arrived, a father and son from California. The father teaches Spanish but accompanied his son so he could become more fluent in conversational Spanish. They will be going to the same school we are. So the six of us sat around the table chatting away in Spanish and I pick up every fourth or fifth word and try and figure out what they are talking about. Michael is right in there and enjoying every minute but for me it’s a struggle.
Monday, Jan 7 2008
Our first day at class and immediately I knew this year would be better than last. My classmates are two women, probably around my age, both a bit better than I in Spanish grammar knowledge, and our teacher will NOT let any of us speak any English. If I can’t learn now I never will. I’m finding I can understand a whole lot more than I can speak and it’s so embarrassing when the teacher asks me a question – I understand the question but I simply cannot find the words to answer. Socorro is our grammar teacher and Enriche is our conversation teacher. Four hours flew by – both Michael and I commented that we couldn’t believe how fast those hours went. We’ll see if we think the same way after three weeks.
Class was out at 1 pm and then we walked down to the library so I could do a send/receive on my emails as it appears that’s the only place in town where one can get free wireless access. Then back to our ‘home’ where we were served a wonderful lunch. In Mexico the ‘meal of the day’ is in the afternoon – lunch time is from 2 to 4 pm and that may or may not include a siesta (in Michael’s case it does, in my case I do computer work). Lunch is really dinner by Cdn standards and for supper in the late evening, Mexican’s have a very small meal by comparison.
At 4 pm we headed back to the school and Jorge was there to take us on a walking tour of the town. His talk was all in Spanish so again I only got about one tenth of what he had to say. Then, in my mind, I try to piece together what I have understood and I’m sure my interpretation is far from the story he told.
After the tour we headed to Harry’s Bar for Happy Hour and then ‘back home’ for dinner at 8 pm. It’s now 9 pm and I must quit and get my homework done.
Tuesday, Jan 8, 2008
Today I actually felt like I made progress in class – our teachers – all three of them – are very good and still refuse to allow a word of English. We now have a class of four …Anna, a retired French teacher, Marya, a writer on sabbatical, Frank, a retired US Army lawyer and me. No US college students at this school like we had in Merida last year – this year all students are ‘mature’ (or should be judging by the grey hair). Even at lunch today, our host Maria wants to help me learn, so she read over my notes from this morning and corrected my spelling mistakes. So much help – if I don’t make progress now, I never will !!
When school got out at 1 pm we hiked on down to the library for the wireless internet connection but had to make sure we’re back home for our dinner at 2 pm. Absolutely wonderful meal at 2 today – Maria has Lidya – a young Mexican girl who helps out around the house – and between the two of them they sure can cook up a wonderful meal. While we are enjoying our dinner I wonder about Alejandro, out on the ranch, and wonder who is serving his dinner.
At 3 Fernando picked us up in his ‘Ontario’ van and off we went to see the countryside. What I didn’t know is that Michael had already pre-arranged with Fernando to take us to see the local golf clubs – so we toured golf courses – something I should be very used to. We also, on a lark, stopped into one of the many new ‘gated communities’ just to see what they were all about and listened anxiously as the agent told us all about a new community development that actually started to make ‘investment’ sense to us. We took the CD that told us all about it and headed back to Harry’s Bar to watch it on my computer.
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
It’s so different not having a TV to watch – on one hand I feel totally cut off from world news and on the other hand I feel that watching TV is such a time waster. I also miss 680 news – with no radio either, we’re really cut off. The world could be collapsing and we wouldn’t know about it.
This afternoon at 4 pm we walked back to the school and Enriche took us through two very common Mexican folk songs. First we translated them literally and of course that didn’t make too much sense, and then we discussed what they were really saying. Enriche didn’t like that way I was pronouncing the words so I got quite the lesson in pronunciation. I must learn to say “t” with my tongue between my teeth, and I must learn to ‘roll my “r’s”’. Then we all sang along to Eydie Gormay on the CD that Enriche had and now that I know what the songs were saying, it brought a tear to my eye. I’d like a copy of that CD so I can learn more about those songs.
After our ‘song class’ we walked around town some more and today I realized, for the first time, that there are NO stop signs in this town. And there are no street lights or round abouts in the old town either, however in the newer part of town there are both the occasional street light and round about. Every intersection is a ‘take turns’ intersection in the old town – can you imagine Toronto with no stop signs or street lights ?? It works here.
Tonight I typed a short email to my new pen-pal Gloria in Cuba – she is the lawyer’s daughter that I met while we were in Cuba last week. I keep thinking about what a clever young lady she is – she has so much going for her that it’s just too bad she must stay in Cuba.
The temperature is warming up here during the day but it’s amazing how much colder the rooms are – I guess it’s because everything is made of stone and maybe the walls are pretty thick. Roberte, the other student living here (he’s from California) says his room is cold enough to hand meat. We purchased a little room heater and it does a wonderful job of taking the chill off the room. We don’t leave it on too long – just long enough to take the chill away. Don’t want to run up the hydro bill for Maria and Alejandro – but I don’t think they’re hurting too much. Besides Lidya to help in the kitchen, I noticed today they also have a cleaning lady. When I was at the library earlier this week, I heard some Americans talking about how it is expected that once a ‘gringo’ settles in here, they hire local people to help around the house. That’s what keeps the economy going here.
On that thought I think I’d better get back to my homework.
Thursday, Jan 10, 2008
In our conversation class this morning I got picked to be the ‘celebrity’. My three classmates had to ask me questions, and I, pretending to be a celebrity, had to answer. ALL in Spanish. It was tough trying to think of an answer first in English (and trying to think of an answer that I felt comfortable about translating) and then translating into Spanish and saying it. This particular teacher, Enriche, is really fixated on pronunciation and he was constantly correcting me…..and that is good. But I think if Enriche had his way, we’d all speak Spanish with “no English accent’. That was the longest hour – needed a couple of Advil when that was over.
After class we walked to the library and today the wireless was working so we could do our emails. We walked back to our home for lunch along a road that has been under construction since we arrived and I commented to Michael about how amazed I am as to the progress that the workers re making. They have no safety glasses, or gloves, or shoes and by Canadian standards their working conditions are definitely unsafe. But there are lots of them, and no one is goofing off, and the job they are doing is amazing. I guess it’s a new electrical wiring system they are putting in – it means they have to chop up the street and the sidewalk and then put it all back together again, all by hand and as no big machinery is used. As this is the dry season in SMA and as it’s close to being a desert climate anyway, there is a whole lot of dust, and I’m sure the shop owners along that street just can’t wait until they can get out there and wash off their sidewalks again.
At three we met up with Fernando and Arturo – the same driver that took us to Guanajuato and today we set off for Doleres Hidalgo.. First stop was an old church in Atotonilco and this church is on the “world’s list of 100 heritage sites”. It was out in the middle of nowhere and an incredible site. The walls and ceilings were all painted with ‘stories’ ….the original paintings done in 1714 to 1760 and the stories depicted the Spaniards when they came to Mexico and forced Catholicism on the Mexicans. From the outside this church looked like just another ‘old’ building but on the inside it was amazing. Arturo delighted in telling us all about the history of the church – he certainly knows a whole lot of history.
Next stop was the town of Doleres Hidalgo – the town where the Mexican revolution started in 1910. Another fascinating town with lots of old buildings, churches and a central park. The highlight of our stop in Doleres Hidalgo was an ice cream cone – not your ordinary ice cream here. They had the wildest flavours I have ever seen – Michael had ‘pine nut’, I had ‘mango’ and Fernando had ‘guacamole’ ice cream and we all loved every taste.
Friday, January 11, 2008
After class today, a woman came in and put six of us students to work making mushroom soup and chicken enchiladas, which we all ate and thoroughly enjoyed. At three when we met up with Fernando we said we’d like to drive around town…..it turned out to be another search for golf courses, something Michael feels he must do no matter what country he is in. We drove off to the outskirts of SMA and took a road that looked ok at the start but the more we drove on it the worse it became. Twenty minutes on this narrow road to no where and we turned around and headed back to SMA.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Fernando picked us up at nine and we headed out for our three day tour of Mexico City. First stop was Teotihuacan, an ancient pyramid site discovered in the 1800’s and at that time it was just hills of grass, trees and cactus. Our guide told us that only 25% of the pyramid sites in Mexico have been uncovered – special infrared camera shots taken from airplanes have confirmed that. For the rest of the day every hill I saw made me wonder if there was a pyramid buried under it.
In 1902 archeologists started uncovering and restoring Teotihuacan and at this point they have uncovered a huge city along with several pyramids. Our guide told us that it has been determined that the original city was founded 1500 years BC and that over the years several generations of indigenous tribes had built and rebuilt the city. We climbed up one pyramid but the other two were just way too high to climb. Going up those steep steps is far easier than going down. The area was huge and the work those archeologists have done is just awesome.
We approached Mexico City from the industrial side so it wasn’t all that pretty…not many cities are at the industrial side.. But once we arrived at the downtown area I was all eyes gawking at the beautiful buildings. There were police everywhere – I have never seen so many police. Trucks would drive up with eight police officers in the back and they’d jump out and walk around. We drove to where we were to meet Fernando’s parents and while we were waiting I noticed several buskers doing their entertainment thing to the crowds on the sidewalks and side streets. I have never ever seen so many people. We were in the car but had to share the street with the walkers – too many to fit on the sidewalks.
Fernando’s parents took us to a restaurant that had three floors and was just packed with people. We dined from 3 to 5 and it struck me how odd it is that in Mexico the busiest restaurant time is the same time the restaurants in Spain are closed. Such different traditions.
After dinner we hopped on the double-decker sight seeing bus for a three hour tour of the city. From that perspective we could get a bird’s eye view of the ornate buildings and we could look down on the crowds and even see what it was the buskers were doing. At the end of our bus tour, just as the bus pulled into the plaza, a fantastic fireworks show started so we just sat there on the top deck and watched an awesome display. We teased Fernando that he sure knows how to pull the strings to welcome us to his city. We were dead tired but Fernando’s parents knew of a restaurant that had a wonderful band playing romantic Mexican music so off we went and thoroughly enjoyed the music.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Even on a Sunday morning the streets are crowed with cars and people. With a cooler packed with drinks, we set off for Xochimilco and saw a site like I have never seen anywhere. Fernando had told me it was a place like Venice so I had envisioned the canals but not the boats. Hundreds of brightly coloured flat bottom wooden boats with a table down the centre and seating on each side for about ten people. Just the five of us on our boat and the guide with a long pole moved us out into the canal. For two hours we floated up and down the canal, along with hundreds of other boats – some like ours with families in them, and some for the vendors and musicians. The boat vendors sold everything imaginable from flowers to food and each musician’s boat had a different type of Mexican band. It was wonderful, no motor purring away, just the sound of all that music and the entertainment of watching all the other people watch us. Fernando tells us this area looks the same today as it looked when he was a kid and it looked the same many many years before he was born..
Following the boat ride we went to a very well known restaurant in town that was originally started in 1946. When we drove up and I saw rifle carrying police patrolling the parking lot, I wondered just where we were being taken. But when we saw that the restaurant serves 1,500 people at a time, with several seatings a day, and realized the cash inflow, we could understand the rifles. Entertainment was non stop from traditional singing and dancing shows to mariachi bands and there were hundreds of staff to look after everyone. Another new experience – food, service and entertainment were all wonderful.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Yesterday when I said I’d like to go to Taxco for some silver earrings, I meant the store, not the city. But Fernando and his mom decided it would be a great day-trip to the “Silver Capital of Mexico” and we set off at 6:30 am as it was a three hour drive over the mountains. Mexico City is a city surrounded by mountains and as we drove up the mountain road we could see in the distance just in front of the sunrise, the volcanic mountain Popo (short for Popocatepletl) sending it’s smoke into the clear pink sky. I asked Fernando about the danger to all the people living around Popo should it ‘blow’ again and he explained that it is monitored by the minute and all residents within the danger zone have experienced several evacuation drills – so there is no fear.
The countryside was a mixture of dry scrub and cactus with the occasional ranch with green crops. Little towns were off in the distance – very much like the views we’ve seen in Italy and France. The highway was as good as any we’ve traveled except for lots of toll booths.
Taxco was an awesome sight – all white buildings with red tile roofs and all built on the side of a mountain. Reminded me of similar sights in Greece. Cobblestone narrow streets – so narrow that when a car passed the walkers had to step into a door to avoid getting hit. And some of those roads were steeper than you can imagine. The preferred mode of transportation in this town (which has a population similar to Hamilton, Ontario) was a VW Beetle and we saw hundreds of them.
We walked from one silver store to another and then another again until our eyes hurt. You can only look at so much silver and say “wow !!” so many times. When we left in early afternoon for the three hour drive back to Mexico City, we both thanked Fernando and his mom for suggesting such a wonderful day trip.
In the evening as we did the last three hour trip back to SMA we talked about the differences between our expectations of Mexico City and what we experienced. Maybe it was just a ‘clear air’ weekend, I don’t know, but I’ve experienced dirtier air in Toronto. I also noticed how clean it was – far far cleaner than cities we’ve visited in Italy and Spain. Perhaps it was because I knew I was with four other people, or perhaps it was because there were so many police around; I never felt unsafe. Mexico City is a city with modern skyscrapers and ancient buildings in excellent repair, and estate homes along with middle class neighbourhoods and acres and acres of subsidized housing. My thought was …”I had no idea that everything you can see in Europe is right here in North America” – so close to home yet so very very different from home.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Back to school today and just missing yesterday’s class has put me behind my fellow students. But tonight I’ll work hard on catch-up homework so I can be ready for tomorrow.
After class, a half hour at the library to update our computers, and dinner at 2, we met up with Fernando at 4 and walked for an hour and a half. I find the cobblestone streets are really hard to walk on so I try to stay on the sidewalks when I can – but the sidewalks are so narrow one has to constantly step off the sidewalk because there is a telephone pole in the middle of it, or a person coming the other way. And then you have to be really careful because if there is a car coming you are in its path. SMA is also a town built on a hillside with steep roads but nothing as steep as Taxco. The preferred mode of transportation in SMA is four-wheel ATV’s and there are hundreds of them buzzing around town and bouncing over the cobblestone streets and speed bumps. Not a bicycle in sight – quite different from the little towns we’ve visited in the Yucatan Peninsula where bicycles were everywhere. SMA appears to be a rich little town – as we walk along the narrow streets we have no way of knowing what is in behind those fancy walls and doors as there are no windows street side – but the open doors we’ve been able to sneak a peak into reveal beautiful courtyards and surroundings.
Thursday, Jan 17, 2008
The first two hours of our class each day are on vocabulary and conjugating verbs. Seems like that there is far more to remember in Spanish than English but the ‘I am’ ‘he is’ ‘we are’ is sort of similar in English. But in Spanish ‘they are’ in which ‘are’ is the same in English is different in Spanish. See how confusing it can get ??
The second two hours are discussion and more vocabulary. Today’s discussion was particularly interesting and especially now that we have eight in our class. The teacher asked us – all in Spanish of course – to discuss the difference between the three health care systems. She told us about the Mexican system, all my classmates are American so they talked about the US system, and I as the sole Canadian talked about our system. My classmates had trouble understanding that we Canadians can go to the doctor or the hospital and not have to pay cent – they kept asking “who pays for this” – but they stopped asking when I told them we can pay up to 50% of our income in taxes. In Mexico, the public hospitals will turn away people with AIDS, and even if they have the money for private hospitals they can still be turned away. When I said that in Canada no one is turned away, they were all shocked.
In the afternoon we ventured off to Queretaro – a city about an hour away from SMA and four times the size in population. As we approached the city we passed a ‘procession’ and later learned that this group of about thirty, mostly men but some women, and all ages, had carried the crosses and ‘wooden boxes with the enclosed statute of Mary’ all the way from Mexico City and they will continue walking to San Juan de Los Lagos – a total of more than 500 kms. I looked at their shoes – these are not rich people – they were in raggy clothes and tatty running shoes and carrying their bed packs on their backs while they carried ‘the box’ or ‘the cross’ on their shoulders. Some were carrying individual statues of the virgin. Apparently these walks happen all the time and it is their way of completing a promise to God for saving them from something.
The approach to Queretaro was like any other new modern industrial city in North America – lots of industry here and apparently with is where people move to from Mexico City as there is always work. Our guide took us to the Holy Cross Convent which was built in the early 1600’s and to this day is inhabited by Franciscan Monks. Today is a ‘blessing of the pets’ day and it was so fun to see the people bring their dogs and cats up to the Monks, dressed in their dark brown robes, to be blessed. We took a picture of a little boy about four holding his bird cage up to the Monk – so wide-eyed and excited about having his budgie blessed.
I’ve visited lots of cathedrals, castles and fortresses throughout Europe and America but today was my first visit to a working convent – and one that was built in 1641. Just so very very interesting and we were led through the darkened tunnels by an 80+ Friar who has lived there all his life. He took us to a patch of trees in one of their inner gardens – as the story goes, many many years ago a very revered Friar plunked his cane down in that garden and it grew to the fascinating trees that we saw today. They have no leaves and no flowers – just thorns in the shape of the cross. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it.
In the inner part of this town – which dates back to the 17th and 18th century - are more churches that any town we’ve visited, Maybe even have more churches than Mexico City as we saw few there. Every old town has a town centre with gardens laid out in the same manner – a fountain in the middle, surrounded by three rings of walking paths, each ring separated by flowers and trees. Apparently even their parks were designed to the class structure, the upper class stayed in the inner ring, middle class in the middle ring and lower class in the outer ring. Of course none of that is observed today and this old town centre park was crowed with mostly younger people and mariachi bands. We walked the streets until it became dark. I need another word other than “WOW” because I find myself saying that so often. We popped inside several very old buildings to see their inner court yards – most of them are hotels or restaurants today. Another wonderful visit to another wonderful old town.
Friday, January 18, 2008
In our vocabulary class today, we talked about death and how it is handled by the various nationalities. She told us that the Mexican indigenous people do not celebrate birthdates or marriages, but they do celebrate death as in their belief it is the passing on into the next stage of life. For them it is a happy event – and I came away from that class intrigued by that thought.
Our afternoon tour today was to Pozos and when I mentioned that to my classmates they were envious as they’d heard it was a good place to go – and indeed it was. Our driver told us that Pozos is an old mining community started in 1576 by the Jesuits and then silver and gold was found. They call it a ghost town now because up until 30 years ago no one lived there. We walked through the town centre and today maybe one in every four homes has a family living in it. The homes that have not been restored are now all in ruin. It was a big town back in the 1800’s with churches, theatres, stores – but today all that is left is the walls. Even the town centre, which was restored in 1971, had no one in site. So different from all the other towns we’ve visited.
Then our driver took us up the mountain side to the mines and the hacienda’s. Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries this area was very active with up to 2000 miners and their families living here. There were – and still are - ten separate haciendas around the mines – each mine owner had his own hacienda which would be big enough to house all his miners and their families. These haciendas were huge !! In the early 1900s the feeling was that the mines were running out of silver and gold and the people started deserting the area. All that stands today are the walls and floors of these huge haciendas and in some cases we were standing on original floors but in most cases the floors were covered over with years of dirt. It was amazing to see acre upon acre of deserted and roofless homes.
Definitely the highlight of my trip for the day was being asked if I’d like to venture down into one of the mines. These mine shafts are holes in the ground – no steps or handrails – just a rope to pull yourself up or keep yourself from falling down. Sometime around the 1920s the mine shafts filled up with water – but we went down over 90 metres before we got to the water and I was told that legend says I must get my hand wet in the water or I’d be faced with seven years bad luck. Sure didn’t want that so I did as I was told. The tunnel was warmer than it was on the surface and the water was tepid. There were a few light bulbs strung down the shaft which left an eerie shadowy light. When the guide turned the lights off, I couldn’t see a thing.- and we stood there for a few minutes in total darkness and quiet (listening for any ghosts). Climbing up was far easier than climbing down but when the guide told me that back in the mining days there was no rope to pull on and each miner had to ascend with 50 kilo’s of rock on his back, I had a hard time fathoming ‘how’ they could do it. By the time I got back to the surface I was puffing and panting like I’d just run a marathon – and I had zero kilo’s on my back.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Today was a free day in SMA and we spent the day walking around the town.
We had a great ‘sit’ in the ‘jardin’ watching people. The majority of the gringo’s are retirement age and on a Saturday the jardin is filled with either Mexican young teens ‘strutting their stuff’ or gringos doing exactly what we were doing.
We had an eight piece mariachi band play a few songs for us and I marveled at the talent of the four young teens playing their violins. As the singers serenaded us the crowds gathered to watch and listen. Amazing how much attention one can get in the jardin with a 100 peso bill.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Today we ventured out with another new driver to the Pena de Bernal. Prior to this trip I didn’t know what a Pena is, but now I’ll never forget. There are only three such big rocks in the world and the other two are Gibraltar and one in Argentina. This rock is huge and we could see what looked like little ants climbing up it all in a row. Even before they were a quarter way up these lines of people looked like ants and by the time they were half way up it was hard to make out anything more than little dots. Of course the Mexicans had built a lovely little town around the foot of the rock and there were hundreds of crafts on display for sale. In the town square a group of teens, dressed in traditional Indian dress (much like North American Indians) were dancing to the beat of the drums and it was just so interesting to watch all these dancers dancing in precision to the drum beat.
From Pena de Bernal we drove to Tequisquiapan, another 18th century town famous for its homemade crafts and furniture. Our driver told us Saturday and Sundays the people living in the remote villages all come into town to shop and there were many many young families, with the cutest little kids, eating their corn cobs (elotes) and slurping on their ice cream cones.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Today we all left class and headed to the square to watch the parade that celebrates General Allende’s birthday. At first I didn’t want to go – believe it or not I would have rather stayed in class to do my homework. But Michael insisted and am I ever glad he did. The parade started with groups of elementary school students all dressed up in their finest school uniforms. There were so many schools and so many different uniforms I was really surprised. Followed by the high school teens also in their uniforms and with their marching bands. They all looked so proud to be representing their schools. Then came the police departments – the municipal police, the rural police, the state police, the federal police, the transit police, the canine police, and police in cars, in trucks, on motorcycles and on horses. So many police it made one wonder just ‘who was minding the shop’. After the police and the fire department, came the armed forces complete with their marching bands and all their artillery. I was really impressed with all those spiffy uniforms, the precision marching and the thousands of people who participated, both marching and watching along the roadsides.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
We skipped school today and left SMA at 7 am for a four hour drive into the mountains to the Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary. While waiting for our driver I got hit on the head by a pigeon plop – apparently he was sitting on a ledge about twelve feet directly overhead. I thought someone had thrown a stone at me – it hurt that much – until I realized how goo-y it was. Who ever said this is a good luck omen has obviously never had it happen to them.
We marveled at the countryside as we climbed higher and higher – we could have been anywhere in the world and especially in the Canadian Rockies or Switzerland – everything was so green and lush. When we got to the entrance to the sanctuary we climbed up on little horses – our guide explained that these smaller horses are acclimatized to the height – we were now up around the 10,000 foot mark. As my little horse climbed higher and higher on that steep rocky path, I really felt sorry for him and wondered to myself ‘do horses ever trip?’. At the clearing where we had to leave the horses behind and climb on up the path a little higher, there was the occasional butterfly in sight. Then we got to a sunny clearing in the tall Douglas fir trees and the sight took my breath away. The tall evergreen trees were draped in orange, the bushes were alive and dancing and the clearing was filled with butterflies souring in the thermals between the trees. The guide told us they think there are around 24 million butterflies and each year the first week of November the orange clouds arrive from Canada and the northern US states, they stay here feeding off the many wildflowers and leave again the third week of March when they all leave for the cooler north. It was absolutely amazing. They loved sitting on my pigeon-poop head.
We got the full story on the life of the Monarch, how to tell the male from the female by the marks on their wings, and how this area was just discovered by the Mexicans in 1976. Now they have turned it into an eco-sanctuary and only visitors accompanied by a guide can enter.
It was a long long day but well worth it.
Wednesday, Jan 23, 2008
We went to class from 9 to 11 only this morning – the other students surprised us with a cake to celebrate our leaving. Lots of pictures and hugs later we set out for Leon, the capital city of Guartahaura State. It was a much more interesting drive today in the bright sunlight than it was three weeks ago in the darkness of night. Today we could see the large reservoir around one end of SMA – from the distance it looks like a big lake but they tell us the water is too polluted to enjoy. Too bad because from a distance it looks really nice. The air is clearer today and the mountains are sharper looking than they’ve appeared for the past few weeks.
We brought a passenger with us to Leon – a real estate agent who lives in Leon and works five days a week in SMA and when he heard we were leaving for Leon that day he asked if he could come along with us and in return go to dinner with his family at his house in Leon. As he knew a lot about this area, we had quite the enjoyable drive – he spoke English to us and Spanish to Fernando and I had fun listening to the Spanish and picking out the occasional words that I could understand.
Leon is a big city with lots of industry and in Mexico it is known for it’s leather. Bruno (the real estate agent) took us to the ‘leather district’ and it was overwhelming. Millions and millions of shoes, in fact one whole mall was dedicated to shoe stores and there must have been at least 100 stores in there – all leather shoes made in Leon. Then we walked farther into the leather district and saw the jackets, coats, bags and belts. Way way too many things to make a decision as to what to buy. And these were all a factory prices – Bruno told us that all around North America the buyers will come to Leon to purchase their leather products for resale. If I was a shopper I could have gone crazy !!
Dinner at Bruno’s house was a really nice family experience. His wife cooked us a wonderful “Italian” style meal and we had a great time talking with he, his wife Rita, and his two teen daughters and eight year old son. It reminded us of New Years Eve when we spent the evening with a Cuban family in Havana. Both the Cubans and the Mexicans have such strong family values.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
All along the drive to the airport, we saw the pilgrims on their procession. It appeared there were hundreds of them as the procession got spread out over several kilometers. At one point we stopped and waited for a young fellow who was carrying a box on his back to come to the car and we gave him water and money in exchange for his answering Fernando’s questions. He said he had just joined in the procession from his home town 100 kms away, but that most had started in Mexico City. Each group of townspeople along the way that join in would be dedicating their walk to the town’s patron saint. He figured they had about eleven more days of walking to reach their destination. He looked tired and alone already but I gather that each night when they reach their destination for that day, they party as we saw at the other end of town the fields getting ready for their arrival complete with food tents and music stages.
Typing this now as I sit on the first of two legs homeward bound – Leon to Atlanta. This was a wonderful trip with lots of great experiences. We saw the Mexico that the people who come only to the beach resorts never see. We saw and even climbed up into the mountains, and my trip ‘the other way’ into the mine shaft is something I will never forget. We’ll remember also the many many topas – known as the sleeping police. The gringos told us there are three kinds of topas – the legal ones that are put in when the road was built, and ones the villagers install to forcibly slow down the traffic, and the ones the car repair shops put in to generate their own business. Don’t know how true that is but I can imagine if you hit one of those topas at a high speed you would become airborne.
So this trip is near over – but now we know we’ll be returning to San Miguel de Allende. A wonderful little town for gringos like us to retire in.
June Oliver