Uruapan and Patzcuaro

Yesterday was one of those incredible days that you cannot believe you get to live. While it did start at 2:45 in the morning, it was worth it. Dad and I arrived at the Jardin at 3:35ish and Juanita and Kiko, as well as the students, were still not there. Big surprise. We settled down and tried to get to sleep, the bus finally left at 4:40am. That's a lot later than 3am, but whatever. We were off. We drove South to the state of Michoacan--see here:

We first arrived at a waterfall near Uruapan at what looked like a campsite. Some little kids jumped on the bus and recited some poem that was evidently hilarious in Spanish, though I wasn't all that sure what they were saying entirely. Then they asked for money. We ate some tortas (sandwiches) and though it was only 9:15am, were encouraged to drink this milk and tequila shot-like drink. It was alright, but the fact that we were drinking tequila, in ANY amount, that early was somewhat unsettling...oh, Mexico.

After eating, we bought some panchos because it was raining and we were going to hike down into an area with waterfalls. All they had were child-sized panchos, which was pretty funny for all of us. They had horses and, as promised, I was able to ride the horse down to the waterfall and back up--super-extreme plus side of this is that I did not have to hike down a muddy, pebbly trail, nor up it. Pretty awesome. Plus riding the horse was fun.

The waterfall was breath-taking. The horse-back riding was beautiful--on the side of bascially a cannon that was lush and green. The horse slipped a few times, but he was a generally sure-footed and good horse. We took lots of tourist-y pictures by the waterfalls and admired them for a while, then headed back up the mountain. This time, my horse (who liked to follow, not lead) decided to try and catch up with Trista's horse (one of the med students from last year) in a canter. I was freaked out for a bit because I kept trying to make him slow down and he wouldn't...but I eventually got used to it and enjoyed the variety.

We loaded back onto the bus and napped again while we drove to the city of Uruapan, to a national park (though we were all pretty unclear about where we were going until we were actually there. That was basically how the day went...it was somewhat unnerving, but also kind of fun to just go along for the ride. I'm just real glad I didn't get lost). It was also really incredible. I'll definitely have pictures when I get home, hopefully I'll be able to load them more easily when I get my computer back sometime next week! It is ready (I got the phone call while I was on the horse in the middle of a rainforest...talk about crazy)! Anyway, this jungle was also gorgeous--smaller waterfalls, but we explored a lot more. There were guys jumping off of rocks who then would collect change. Sort of like one of those guitar-playing beggars, but way cooler. We headed back to the bus, loaded back on and drove some more to a place called Patzcuaro where we parked outside of a ragged-looking line of shops, boarded a boat that took us to the middle of the lake where the Isle of Janitzio is.

Janitzio is a fairly small island that has become a huge tourist attraction. It has a huge celebration for the Day of the Dead in November that some of you may have heard of and it's essentially just restraunts and shops. But it's pretty, and it was very tranquil. The lake was beautiful and the ride to the island and back was really fun--we danced on the boat, which is really low and close to the water, so it feels like you're just flying on the top of the lake.

We got back in the bus and just chatted and hung out the whole way back. A very good trip overall. I've uploaded a few more pictures from Xoconoxtle, but not all of them. I'm really frustrated with picture-uploading inability. But whatever. All I can say is I'm sorry and I have tried! Until later--

In Mexican time, 3am=3:30am...but it's still before 7...

My adventure continues. So I added some more pictures, I'll keep adding more, since I figured out how to do it--long and tedious at the internet cafe. But it's worth it. Today was a good day--even though I had to get up early, we went back out to Llanos and had only three people, so we just hung out most of the day. We went back to the hacienda and played toss-the-rock, which took its toll on my hand (my thumb kinda hurts...) but was surprisingly fun. We lost the key to the van and Kiko had to bring us a spare one.

We had la comida (dinner) at Berna's (one of the delegation)--a cook out to celebrate the 4th of July, which was nice. We played some guitar and sang, also home-y. It was a nice celebration, with plenty of gringos to compartir (share).

Then we went to Kiko & Juanita's for la cena (after dinner) at 8pm. They were having their dance class, which I joined in on. It was so fun and I asked if I could come again--they have classes every Monday, Wednesday and Friday and she said I could. So I'm pretty psyched about that. Then we ate and hung out...good Mexican fun. I got to hold a 3 month old baby, Kiko & Juanita's granddaughter who is so cute and was smiling at me...adorable.

So tomorrow we're going to Michoacan, to a lake there and evidently 4-5 other places. The delegation has rented a 60 person bus for this excursion and we are leaving tomorrow at 3am. Yes, 3 in the morning, like the time we usually stay out dancing until on the weekends. What's more, we're leaving from the central jardin (garden) at 3am. I feel like that's pretty sketchy. But we were talking to Juanita tonight and asked her if she REALLY meant 3am, because we know that Mexican time means at least 30 minutes later than stated. Plus it's so early. So she conceded that 3:30 would be appropriate. Anyway, I've been promised that I'll be able to ride a horse and our host family told us the lake and are is vale la pena (worth the pain). Plus it should be crazy--60 people in a bus? Mexicans and gringos voyage? Yeah. It'll be awesome. So, I'll take lots of pictures and make sure to update soon (hopefully). Hasta!

Guanajuato part dos, Sans and Hacienda

It's been quite a while since my last update--I apologize once again.

Guanajuato part two was pretty nice. We went up there Friday "morning" (it was about 11 when we left) and just hung out in the afternoon--went to the mercado (market) and got some fun stuff--seasons 1 & 2 of The Office for less than $13, fake Pumas, some fun decorative stuff, etc. One of the doctors, Beat, and his son Alex had to leave along with the esteemed Dr. Dent, an associate dean of the medical school (who is really awesome). So they left and we (the students) stayed and enjoyed Guanajuato. Dad went to sleep early and the four med students, me and Mauricio, one of the other doctors, all went out dancing until 3am. Fun times as usual. The next day was lovely--really laid-back. We went to a cute little cafe in Guanajuato that looked like it was just out of Europe and had quiche and lattes. Then we stopped by the presa (dam) on our way out of town. We didn't really know what to expect, but it ended up being so beautiful. I took a ton of pictures that I would most definitely upload if I only could. I'll try again soon. But it was gorgeous, mostly because there were lots of huge older houses with incredible architecture, as well as an area with rides for kids and carts with food--very fair-like.

We headed back to Juventino and ended up going to one of the doctor's house's (Dr. Narvaez) to see everyone who'd come in to help out for this week--we have 4 doctors and 4 kids...lots of people. It was a fairly uninteresting meeting though, plus we were so tired.

Sunday I went to breakfast at my host father's parents' house, as per usual on Sunday mornings. The other usual part of that meal seems to be goat meat. Not bad actually. But breakfast was cut short by going out to a community with the students--this week we were in San Juan de la Cruz Sunday and Monday and switched to San Jose de los Llanos today.

San Juan de la Cruz was nice--I got about 5 interviews done also, which makes me feel a lot better. The people were really nice and interesting. The platica last night (talk/information session) was also really engaging and they had lots of people. Mauricio did a little platica of his own after the students and it was hilarious.

I also got to drive Mauricio (who is from Argentina) to a dentist appointment in the middle of the day on Monday. He is pretty hilarious, and it was interesting to see how much more relaxed (though still really clean and good) dental service is here. I sat in the room with them during the appointment and the dentist talked to me about what were were doing in the communities and such. Unfortunately, that was the last trip our camioneta (the van that belongs to the municipal president or mayor) took...it, much like my computer, decided to stop working. So it's in the shop.

An exmaple of Mauricio's insanity is his *great* idea to put the alacran (that would be a scorpian) that he found in his room in a small baby-food jar with a hole in the top. He brought it with us to San Juan de la Cruz and we fed it flys that he stunned by throwing them on the ground really hard. The alacran didn't like them. I'm not sure why...it was hilarious though, and I have video o the awesome alacran to show eveyone when I get back. In general, I liked San Juan de la Cruz. Good place.

Both nights though, we got home really late. Sunday, we went to eat in Celaya after 9 when we finished working with the Padre and all us gringos. Last night with the platica, it was late when we got back and then Mauricio gave a platica to the local doctors, which we also went to. It was supposed to start at 9pm, but true to Mexican time, didn't begin until 9:30. I was already exhausted, and then attempted to follow a lesson in cholesterol and hypertension management for doctors in Spanish...I got the Spanish pretty well, but the science stuff was only about 30% there. But I did get to see what a mexican high school looks like (very pretty, actually).

Today we left (as usual) at 7:15, and by that I mean 7:30am to go to San Jose de los Llanos, a community that has fewer than 200 people in it. There is also a hacienda, or ranch that resembles a castle more than a ranch. We had a few people in the morning, and some very cute kids. I got to hold a baby (2 months old) named Jesus and he fell asleep on my shoulder...very cute.

After working in the morning (we only had about 20 people come and they told us that was basically the whole town or at least anyone who would or could come), a few of us went to explore the hacienda. It was really one of the coolest things I've every seen. For one thing, the area around it is very green, but with cactus in addition to the other plants. It gives it a very mysterious feel. The hacienda/house part is HUGE--the walls are about 20 feet high and the doorways open almost all the way to the tops of the walls. There was this main courtyard and then rooms off of it overgrown with grass. There were also stairs that went up onto the roof, which seemed somewhat precarious despite being made of concrete. The front yard had an area for cattle that was still being used and there were many barrels of hay stacked out in the front "yard". It also just had this really great mysterious feel to it, like you might walk into one of the rooms and find yourself back in the times of Spanish colonialism.

After exploring the hacienda, we returned to the tiny templo (church) and just chilled. I took a very rewarding nap on a pew, some of the other students entered data and checked over our forms to make sure everything was bubbled in and all. We went to lunch at the house of one of the delegates and then the students returned to Llanos to do a platica there and I decided I needed some R&R and to update/check my email. Anyway, there's the update. As you can see, I've been really busy.

My research has become more interesting as I've been down here. I have been shocked at the number of women (really all but 2) who have said they make decisions with their husbands, juntos as they say here. None of them have taken more than a second to think about it. We'll see how that continues, but it's certainly interesting and not something I particularly expected.