It's already over??

As we near our last days, we know that we can't leave Puebla without eating a cemita. And it turns out that cemitas are amazingly delicious! On Monday, we went to the street outside of the Lucha Libre Arena where a bunch of vendors set up and picked the stand with the friendly women frying milanesa and potatoes. The cemitas that we tried had milanesa (thin, fried chicken) with cheese, potato chips, mashed potato type things, jalapenos and avocado. It was also about as big as my head, but somehow I managed to eat the entire thing, and happily :)  I also bought a lucha mask, and am now ready for Halloween!

Tuesday I woke up feeling much better and went to campus to work on my report. I finished everything except the conclusion and it feels so good to be so close to being done. I would have finished the conclusion that day, but my office neighbor Julian came in and asked to go to lunch, and I couldn't turn him down! He took us to a great place for tacos al pastor across the street from campus. We ended up being gone for about an hour and half because we just kept talking. He's a great guy and has so many suggestions of things for me to try in Puebla, mostly food. I'm lucky to have an office friend like him! We went out to dinner at Bajo el Cielo de Jalisco, one of our favorite neighborhood restaurants and then out for ice cream by the zocolo. I love the city at night; it really comes alive. There were so many people in the ice cream shop (that also sells wine and snacks. smart idea!) and it was a very trendy place to relax after dinner. We felt very cool to be among the crowd :) After dinner we headed home and got started on a little packing. I think I'm actually going to be able to make everything fit without having to buy another bag! Amazing.

Wednesday we went to campus and I finished up my report. Andres came in to check on me and asked if I needed any help, but I was already done by that time, so we just chatted about how it went and how I've enjoyed my time in Puebla. After a while, I packed up my things and went to meet Miranda on campus to try and find a place where we could buy BUAP shirts or souvenir-type things, but with no avail. I think that must be a very American concept because no one that we asked seemed to have any idea where something like that would be. That's alright though; Andres gave me a binder/portfolio that from the BUAP Social Sciences department, so that's something! For lunch, we went searching for the place that Abraham took us on our second day here, and somehow, we actually found it! We had a great lunch and then went to buy our tickets for our bus from Puebla to the Mexico City Airport on Sunday. We leave at 4 am. I love leaving for trips before the sun comes up, for some strange reason. It makes it feel like more of an adventure! Pablo and Miranda and I went out to dinner at Flautlan, a restaurant that we always pass and has become a sort of inside joke for the 3 of us. It was really delicious and we always love being able to spend time with Pablo. He leaves on Friday after his last exam and I will be so sad to see him go!

Thursday we went to say goodbye to everyone in the International Office at BUAP. Ana Luisa wasn't there, but we were able to say goodbye and give our deepest thanks to Alvaro and Abbi, who were in. I hope that they pass the word on to Ana Luisa because she has been such a great help to us and we so appreciate her kindness and support. I also finally was able to try a Fri-Oreo Frappe from Italian Coffee Company. I finally ordered one after putting it off for a month. It's basically a milkshake with coffee in it, but it seems to be the thing that people order here. It was delicious and now I can cross that off my Puebla bucket list. We also tried tamales today, something we've been meaning to do, and they were great! I wish we had discovered them sooner. Later that afternoon, I met Dr. Calderon at his office and he, Andres, 2 other colleagues and I went out to lunch. It was a great way to catch up with them and reflect on my time here. Everyone that I worked with was so gracious and helpful all the time, and I'm lucky to have had the opportunity to spend time with such a fun bunch! I learned a lot from my research and had a unique and invaluable experience here. I ended my day with a tour from my personal guide to Puebla, Frank. He and his friend took me to all the places in Puebla that are must-sees at night. We went to Los Fuertes, the forts where the Battle of Cinco de Mayo took place and also happens to have a panoramic view of downtown Puebla. We went at night so the city was lit up and beautiful. Then we went to Cholula to see the church on top of the pyramid lid up at night, which was an amazing sight as well. I had so much fun being chauffeured around the city by such wonderful people to such wonderful places. 

Hard at work in my office! Thanks Julian for taking this photo :)

Lunch with Dr. Calderon and colleagues

Friday Elanor came into town for her last day in Puebla. We met her in the zocolo where she was talking in English with a 16 year old boy who was learning English and his teacher. He and his teacher would walk around town and when they spotted someone that looked like they spoke English, then the boy would stop and talk for a little to practice. He was very shy, but his English was very good and we were happy to talk with him! Then we went back to our apartment to say goodbye to our neighbor, Pablo, who was leaving that day. We were very sad to see him go, but he promised that he would come to the US and visit. He gave us candies typical of his town as parting gifts, which was so thoughtful. We are going to miss Pablo so much! Frank and his friend took the 3 of us out to a BBQ restaurant that they like a lot. It's not the same barbeque that we have, but it was amazing. The smoked meat is of course served with tortillas and salsa rojo and salsa verde. It was the perfect goodbye meal with Frank! The food and company were just what we needed :) Later that afternoon, we did some of the can't-miss parts of Puebla, like the Cathedral, the Chapel of the Rosary, and ended our day with churros and hot chocolate, the best way to end your day in Mexico.

Saturday, our last day in the city, was a perfect last day. We did some shopping for typical Pueblan candies to take home, bought some last minute gifts, and met some really wonderful people. At one of the markets where we were shopping for a hat, I found one in particular, a straw one with holes in it and lots of characters, at one of the tables at the antiques market. I asked the man at the table how much for the hat and he responded that the hat was actually his own, but that if I liked it, it could be a gift. I thought he was kidding, but he was quite serious and insisted that I take the hat. He was so generous and happy to give it to me! I of course bought something little from his table so that I could repay him in a small way. Later that day, we were walking to lunch and a young man fell into step with us, asking where were were from. He was very friendly, not threatening at all (although as I recount this story, I can see how it would seem a tad bit sketchy), and made casual conversation about if we liked Puebla, etc etc. We were enjoying talking with him and after a few minutes, he invited us to lunch with him, saying that he knew a great seafood place in the zocolo. We explained that we had very few pesos left since we were trying to save ourselves from having to get more money out of the ATM, and he said that he was inviting us as guests, so that didn't matter. Miranda and I looked at each other and gave a "why not?" glance, and agreed to lunch. He was a genuinely friendly and nice guy, so we followed him to Solo Vera Cruz es Bello en the zocolo and he treated us to an amazing seafood lunch. We talked the whole time about Mexico and places we should see and things we should do when we return. He spoke some English, so we could switch back and forth between languages, but mostly spoke Spanish. It's so exciting to think that we spent almost 2 hours with Irving, having meaningful and enjoyable conversation in Spanish. We are to the point that we are comfortable and can enjoy spending time with locals because we can understand them and they can understand us. And that is a great feeling. People like Irving and Pablo and Frank make me love Puebla. They are all such genuine, good people that truly are looking out for us, happy to help make our stay in Puebla as enjoyable and memorable as possible. For that, I am truly grateful and the experiences that I had with them are what make me want to return to Mexico muy pronto :)

That sandwich is only as big as my head...

My lucha mask!

Candies from Pablo. Delicious!

The view from our front door

The beautiful Moka Fri-Oreo Frappe

Our hat-giving friend!

Frank and I at the vista at Los Fuertes

Pancakes and Shopping

On Friday, we went to the parque ecologico with Pablo, which is a giant park with a lake and a running track and some playground equipment and park benches. It's a good thing that we went with Pablo because we would have never found it otherwise. We had a fun time exploring around and then went to a restaurant nearby that Pablo likes. I ordered mozzerella sticks, which I know isn't the most Mexican thing in the world, but they served it with chipotle sauce instead of marinara, so I think it counts :) Later that day, we went to get some churros and hot chocolate from our favorite churreria. It's been rainy and cold the past few days because of the tropical storm that passed over Veracruz yesterday and the leftovers of it are lingering around and making our days gray, so we decided some warm hot chocolate was the perfect way to spend the late afternoon. I also had some down time to work on my paper, which was nice to move forward some more on that.

Saturday we spent the day exploring Puebla. We started off by getting our first breakfast out at a place called Bajo el Cielo de Jalisco, which had pancakes! They were amazing, fluffy pancakes, better than most I've had back in the states. I also ordered a warm drink called champurrado, which is a gray, dense drink made from corn and chocolate. It was very strange and I'd never had anything like it, and even while I was drinking it I wasn't quite sure what it was. It was delicious though! Here's a wikipedia link to it for those interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champurrado. Later, we went to a park that we'd heard about called San Francisco, which is a beautiful garden with all kinds of perfectly maintained colorful plants and carefully constructed stone walkways. We wandered around there for a little bit and then went to check out the markets and noticed it was going to rain, so we scurried back to the zocolo to find a place to watch the Mexico v Japan soccer game (which Mexico won!). We decided that we were going to treat ourselves to a nice dinner, so went back to the apartment to get ready and ended up at Vittorio's, a nice Italian restaurant in the zocolo. They have an upstairs with a balcony and we had a beautiful view of the square at night along with our wonderful Italian meal. In the spirit of mixing Mexican and Italian, I had a chile relleno appetizer and a pizza. Perfect meal! Later that night, we went to see Monsters University, which was dubbed and we actually followed. In line, we met a 10 year old boy who was fascinated with our American-ness and our blonde-ness and our ability to speak English. He timidly came up to us and asked if we knew Spanish and when he found at the we did and he could talk to us about our lives in the United States, he was so excited. We talked to him for the whole 20 minutes before the movie and he even followed us to our seats and sat with us during the movie. He even wanted to take a picture with us after. He was so curious and I'm glad that we could make his night by being his American friends!

On Sunday, Elanor came into town to go shopping at the markets with us. We went to all the ones that we know, which was about 4 or 5. They all have different things and you never know what you're going to find, so we had a lot of fun meandering around each one. We got some lunch at one of the markets as well, and tried chanclas, which are beans and cheese and sauce surrounded by a doughy corn bread and are amazing, recommended to us by our house mom and Frank. We all spent more money than we should have on gifts for others and for ourselves, but had a great time and ended up with some really unique things! I even bought a sombrero, but realized that the only way that I could possibly get in home would be to wear it, so I'm excited to the be that American girl in the sombrero in the Mexico City Airport. Should be interesting! We were exhausted after about 5 hours of shopping so we ended up at our churreria in the zocolo and relaxed with some churros and hot chocolate. (Not sure what I'm going to do when I get back home and realize that churros and hot chocolate aren't abundantly available; I've become quite attached). After catching up and chatting for a while, since we hadn't seen each other in a few days, Elanor hopped in a cab and Miranda and I continued home . I could tell that I was starting to come down with something, because my nose was stuffy and my throat was sore. I took a long nap and we went and got some warm pozole soup for dinner. I went to bed early hoping for the best!

I woke up this morning still not at 100%, so we took the day off of going to campus and instead are at a little coffee shop working on our projects from here. I'm just hoping that I can feel better enough by dinner time tonight so that Miranda and I can get cemitas from one of the many street vendors outside the Lucha Libre arena on Monday nights. Our plan is to go the one with the longest line because those will theoretically be the most delicious. I'm going to have to be in perfect health to be able to eat a sandwich as big as my head! I'll keep you posted on how tonight pans out :)

Parque San Francisco

Our Mexican friend at the movies

Caramel Popcorn and Nights in Cholula

Tuesday we went to campus and I worked a lot on my paper. Andres came by to help me with the data bases some more, which was helpful. I went to the boxing class and then we headed home. Later that night, we went to see Hombre de Acero (Man of Steel), which was really good! We also tried something that is apparently very popular at the movies, palomitas enchiladas (popcorn with chile powder). It wasn't quite as spicy as you'd expect and it was a really interesting flavor. The concession worker was nice enough to let us try it since we weren't sure if we'd like it. That's good that he did that, because I didn't end up liking it enough to order a giant bucket of it. We ended up going with a mix of caramel and butter popcorn, which was delicious. We should definitely have that option back home! After the movie, we went in search of a sushi restaurant that we had seen, but ended up finding out that it was only open on the weekends, so we ended up one of our favorite places, the always delicious Taqueria Los Angeles, that has some amazing tacos with pineapple on them. Best $2 USD meal I'll ever have.

Wednesday we took the day off of campus and stayed in to work on our projects from home. It was a nice break and I made a lot of progress on my paper. We had a delicious lunch at a nearby place and bought some milk and cookies on our way home to have a movie snack while we watched Pixar's Up, (con subtitulos, claro que si). It was nice to have a slow day at home.

Thursday we picked up the pace a little bit and after we went to campus and worked on our projects, we went to the grocery store, Comercial Mexicano to pick up some breakfast food and for Miranda to investigate how much of the store is dedicated to fresh, healthy food for her project on obesity in Mexico. Then we finally got our sushi that we'd been craving and headed back to our apartment to get ready to meet Elanor and Kim and the rest of the international group and their Mexican friends in Cholula. And Frank came out to join us as well, which was extra fun to have a mix of internationals and Mexicans. It was really nice to all be together again; such a fun night!

Museums, Waterfalls and Lucha Libre

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Thursday we went to an Alice in Wonderland-inspired play at a local gallery downtown called La Casa Mendruga. We learned when we walked in, that it was actually an interactive performance, and the audience is meant to represent Alice. The group of about 8 of us walked from room to room, which had different themes. The first room was set up like the tea party, hosted by the Mad Hatter (El Sombrerero Loco) and we sat at the table with the characters while the mad hatter told us a story that we added bits and pieces to as it developed. Every now and then, they would exclaim that it was 6 oclock and we would all get up from our seats and run around until we found a new seat. At one point, I was even at the head of the table, which was strange but exciting! The next room was set up like the caterpillar who asked us deep questions about ourselves, like what our dreams are, while she smoked hookah. There was also a room with the cat and with the Queen of Hearts. The whole performance was something that I had never experienced before, but I’m so glad that we did it. The interaction with the players, especially with it being in Spanish, was really fun. We had no idea what we were getting into when we bought our tickets, but it was a nice surprise to find out what we had actually signed up for! Earlier today, Miranda and I made a trip to Walmart out of curiousity, and it was a lot like any other Walmart. It had a McDonalds in the front, large produce, frozen foods and processed food sections. Except here they can sell liquor. That was the only addition that I noticed. It was weird to be in a place so familiar yet so foreign at the same time.

Friday we decided to be tourists so we went to a cute little art deco type café near our apartment, Café Milagro, got some bagels (!) and coffee and pulled out the map to mark all the landmarks and sites that we wanted to see. We still hadn’t been to the Cathedral, so that was the first thing we did. It was of course beautiful and everything from the ceiling to the floor was a work of art. It’s so nice to be in a place as quiet and spacious and beautiful as a cathedral, especially when it’s in the middle of downtown, which can seem a little cramped and busy. It’s a nice sanctuary to relax and collect thoughts. We meandered our way through the cathedral, and then made our way to another landmark, the Palofaxiona Library, which was the most complete library of printed text in Spanish America when it was donated by a bishop in the 17^th century. It was really interesting to see something that historically significant up close. The Library is located in the Cultural Center, where there are a lot of pamplets and announcements about current and upcoming events in Puebla. We found out that night was the one night of the each month that is the Noche de los Museos, where several museums in Puebla offers free entrance at special hours from 5pm to 10pm. We knew that there were a few museums we would want to see, but we still had a few hours until the event began, so we went to get lunch at Los Nevados, a restaurant that offers a tourist menu that includes several courses of traditional Pueblan dishes. It was a good deal, and the restaurant was on the 2^nd floor with tables on a balcony that overlooks the zocolo. We had a delicious and filling lunch of pipian verde, mole poblano, and other dishes I don’t quite remember the names of. We enjoyed a delicious meal with a great view and then continued on our way, wandering down a pedestrian shopping street and came across a church that contains a famous chapel, the Capilla del Rosario. It is a relatively small chapel, but it is adorned with gold at every opportunity possible and is incredibly beautiful. We marveled at that for some time and then continued on our mission to find traditional candies on a street famous for them, called calle Santa Clara. We tried a bunch of sweets like comotes, borrachitos, tortitas santa clara, and something similar to a coconut macaroon that also had pineapple in it. I’ll definitely be returning to that street to bring some of those goodies home with me! Later that evening, we took advantage of free entrance to La Casa de los Muñecos, Museo Amparo and the Museo Viviente. We were so lucky to have noticed that event and to have been able to see all the museums that we wanted to, and completely for free too! 

The next day, we were up bright and early to begin our journey to Tolantongo to visit the hot springs and waterfalls with Elanor and Kim. We caught a city bus to the bus station, met at the bus station at 6:30 am,  took the 7 am bus to Ixmilquipan, then walked to a little bus station where we took a van to Tolantongo. It was a long journey, but once we got there, it was all worth it. The natural beauty of the turquoise river (which we got a glimpse of as we drove down the dirt road switchbacks on the mountains), the waterfalls, and the caves was amazing. They were out of rooms in the hotel, but it was completely fine because they have the option to rent camping gear so that you can camp by the river. We had a really fun time being adventurous and outdoorsy the entire weekend. It was nice to be able to relax and take in some nature. We even did a little hike where we saw some breathtaking vistas and plenty of cacti that were about 3 times as tall as we are!

Sunday we visited the hot springs in the grotto one more time and Kim and I walked through some tunnels, and then we packed up to begin our journey home. Van followed by bus followed by bus followed by bus led us back to our apartment at about 7 pm where it felt oh-so-nice to take a hot shower. After we refreshed, we walked to the city center to get some dinner and some wifi to tell our families that we were in fact alive after the earthquake that we apparently missed while we were at Tolantongo. We didn’t even see any signs of it when we arrived back in Puebla, so it must not have been too devastating. We were pretty exhausted by then and slept very soundly on our bed that now seems much more comfortable after sleeping on the ground the night before!

Today some of the people in the international office took us out to lunch, which was a very kind gesture. It was nice to check in with them, talk with them about how things are going and just get to talk about Puebla and Mexico. They are very accommodating and want to make sure that we are enjoying our stay as much as possible. They treated us to an amazingly delicious lunch of sopa poblana, ensalada de pepinos, mole poblano, and fresh pineapple for dessert. It was the best meal I’ve had in Puebla thus far and they mentioned that they would have Chile en Nogada at the end of the month, so I know where I’ll be in a few weeks! I also worked a lot on my paper and am making a lot of progress, which is a nice feeling. Hopefully the ball keeps rolling the rest of this week. Tonight Frank, my friend that studied abroad at Appalachian last year, too Miranda and me to a Lucha Libre for some traditional Pueblan entertainment. It was so interesting! It looks exactly like it does on the TV, it’s so dramatic and overacted. The whole thing is a show, with the intention to look like actual fighting but without actually injuring the other person. It’s a lot like watching a dance performance. It was such an amazing cultural experience. There are people from all walks of life; everyone from 5 year old little girls to 80 year old men with walkers. And everyone gets so into it, screaming and yelling (mostly insults and curse words). Frank says that is a place that people go and they can get out all of their frustrations and angers by screaming profanities as loud as they can. Seems very cathartic to me!  After dinner, we picked up one of his friends and went to a little outdoor restaurant with plastic chairs (which are the best places with the best and most authentic food!) to try some cemitas. They were unfortunately out of cemitas for the evening, but we tried their quesadillas that were the best I’ve ever had in my life. They were filled with chorizo and some other kind of meat, cheese, onions and guacamole. Add some habanero hot sauce and they are perfect. I wish we didn’t have to have a car to get to this place because I would go back every day if I could! After dinner, Frank took us to the highest park in the city which overlooked all of Puebla. Even the busy city looked so tranquil and beautiful all lit up at night. It was a perfect way to end our amazing evening. Frank is hospitable and proud to show us around his town and I am so grateful to him for that. He even promised to take us to barbeque on Sunday and I can’t wait. I’d follow him anywhere; he hasn’t disappointed me yet!

The river at Tolantongo springs

The road that lead us down to the river. A bit of an adrenaline rush!

The view from my desk!

My office

bagel breakfast sandwhich!

The beautiful Cathedral

The Capilla del Rosario, I wish this picture did it justice!

The whole gang together at Tolantongo

The tallest cactus ever

Mezcal and Alice and Wonderland

Wednesday was spent working in Dr. Calderon's office with Andres and Dr. Calderon, which was fun to all be together working on our various projects. And to meet all of the interesting people that Dr. Calderon works with and befriends, that come by to check in and talk about research or class, or that just come by to say hello and wish him a good day. He seems to be a well-liked and well-respected man on campus. He is very informal with his students, and seems to have great relationships with his students, as well as his colleagues and friends. He will always drop whatever he is doing to talk with me about how my project is coming along or how I am enjoying Puebla and my experiences here. I am fortunate to be working with such a genuine, welcoming and pleasant man. After school, we ventured back to the lavanderia to pick up our freshly cleaned and perfectly folded and packaged laundry. Definitely worth all of the 30 pesos I paid! We then then tried to go to a showing of Donnie Darko at a nearby bar/restaurant called the Mezcaleria, but it ended up not happening, so we just spent some time in the Mezcaleria (which, you guessed it, specializes in mezcal. Mezcal is a liquor which is similar to tequila because it is made from the agave plant, but is much stronger, even said to induce hallucinations like absinth if enough is consumed. This area of Mexico is known for its mezcal.) It was definitely a place more frequented by locals and we were lucky to have found it. We had some delicious hot chocolate and of course tried a drink made with mezcal. I stopped at one drink so no hallucinations for me :) We left there to get our computers and head to Italian Coffee Company to get a warm drink and get some internet time in. It rained from about 5 pm til about 9 pm, so we made a pit stop at the apartment where I was overly ecstatic to find my umbrella that I wasn't sure I'd remembered to pack. What a lovely surprise that was!

Today, just like every Thursday, Miranda and I are going to our boxing class at the gym that is one of our favorite things about being on this campus. Later, we are planning on going to a play rendition of Alice in Wonderland, which should be interesting. Not quite sure what to expect, but that's the fun of it! Updates tomorrow on how it went. We had a full work day earlier, and my paper is starting to take shape, which is encouraging. Hopefully I'll be able to get a lot of it done before this weekend, because Elanor, Kim, Miranda and I are planning a weekend trip to the waterfalls and hot springs for Saturday and Sunday! We are using the itinerary and recommendations of the group that was here last year, and couldn't be more grateful for their help. I'm so excited to reunite our whole group and go on an adventure to see some of the beautiful nature that surrounds us!

The work begins!

Today is my first official day of doing work on my project for Dr. Calderon. I've been given access to all of his data bases containing his research that he's been conducting since 2010, with instruction to write up a report using those statistics and any articles on whatever topic I am interested in. Dr. Calderon and I discussed my interests last week and decided that I would do my report on the differences that men and women face before, during and after migration from Mexico to the United States, including some comparisons between Mexico and the United States regarding standard of living, salary, occupation, etc. I've never used a program like the one that Dr. Calderon and Andres work with, but Andres is there the whole time to help me with anything I don't understand and to provide invaluable input and guidance. I've never done research like this before, so it's a huge learning curve for me, but Dr. Calderon and Andres understand that I am not a professional researcher and are happy to work with me and give me the benefit of the doubt. It's so nice to be working on something and I think that after all of the challenges, this is going to be a great and valuable experience and I can't wait to continue working on it!

Subway and Errands

Today Miranda and I went to campus; Miranda went off to class and I went to the Sociology building to find out that the Andres had something come up and wasn't able to meet with me today and we would get started tomorrow. But it gave me time to catch up on my blogging and journaling, so I was grateful for the day off while Miranda went to her chemistry class. I set myself up with a tea and my computer at our favorite place on campus, the Italian Coffee Company (which is apparently a company that is from Puebla, but is in English because English is de moda or "in fashion"), and got to writing! Miranda joined me at about 2 and we went to the Subway on campus for lunch, our first meal from an American company. It was nice but also a little strange to have something to eat that tasted exactly the same here as it would at home. There are no Five Dollar Footlongs here though, since they use pesos and the metric system. A 60 peso 30 cm long doesn't quite have the same ring. We left campus and went to run a few errands. First on our list: post office. I have a few postcards I've been wanting to mail for a few days but it took us a while to make it to the Zocolo to the main post office to finally send them off. We also bought some movies from across the street for us to watch in our room and pick up some more Spanish words. Next item of business: Laundry. Our land lady told us of a place a few blocks away that does laundry, so we made the journey there, where they do your laundry for you, and you pay by the kilo. We pick up our freshly cleaned load of laundry Wednesday afternoon! We grabbed some dinner after that, just in time to get caught in the daily evening rain storm. But we had fun running home and jumping in puddles! After some warm showers, we popped in one of the movies we bought, Ted, and settled in for a relaxing evening, eventually falling asleep to the calming sound of the rain storm.