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!