Mexico City, Guanajuato, Michoacan

Mexico City is HUGE! Huge, dirty, loud, crowded, and fascinating. It makes Manhattan look like Alameda. It´s different than other parts of Mexico I´ve been to in that it has very obvious Aztec origins. It used to be a floating Aztec City, apparently very advanced in math and other things, until the Spaniards showed up and killed everyone and filled in most of the lake. But you see bits of the Aztec culture still.

Also, lots and lots of Diego Rivera murals, which are AMAZING, both for the artistry and for how much

history he can pack into them. The one at the Palacio Nacional is 3 big walls, and he managed to fit pretty much all of Mexico´s history in it. Highly recommended.

Pre-hispanic Aztec dogs: Xolosquintles

Guanajuato - possibly my favorite Mexican city so far. It´s all built on the side of a hill and just looks amazing. Also, it is pronounced as if the G were a W. Just like Guatemala and Guadalajara. No hard G sound.

First, a couple more things about Mexico city.

When the Mexican government decided to build the Metro in Mexico City, they didn´t know there were Aztec ruins underneath it. So you´ll just be walking along the subway to your train and all of a sudden, there´s a piece of an Aztec pyramid sort of separated by low walls. No sign, nothing, just like the pyramid was a tree in the way or something that they had to build around.

I got to go to the town of Puebla and it's Fort Guadalupe, where the Cinco de Mayo battle took place. (see market picture to the right) From what I understand, this is how the three main patriotic holidays work. (probably made some mistakes, feel free to correct me!) Independence Day is Sept 16 (or 28?), 1821. That war was 11 years long against the Spanish and there was a lot of displaying of heads of Independence leaders to scare other people. When Benito Juarez (first indigenous president, much revered here) was president, Mexico was in debt to a few countries and France decided to take over Mexico. The battle of 5 de mayo was against the French and the Mexicans won that, but later the French sent Maximilian of Hapsburg to rule as the emperor. He lasted 3 years and was executed. Juarez took power again. Then Porfiro Diaz became president and got a lot done but became more of a dictator than a president. That led to the Mexican Revolution (think Pancho Villa), which is celebrated on Nov 28 (or 16?). I really don{t know why 5 de Mayo is the one celebrated in the U.S.

Now I´m going to explore Guanajuato - Diego Rivera´s house, the mummy museum, Teatro juarez, Universidad de Guanajuato, all sorts of things!


We´ve been learning how to cook Mexican-style from Flora´s aunts, and are going to teach one of them how to make apple pie and cookies... the only sad thing is that we can´t find chocolate chips anywhere, so we have to settle for other kinds of cookies. Her aunt´s never made them before!

There has already been a wedding, and the town is small enough that everyone´s invited. There´s going to be some kind of rodeo this weekend and next week is the Saint´s Day for the patron saint of the town, so they´re going to have a big party and firecrackers.

So far, the water pump has broken, the car has died, and the boiler keeps going out. But everything is fixed, more or less. We have been instructed (I don´t know why) after we are done showering, to turn off the gas completely, even so the pilot light goes out. so every time we want hot water, we have to turn on the gas from the tank, light the pilot light, then turn on the boiler. Also, the people who sell the propane gas tanks drive around all day with annoying music like the ice cream man, and honk. ALL DAY. Between them and the roosters, it´s amazing we sleep at all.

So, now I'm back, sadly... I must tell all of you who have ever thought that you'll never go to Mexico because it's dirty, poor, third world, whatever... YOU MUST GO. It is such an incredibly rich country - in history, culture, landscape, natural resources, and people. As my roommate put it, I am in love with the whole country, and I would marry the country if I could. Surprisingly, I don't feel (at least for now) the need to move there, but I definitely want to keep getting to know the country - I think I have more desire to visit all the Mexican states than all the US states in my lifetime! I love it! If any of you ever want a traveling companion anywhere in that country, let me know!

Life in the little pueblo of Copandaro (population 2000) was more exciting than I thought! Walking the three blocks to the plaza could take an hour because you would have to stop and say good morning to so many people, have conversations with them about how you were, how they were, how they were related to Flora, what we were doing there, and most importantly, how we liked the pueblo and the country in general. People always seemed very gratified when they learned how much we were loving our time there!

Another wonderful aspect of being able to talk to people was having discussions about Mexican history and politics. They are a very tenacious people as a whole, and have managed to survive through quite a lot of adversity from inside and outside the country. I got to hear about how incredible of a leader Benito Juarez was (first (and only?) indigenous president), who has the famous quote ending with, "Tanto entre los individuous como entre las naciones, el respeto al derecho ajeno es la paz." ("Between individuals, as between nations, peace means respect for the rights of others") - just SO many opportunities to learn about their culture!

Que Dios les bendiga,
Brownyn

Museum of Fine Arts	"Callejon del Beso" (the alleyway of the kiss) because the balconies are close enough that there was supposedly a secret couple who used to meet here.
One of many Churches	Tile wall
Another gorgeous tile	Last tile