Today is my three month anniversary in Mexico! It's hard to believe how fast time flies when you're having a great time, meeting so many interesting people, and when you're learning so much about yourself and a different culture. Every day Mexico provides me with an experience that is new, different, exciting, frustrating, thought-provoking, and most of all awesome!
So these past few weeks have been full of garden/farm-work, meeting new volunteers and interns, and the most exciting part, FAMILY!
In Santo Domingo Ocotitlán, we installed a water irrigation system (sistema de riego). Unfortunately it took a few tries before the pump actually functioned to its full potential, but the system is finally up and running!! And very much needed because it's the dry season here:
Here are the lovely hombres of Sto. Dom. installing the system. We had to heat up every tube by hand over a makeshift fire so we could connect them. Quite the project!
At CultiNatura, we got down and dirty by collecting caca de vaca for Alex's compost pile. In this situation, one must be careful not to walk too far into the poo pile, for fear of getting stuck and perhaps falling on their face. Luckily, the situation didn't get too sticky, and we succeeded in collecting about 40 sacks full of potent cowplops!
Job well done, if I do say so myself :)
We also had the opportunity to take a gorgeous trip up into the campo, where we collected bags full of dried leaves for another compost pile. It was really nice to get away from the city for a bit to be in such a tranquil area. Kind of reminded me of Vermont. AND Alex was nice enough to bring us a scrumptious lunch that we cooked over a campfire. Nothing like fresh tortillas, salsa, avocado, frijoles, chapulines, nopales, and agua de frutas to finish off a hard day's work.
The best part of the past few weeks was when the Gittelsohns (Pops, Ellen, and Isaac) had the chance to come visit me over Thanksgiving vacation!
We spent a day putzing around the D.F., sightseeing, eating a delicious breakfast at El Cardenal (amazing chocolate and pan dulce), ascending La Torre Latinoamericana to see a beautiful view of the whole city, and just spending time together before heading to Cuernavaca for the week.
Isaac tried some fresh fruit juice from the kiosko.
We hiked the Tepozteco in Tepoztlán only to be greeted by these little creatures (called Tejones). They were very friendly because they usually get little nibbles from hikers. However, there is a campaign to return them to their natural habitat, so feeding them is prohibited.
We ended up going to Xochicalco, but unfortunately the Observatorio was closed. Regardless, it was a gorgeous day, and you could see for miles and miles around. Here's Ellen taking in the view from one of the temples.
Surprisingly enough, we didn't eat turkey for Thanksgiving, but we were having too much fun sampling all the good food in Cuernavaca and the surrounding cities. And besides Isaac getting sick for a couple of days (which regrettably can happen down here), we had a GREAT vacation together. Thanks for coming down padres!!!
We also did a fun Casa Hoy activity this weekend involving amigos secretos, where we all had a secret friend that we had to give little gifts to throughout the week to make them happy. Look what my amigo secreto gave me :)
Gracias Secret Friend (aka Carlos!)
On the Mexican agenda this week: More Mexican food, more Spanish, more volunteering, meeting new volunteers, and of course more fun activities with Casa Hoy!
Nos vemos...
On the Mexican agenda this week: More Mexican food, more Spanish, more volunteering, meeting new volunteers, and of course more fun activities with Casa Hoy!
Nos vemos...
