This past weekend, I finally climbed el Cerro Colorado, a small mountain outside Tehuacan. I had previously planned to climb el cerro three times, but my ambitions were thwarted by a hurricane, a cold, and the lack of transportation. Needless to say, I was looking forward to the climb excitedly.

I awoke at 6:40am on Saturday, as the cerro is a cactus covered mound of dry dirt and rock, hardly offering the shade of a cactus flower. To avoid the heat, my goal was to start the climb before 8am. At 8:10, I started trekking across a wide plain of donkeys and crops, towards the base of the mountain. I had to jump across a literal river of shit before reaching the bottom of the trail. It was disgusting, more so than anything I have ever seen before.

But anyway, the climb started with a steep incline, but then leveled off for several kilometers. I expected the hike to take three hours, but I reached the peak in two. I think I actually could have done it faster, but knowing that coming back down can be as exhausting as the climb up, I figured there was no point in pushing it. Out of my group of four, I was actually the first to the top. It was a liberating experience to stand at the edge of the upper plateau and look down on my city. I am really proud that I was first to the top, as I ever never been the fastest at anything except, well, reading. But I guess all the walking I do to and from school has really helped out my little legs muscles.

At the top of this mountain, there is a big cross that sort of overlooks the whole Tehuacan valley. There is a ladder inside, so I -- of course -- climbed to the top of the cross. For about ten minutes, I was the tallest thing in the Tehuacan valley, which was very cool. I had three peanut butter and jelly sandwiches while at the peak, and took a few pictures. There were lots of butterflies everywhere, and one actually landed on my hand! It stayed there for almost 3 minutes, and I was luckily able to snap a few photos. Coupled with the rainbow earlier in the week, I was feeling showered in good omens.

I certainly am lucky. I have had a great time here in Tehuacan, and although I am really excited to travel east to Chiapas and Guatemala and then south to Nicaragua, I am a bit sad about leaving this place. So many great people have touched my life here, and I have rarely felt as loved as I have felt the past few months. I hope this is not the last time I walk the streets of this town.

Bread of Death

Well folks, this has officially been the easiest and most exciting week in Tehuacan thus far. I gave my students a practice version of the TOEFL (Test Of English as a Foreign Language), and that took all of class Monday and Tuesday. Today, we don't have classes because it is Halloween and there is a school-wide party tonight. Not being able to afford a costume (or all that jazzed about the idea of dressing up), I am going as the Spirit of Halloween. My "costume" consists of a black shirt, the cute new orange sweater that my wonderful mom mailed me from the States, and lots and lots of black and orange face paint. I was going to be an American Football player, but as I started putting my costume together I began to look more and more like Troy Polamalu, and I decided that this costume would be best worn in an environment where it could be rightfully appreciated (read: Pittsburgh or some other football town).

Tomorrow and Friday, school is closed in honor of El Dia de Los Muertos (the Day of the Dead). To help David's family prepare, the boy and I went to La Purisima, which is Tehuacan's largest market. It brought me right back to Costa Rica. We bought yellow candles made of honey, decorative paper to hang in the bar, candies, some dried fruit that was so sweet that it tastes like pure sugar, a skull-shaped coffee mug, and pan de muerto (bread of death) which tastes like challah, but is drier and has cinnamon in it. (Doesn't "bread of death" sound like it belongs in an Eddie Izzard standup routine?)

At the market, I saw a ton of cool candies shaped like household items (kitchen tables, bedroom furniture, trees, pets, etc.) which people traditionally use to make dioramas representing their dead ancestors in celebration of the holiday. But David's family isn't really into that, nor is mine, so there will no diorama-making for me this year. (frown)

On Friday, I'm headed to the mountain town of Coyomeapan with Mary and Andrea, Estefano, David, and one or two of his friends. There are cabañas there that are supposedly quite comfy. There is also a lake and lots of pretty things to see. Three meals a day are included in the $25 nightly fee. We will be staying there until Sunday, and my wonderful gentleman friend is helping me out by paying for one of my nights in the cabins. So I'll be taking a 3-day, 2-night all inclusive vacation for $25. All right, maybe it's not quite that posh. We are bringing our own snacks and imbibements, and we have to pay for the gas to get to our spot (it's 3 hours a way), but the whole trip still seems like it will be a great value even if I was going to be paying full price.

In other travel news, I'll be making a brief Stateside appearance in November thanks to my incredibly generous and loving mother, who has purchased a round trip plane ticket for me for the 4-day weekend I have in mid-November in honor of the Mexican Revolution. Since I was expecting a number of familial and platonic visitors over the holidays (all of whom have since canceled), this trip home will be extra special. I am still UTTERLY excited that my splendid sister is coming to visit in December, but now going to Maryland for 3 days is icing on my passport-carrying cake.

I'm sorry for the lack of Tehuacan pictures, which have been requested by a number of people. But batteries here are expensive, especially the long-lasting lithium AAs for cameras. During my brief visit to Maryland, I'll be hoarding lithium batteries and go on a photo-taking tear when I return to Tehuacan.

Finally, an update related to the previous post entitled "Sighted in Tehuacan." Before Game 3 of the recent World Series, the announcers did a retrospective report on the '97 World Series (Indians versus Marlins). They made a comment about the Indians tough closer and, no joke, referred to him in English as JOE TABLE! So it's offical: Jose Mesa has the most chuckled-at name in baseball on both sides of the border.

Sighted in Tehuacán

Although homogenity rules the coop here in the City of Health, this past weekend I spotted a gay couple openly flirting in the town square. It was incredible... score one for diversity! Other unusual things spotted this week -- two apparently pure bred stray dogs (yellow labs); three healthy, vibrant kittens; license plates from Utah, Minnesota, and Iowa.

In other news, I watched the Steelers game yesterday. It was a blast, not only because the Black & Gold won 21-0, but because I could actually hear the commentators who really know their stuff. Here is a direct translation of the commentary during a Steelers drive in the 3rd quarter:

He's past the 35, the 30, the 25 yard line. And he's down at the 20. The
Steelers are in the Red Zone, the Ketchup Zone!

Yup, he said ketchup. Well, he said "salsa de tomate," but somehow that makes it even cooler.

Also, on a quasi-related note, my family and I watch the news everyday before lunch. The anchor's name? Jorge Salsa. If we translate that to Pittsburghese, the dude's name is Georgie Ketchup. Almost as good as everyone's favorite Latino pitcher, Mr. Joe Table.

La Limpieza

I know it's been a while since my last entry, so I apologize for the apparent banality of my chosen topic, but I just have to get his off my chest: cleaning in Mexico is hilarious.

Sure Mexicans are notorious for sweeping the sidewalks and the streets in front of their homes. But I doubt that this actually achieves the goals of removing dirt -- instead it just moves the dirt from the ground to the air where one of two things happens. 1) The dirt is enhaled by passersby like me, who sneeze appoximately 25 times a day. 2) The dirst blows around until a draft of cool air carries it into a home, where it settles on bedsheets, kitchen counters, hallway floors, and oven burners. The result? Everything needs to be dusted once a day. But people dust with the same rag everyday, resulting in the creation of a muddy paste of dirt and water. When wiping doesn't suffice anymore, people use laundry detergent to wipe down the counters in the kitchens and bathrooms. So everything smells linen fresh, but nothing is actually disinfected! This is all fine by me because everyone's clothes smell great, but sprinkling powdered laundry detergent on my bathroom coutner every Sunday still seems a bit bizarre. However, I am building up a grand immunity to Mexican germs.

And I do have to admit that I have come to love cleaning here. All the floors are tiled. In fact my entire bathroom and kitchen are tiled up to the ceiling. So when it's time to clean, we just thrown buckets of water everywhere and after an hour it all drains away or evaporates. Sometimes I think it would be best to do it all carwash style -- in my bathing suit with music blaring and a gang of friends. But then again, I clean with laundry detergent so whatever splashes onto my clothes only makes them fresher!


On another, completely unrelated note -- someone kidnapped my family's little dog, Frida, last night. She was small and gray and had a curly tail that wagged in circles. She shall be missed. Her owner, my hostsister Jossie, is unaware of her disappearance because she is away at university and only comes home on weekends. I fear her reaction when she discovers this tragedy. I plan to strategically avoid my house this Friday afternoon. The kidnapping occurred sometime between 5 and 9pm. She is afraid of the street, so she couldn't have run away. But one of the painters who was working on the front of the house left the gate open and my host mom is certain that someone came in and took her. ¡Pobrecita, Frida! I hope she has found a new, happy home.

Fotos

I am having problems uploading photos to the blog, so I am posting them on Webshots until Blogger straightens out its technical problems.

This past weekend, I went to Mexico City (el distrito federal) with two of the other teachers, Mary and Andrea. We stayed at a really amazing hostel right near the zocalo and almost on top of the metro stop. It was clean and beautiful and had lots of plants. Our beds were amazingly comfortable, and it was silent at night. There was also free internet and a small buffet breakfast. It only cost $10 per person for everything. Long live Hostel Mexico City!

We walked around the historic part of the city on Saturday and saw a lot of action in anticipation of the upcoming Independence Day holiday. There were decorations everywhere, carnival rides in the zocalo, lots of performers, a small art festival, and lots of live music. It was INTENSE, but wonderful. Mexico City has a population of 22 million, which is more than the whole of Australia!

On Sunday, we went to Teotihuacan, which is the largest of all the Aztec ruins in Mexico. It was really cool. We didn´t even get to see everything, but what we did see was really cool. It was only an hour away from the city, so I hope to go back. I climbed the Palace of the Sun and saw an amazing view of all the ruins.

Check out pictures by going here http://travel.webshots.com/album/560611672mFrQYP?vhost=travel&start=36.

Algunas Fotos

Check it out! I moved! This is my new bedroom.


And this is my sweet bathroom!


And this is me with my host brother, Estefano, and one of the other teachers, Haley, on top of a big hill where there is a church that overlooks the Tehuacan Valley.


And here is something I can´t escape (not that I would want to)!

La Ciudad de Salud

TEHUACAN, Puebla, Mex. -- Officially, my family eats two meals a day: breakfast and lunch. In reality, it´s more like five: breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, and bed time snack. It usually goes something like this...

Most mornings, everyone has fruit, toast, fried tortillas, and coffee. They drink NesFrappe, the instant cappuccino mix made by Nestle. I find it tasty, but ironic. This is a coffee-exporting country, and yet every Mexican I know drinks instant Swiss grounds!

Around 11:00, it is time for brunch -- usually tortillas and fruit, maybe some beans and more coffee. This is also around the time that the taco/tortilla lady comes to the house. She walks around the neighborhood, selling freshly baked tortillas and freshly fried tacos door to door. People buy the tacos in bunches of 3 or 4 and eat all of them at once, in addition to their mid-morning ¨snack.¨

Between 2:30 and 3:30, it is time for lunch, the biggest meal of the day. Carefully prepared meat, chiles, tomatoes, and more are combined and serve as the main dish. My host mom is awesome and has started buying turkey and soy-based meats to accommodate my ¨no red meat¨ lifestyle choice. I was surprised to find out that turkey hot dogs and soy sausage are readily available here. And my mom is a great cook -- everything she makes is delicious, so much so that it is hard to believe that it isn´t real steak. But I have read the packaging and it´s true -- she´s amazing. Anyway, along with the meat we get rice or beans, fried tortillas, regular tortillas, and sometimes some vegetables and fresh juice. All of this is followed by dessert. The other day, my family and I made a stop at Sam´s Club, and I introduced them to cheesecake. This was probably a mistake, but more about that later.

After lunch, I usually am stuffed and feel like never eating again. Usually, I don´t eat for the rest of the day, but my host mom complains that I am starving myself, and Monse (age 12) says I eat less than a bird. Fortunately for me, I miss the next meal because I am in class.

Around 8:00pm, a ¨light¨dinner is served: beans, tortillas, and chiles. My host mom sometimes pickles the chiles and serves them as a side dish. They are a hit with everyone in the family. But, like I said, I feel fortunate to skip this meal.

I get home from work around 9:00 or 9:30. Around 10:00 or so, the two youngest kids go to the store to get their night time snacks -- cookies, candy, or more fried stuff.

I think on an average day, the kids eat about 3,000 calories. They´re all chubby, but not as fat as you might expect. I believe that school mandates a certain period of exercise each day, and they do walk a lot, I suppose. But I think the biggest factor is the elevation. People must burn more calories when they live at high elevations because the air is thinner. Their bodies work harder to carry oxygen to all the muscles and organs. This means that even when I am sitting still, I am burning more calories than I would being sedentary in Maryland. And at 5,500 feet, Tehuacan´s air is pretty thin.

However, eating like this over the course of a lifetime certainly does cause health problems. High blood pressure is very common, but heart disease is not the number on killer. In fact, intestinal problems like colon cancer claim more lives in Central and South American than anything else. Because of this, people are making a greater effort to incorporate more fiber into their diets. Therefore, foods like All Bran and other high fiber cereal and snacks are gaining popularity. But they are expensive, and the poorest people can´t afford these ¨luxuries.¨I think it would be a heck of a lot easier, anyway, to just cut tortilla consumption in half -- especially the fried stuff. Eating 2 or 3 tortillas per meal is just crazy! But man, are they good.

Like many other foods here, the tortillas are different than those we´re familiar with north of the border. First, here they´re made with corn, instead of flour. Second, they are only about 5 or 6 inches in diameter. But rememeber, people eat 10 or 15 a day.

Many times, tortillas are stuffed with about 2 ounces of chicken, rolled tightly, and deep fried. This is called a taco. No lettuce. No tomato. Salsa and sour cream are served on the side as dipping sauces or drizzled over the top when the tacos are served on a plate. It´s greasy, greasy, greasy. But the night street vendors sell them for less than a buck a piece and they are delievered door to door, so it is unlikely that they will lose popularity anytime soon.

I hope my attempts to keep my calorie intake below 2,000 doesn´t cause my host mom to have an aneurysm!

Tehuacan is called ¨the city of health,¨ but this is obviously not a reference to the local diet. This city is home to some of the best mineral water in the world -- water that is believed to have special healing powers. (Peñafiel is the biggest local beverage company. It´s owned by Cadbury-Schweppes, so our local mineral water is exported far and wide in Orange Crush and more than a dozen other popular beverages.) But no amount of magical Orange Crush is going to help me reverse the effects of this greasy diet. The only things I can do are to be strategically absent during meal times and make my commute to work a brisk 25 minute walk, two or three times a day.

La Llegada

TEHUACAN, Puebla, Mex. -- I arrived on Friday, August 17 in the evening after an uneventful 12 hour journey. My flight, which went through Houston, was smooth and easy. I then took two buses from Mexico City, one which took me halfway, to the city of Puebla, and another which took me the next two hours to Tehuacan. I met my host family that night -- all six of them! There are the parents and then 4 kids: Estafano, 19; Cosi, 18; Amarilis, 16; and Monse, 12. They are building a house that is almost done that we should be moving into in the next couple weeks. But until then, I am living in a tiny apartment with all the women. I share a room with two of my sisters, who sleep in bunk beds next to my twin bed. My mom and my other sister sleep in an adjacent room. Estefano and his father live in another house a few blocks away. The one they are in is very nice, but ours is really dirty and falling apart. There are bugs everywhere and the one toilet doesnt even have a seat on it! I am quite capable of roughing it, but I am really glad that we will move soon.

The new house is HUGE and GORGEOUS. There are 4 and a half baths and four bedrooms. I am will have my onw mini-apartment there, with a bedroom and full bath all to myself. There is also a huge kitchen in the new house, two terracces, two living rooms, and lots of natural light. It is very cool and there are no bugs, which is great because I have about 20 bugbites right now. (There is no danger of malaria, stop worrying mom :-) ). The new house is also closer to the school and across the street from the park, so it is all around a better place. I am antsy to move!

In other news, classes started yesterday and my students are great. I am teaching high intermediate and advanced older teens and adults. My youngest student is 16 and the oldest is in her early 40s. We have talked about many things already, but mostly the students like to talk about love and family. Those two topics involve quite a lot of vocabulary, so I am happy to entertain their interests.

We have two four day weekends in November, so that month will fly by. Until then, I am sure the weeks will be long, but I will travel on some weekends and go out to bars and clubs on others. Estafano is away at college from Sunday night to Friday afternoon, but when he comes home for the weekends he is a great host. This past weekend we went out dancing with some of my friends and some of his until 3am. I am really glad to have such a fine family!

I will be writing more soon -- something less biographical and more reflective, but please bear with me because the internet is unreliable and its so nice outside, I hate to spend my hours hanging out in Internet cafes.