hola to all of our friends and family,
this has been an eventful trip to say the least. i can hardly express the vastly different experiences we´ve had! we started by being greeted at the mexico city airport by our little family we had adopted up in USA. they have both lost weight and i almost didn´t recognize anna. rubenito is adorable in a terrible twos kind-of-way. we immediatly hopped in a taxi and went to a bus depot further from the airport where it´s safer and boarded the first of countless buses. we went to san lorenzo (which anna promised was only 1 hour) . . . 3.5 hours later we finally walked the last leg pulling all of our luggage down a dirt road to la casa.
their house is huge, but all cement. the floors are painted various colors. it was nice to see we had a large bed for the night (i wasn´t so happy about the bed when i tried to sleep on it that night). we ate as a large family. the next day we left the casa in the care of the oldest brother, because it needed to be guarded at all times, and went for a short 30 minute trip to see a church.
several hours later and more buses and walking with 3 children, we arrived in chalula to visit the church up on the hill next to the little pyrimid ruins. being the first weekend of spring, they had a big indigenous dance ceremony. ironically it was so close to the catholic church doors that you could still hear the priest giving mass while listening to the dancers worship various agricultural gods.
we finally made it all the way back home, and quickly packed up and set off for puebla on 2 more buses. i am amazed at how many people can stand in the aisle of a bus!!!
the director of the school met us at the airport and we got to speak english for the first time. he took us directly to the home of 3 absolutely lovely ladies (grandma, daughter, and grandaughter). this house is gorgeous! the floors are all tiled with 2x2 dark orange tile with a wood pattern design. we have a totally seperate room with our own bathroom with an enormous shower (with water that lasts more than 3 minutes!)
we have already got 2 days of school under our belt and have survived. puebla is a very sophisticated city, with beautiful architecture and nice parks here and there. the people are friendly, if not a bit preoccupied with work and getting the kids to school on time. in many ways it actually reminds me of florence.
yesterday my personal guide (part of the school curiculum) took me to see several of churchs. the rosaria church is stunning! it´s interior is almost completely coated with gold. one side room has so much gold on the alter that i couldn't take a good photo, but i tried (without a flash of course).
my guide is yanina. she's 22 and cute as a button. she can't speak english, but she likes mochas as much as i do, so she is my best friend! we have decided shopping is a good way to practice my spanish . . .
anyway to answer the question foremost in all your minds, it is very safe here. we are in peaceful part of the country. hopefully i will be able to write again soon. this weekend we are going over the mountains to vera cruz with our san lorenzo family . . . on a bus.
lots of love to you all, joe and heidi
No comments:
Post a Comment