Crazy Day in Mexico

Yesterday was a day to remember. There were so many group-bonding moments that by the end, I felt like I would trust anyone in that group with my life! So we had to be at Casa Sol at 8:30 in the morning on a Saturday, which was rough, but we all climbed into the combi, bleary eyed, to head to Hueyapan and other villages. The ride took forever. It's not that far away, but because of the mountains, you go up and down about 20 times in 10 minutes. We stopped in Tatela de Volcan to see the market there, which was really the most rural place we've been so far. From the street, you could perfectly see Popocatapetl, and since we were so high up in the mountains, the view was incredible. We could see all the snow on the top. It's such a beautiful volcano. Unfortunately, my camera batteries died 5 minutes into the drive, but I'm sure there will be more opportunities. Anyway, moving on wit the story, we parked the combi in the street. This was not allowed. You know when they say "take down your license plate number" when you do something illegal? Here in rural Mexico, they actually physically remove your license plate when you park illegally. We all came out of the market to find our combi driving chatting it up with the Tetela de Volcan police. It took forever to get it worked out, and we had to drive to the police station. About half an hour after waiting, we were finally on the road again. We stopped at a small campo to see an example of an indigenous family farm. They were growing corn, avocadoes, and beans. They also grown marigolds especially for Dia de Los Muertos, because that is the special flower for the holiday, and we got to see a cool brick oven where they bake lots of bread daily. The guy was really friendly, and also gave us some of the walnuts that he grew...it was the first time I had ever had a walnut straight from the shell.

After this visit, we continued on to Hueyapan, where we had a nice little lunch at the house of some indigenous weavers. They had beautiful bags, ponchos, blankets, and scarves, all made from the wool they had harvested from their sheep, carded, spun, naturally dyed, and woven. I didn't buy anything, but lots of people did. From this house, we continued on to meet our tour guide, Abraham, who was a funny little guy who took us around Hueyapan in our combi. This was where the adventure really began. That combi was not happy with the rural Mexican roads. There were a bunch of times when rubber was burned, the combi rolled downhill a little bit, and many times when we got out to push it out of a ditch. Needless to say, we were giving the driver a hard day. But it was definitely an experience. After pushing the combi up many hills, we reached the house where Abraham was born, which had a great view of the hillside, and Popo. We could see lots of terraced hillsides where people were growing corn. We also got to go on an incredibly scary rope-bridge. Mom, you would have *loved* it....we were hundreds of feet off the ground above a ravine. I was terrified. The bridge was shaking and we all had a nice adrenaline rush.

On the way home, we had some issues with the brakes of the combi (no surprise after the roads it drove on), so we had to stop at a garage, where we waited for half an hour until another combi could come pick us up. It was great. All day, people started at us more than usual, a big group of gringos, walking around with backpacks and cameras. Needless to say, it was quite the "excursion", and there were many moments when we would look at each other and be like, "wow, we're really in Mexico".

Last night, a bunch of us went to a disco. It was super fun, and better than the other places we've been, because there was actually a dance floor. Next weekend I think I'm going to go out with my sisters, which should be really fun because I haven't really hung out with them that much, and my older sister Andrea will be home, so my little sister Camila can come out (she's usually not allowed to, since she's only 17, but Rita lets her go when Andrea's home). And tomorrow, I turn 21! Hooray! Life is really good.