Random update

So I've been absent for awhile because my project work picked up--I am trying to wrap things up. I am still in Mexico, although half my group has gone home and left...I will be the next when I leave in mid-August to go to grad school. I just wanted to post this amazingly great set of signs that we saw last Sunday. The pictures say it all, even if you can't speak Spanish.

Concert and Día del Niño

The last week or so has been the Festival Palafoxiano in Puebla, where they invite a ton of international musicians to play in public. Friday night we listened to Felippa Giordano (Italian pop-opera singer)--and the Zocalo was packed! They had a fenced off area, and I almost didn't make it in even though I got there 40 minutes early!!



Saturday was April 30th, which in Mexico is Día del Niño, or Kid's Day! So of course we had to do kids stuff! First we saw some acrobats at a cultural complex. They were pretty cool and worked with a portable rig. Next up as a puzzle--in less than 24 hours, we managed to solve this 1000 piece puzzle. The most impressive thing though, was that when we were shopping for the puzzle, we saw a 32,000 piece puzzle!! Craziness...

Semana Santa

Last week was Semana Santa, a big holiday in México--in fact, my office closed the entire week! Two years ago I was in PST and spent the holiday in Querétaro. Last year I was in Monterrey and stayed in town (going to a local baseball game!). This year, I went to visit some friends in the state of Guanajuato, saw a museum exhibit in Mexico City, and stayed in town for the rest of it.

A view of the city where my friends live.


Abandoned mine shaft.


Temporary exhibit in "Carlos Slim's" museum in Mexico City. At least the entrance was free--the man is rich enough!


The streets of my town were carpeted for Semana Santa!

Touring bands

One of my Peace Corps friends hooked up with a Mexican band as his "secondary project," so he gets to tour with them. Last night they played a gig here in town, so we went to go listen--pretty good stuff! The band is called Leones Negros and/or Atletas Campesinos, and they play reggae and ska. We even got in free as band groupies!

Dance exhibition

Last fall I took a salsa class at the local casa de cultura, like a commuity center. Like every group, we were supposed to give an end-of-semester public presentation, but somehow it didn't happen. Some of our friends continued with the class this semester, and their presentation was yesterday! Of course we went to go watch, and even though we showed up late, we were lucky and caught the last song of their show.



Also, random story, but I was walking down the street yesterday and saw a couple of "wild" marijuana plants growing in an empty lot about a block from an elementary school. Yeah, that was interesting, since it wasn't like they were being cultivated for drugs or anyone was sitting next to them smoking, but also no one really cared that they were there.

Spring Equinox

This past weekend was a long-weekend (we had Monday off for President Benito Juarez's birthday!), and it happened to also be spring equinox! This is / was an important date for the Aztecs, Mayans, Mexicans, etc., so there were a lot of local events celebrating the date.

On Sunday, we went to a performance put on by students at the state university. It told the story of Quetzacóatl and the creation of man, the world, etc. It was pretty cool, though I only understood about half the Spanish (it was over a loudspeaker).



Yesterday, a lot of people went to the local pyramid and partook in traditional ceremonies. Lots of ritual cleanings, dances, and "taking energy". I really liked some of these costumes, especially the feathers!




Taking energy from the sun.

Carnaval!

Sorry, this post arrives about a week too late, but in México, Carnaval was at the beginning of March. Veracruz probably has the most famous Carnaval celebrations (within México...nothing compared to Brazil, though), though every region has different celebrations with different flavors. Here in my town, we had a parade with güe-güe's (no one seems to know the spelling), which poke fun at the Spanish conquistadores. They were all firing these really, really loud muskets, so it was quite an experience.



I also just got back from a short trip to the states (grad school open house--my post-Peace Corps plan!), and it was actually quite a shocker. Stuff is sooooooooo expensive in the US!!