Mexico- Puebla and More!

As I am continuing to enjoy my time here in Mexico, I have not had much time to write about my experiences. School has left me mentally exhausted and drained and I have been taking excursions everyday to different places. Oh, and eating some of the best food that has ever graced my tastebuds.

Last weekend my friends and I took a trip to the city of Puebla with our teachers. It is about 2 hours away from Orizaba, and we did a lot of sightseeing. If I could sum up the trip in three words it would be "churches, churches, and churches". Every single day we were there we saw at least two or three new churches. Don't get me wrong, they were beautiful; gold-plated and filled with statues and alters so intricate its hard to believe they were created by actual humans. But one can only stand so many churches before churches become quite... boring. Nonetheless, we were able to see a lot of rich culture and history during our time in Puebla.

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We travelled to two museums as well, one all about indigenous groups from ancient Mexico and the other about the Barroque period. I really enjoyed the first, there were a lot of maps and timelines and interesting interactive things in the museum. I like anthropology a lot, and found the museum and its artifacts very interesting, but the Barroque museum, I could've done without that. Puebla was filled with architecture, art and buildings that mirrored the Baroque style, but I resent it a bit. To me, the Barroque style in Mexico signifies colonization, and although it is important to recognize and reflect upon, it doesn't capture my attention as much as the ancient history of the indigenous tribes of Mexico does. The day after we visited the two museums, we went to visit a nearby city called Cholula. It was a very beautiful place, with very interesting history. There atop a hill was a very beautiful... church... haha... and the ruins of The Great Pyramid of Cholula. According to history, the Aztecs built this pyramid, and it was the biggest one ever constructed and discovered in the WHOLE WORLD. They used it for burial sites, rituals, sacrifices and many other things, and then at some point, either stopped using it, or covered it up somehow out of fear of it being destroyed by the Spsanish, because in 1519 when Cortes arrived in Mexico, he thought the huge mound/mountain would be a perfect place to build a church on top of. After many years, the dirt began to erode away and underneath, the pyramid was revealed. It is still being excavated now but we were able to see some parts which are still, for the most part, perfectly intact. It was pretty mind-blowing and incredible to think about how big the pyramid must've once been. We climbed to the top of the mountain to see the church and I chased a few lizards along the way. There are a lot of little rodent and lizard holes in the ground here in Mexico. I want to catch one but they are very fast. After that we were able to walk around the town of Cholula a bit and we went to this nice market. Mexico has the best markets. I'm talking fruit, clothes, flowers, meat, bread, EVERYTHING. And even just in the city of Orizaba that I live in, there are about 4 different huge markets. I will never get tired of just walking around a market for hours and looking at things. Not even necessarily buying anything, I just like to observe the busy lifestyle of the markets.

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This week school has been relatively easy. We have been focusing a lot on conversation in the class, just talking about everything and anything in Spanish, and also on specific grammar topics and verb tenses. In class this week we went to the market one day and we had to talk to the people at the fruit stands and ask them about the fruits and their flavors, names and prices. It was a fun interactive lesson, and made me think a lot about the education system in America. If classrooms were just as interactive as mine are here, maybe students wouldn't dread going to school. I think a big problem that we have in the United States right now in the divide between education and the real world. Interaction, real life experiences, and taking risks are some of the best ways to actually learn things, in any field, and I am finding them very helpful during my time here in Mexico.

This week I also climbed to the top of the mountain here in Orizaba. I have taken the ski-lift to the top of "Borrego" with my classmates, but this time i hiked up with my host brother, and boy... were we tired. I had visited a museum a few days before called "Casa de las Leyendas", where I learned about all the supernatural and magical legends that surround the city of Orizaba. One of them was about caves in the top of the Borrego mountain where the devil lives. I tried to find some when I was up there, but my host brother said it was too dangerous. I will have to come back to Orizaba one day and do all the dangerous things I want to do but my family won't let me. I really want to go to the top of the Volcano near by, because it is the highest mountain in Mexico, but my family says it's too dangerous. So I guess I have an excuse to come back now!

Yesterday I went to a place called Ojo de Agua, a pool/lake where another legend of Orizaba is based upon. It is said that there, there is a Siren who lures people into the water at night. It is very cold, and the water comes from the mountains, so it is very clean and fresh. But seriously, when I say the water was cold, I mean it. I'm sure it was good for my body in some way, as I've heard in the past that freezing water can be beneficial for you, but wow. We were only able to stay in the water for around 20-30 minutes before we realized that our limbs were stiff and our bodies were blue. I imagine if it was a bit hotter it would be nicer, but there were food stands all along the edge of the water, and I had a great time.

I love Mexico with all my heart, bu I am also very excited to go back to the U.S. I miss a lot of the food, and of course my family and friends, and my freedom. I wish I was able to do more here, I wish I could explore more, and I wish I could explore more by myself. I love walking around new places by myself, but here I am not allowed. So when I get back, I am excited to gain back my sense of adventure. I have come to love Mexico and the culture, food, music, and people it has to offer, but in a way I feel stuck, like I want to explore more but cannot because of the dangers of the country and the cultural differences. It is a bit disappointing, but normal for any traveller I suppose, especially travelers who identify as women. Nonetheless, I am thankful for all the opportunities I have had while here, and hope to have many more during this next last week!

-ECM