Video of Burning Judas

This was back in March on Easter Sunday.

Pacifico

Really this post should be named Victoria because I am downing far more of that type of beer. On Monday, Melissa, Charlotte and I took two buses to Morelia for the night. Cool town, we saw no other white tourists and the guys were a little more agressive than they are in SMA. The next mornng we caught an early bus to Playa Azul on the Pacific coast. Totally deserted down, but some good waves. A little tough with the untertow, but nice to play in the ocean. We stayed at a very kitch hotel with a non funtional waterslide. Only lasted one night. I was chased off the beach the next morning by a pack of wild dogs. Clearly they thought my Down Dog was too much for them to handle. I had to pack up my yoga mat and move it back to the hotel.
Then we took more buses further south to Zihuatenjo. Everything just works out in MExico. We arrive at a station and the next bus is just waiting for us. It´s been far too easy.

Many more people here, but the waiters must confuse us with stupid tourists. For three meals eaten out, two places have tried to rip us off by overcharging. Go girls on a budget and knowing how to argue a point in Spanish. Speaking of budget, we are in a hotel that is $8 each a night. Bugs and no hot water, but the air is hot enough to enjoy the cool showers and it is right on the beach. Casa Elvira. Plus when you get home from salsa dancing at 4 am, you don´t need much more than a bed and the sound of crashing waves to make you happy.

As nice as the beach is, it makes me appreciate what I have in SMA more. I will be back to the coast, but I am also looking forward to getting back home on Saturday.

Entering level 3

I just passed my exams for level 2 in Spanish at the Academia Hispano Americana here in San Miguel. We get a week off and then classes start up again and I will be in the next level (3 of 6). Erika left early this morning, now I can finally sleep. We were on the go the whole time. Lots of laughes and really good food. We ran out of time- I had so much fun with her. If anyone wants to come visit, please do, I have plenty of space and there is lots to do here. Yesterday I skipped classes and we headed to Guantajuato for the day. It´s about an hour away with 15,000 university students and the birth place of Diego Rivera. Benito, he´s my friend down here who drives a taxi and is really good at pool, was a great guide around SMA and we eneded up going out with him most evenings too. I had my third visit to La Gruta hot springs on Wednesday but I don´t think they cleaned it after the holiday weekend. The water was pretty gross. Gross and hot- great combo.
This coming vacation week I was supposed to go to Todos Santos in Baja because a classmate had offered up her house. Beach, waves, diving, guys.... yes!! Unfortunately the other two girls I was going with couldn´t get thier act together yesterday. I don´t think we´ll be going this week. Maybe I´ll take some art classes in town for the week. I´ve already circled about a dozen events in the local newspaper that can serve as my back up vacation.
Wow, its so wierd to type all this English, I even write my diary in Spanish now. It was great when Erika was here because she is pretty much fluent. I was the slow one at the table trying to grasp what everyone was saying and often turning to her for translation.
I really love this place and I can´t imagine leaving anytime soon. I just wish I had packed better clothes, any jewelry or some makeup. I didn´t know I´d be in such a town and want to look good. My mom sent down 4 skirts and some shirts with Erika. Continential lost her bag, but we got it the following night. Thank goodness; I feel like such a girl . I have never been so excited about new clothes in my life.
Ok, yeah I haven´t posted in a while. Semana Santa was a big deal down here. Hours and hours of processions and traditions. My favorite was the burning of Judas in the jardin. They hung about 15 paper mache figures, mostly men, but one witch too. One by one they were lit and they spun around shooting off sparks until they blew up into tiny peices and the crown cheered. Most of my pictures are on facebook, but I will try to figure some other way to make them accessible. It takes forever to load them onto the blog.

Smelly Apartment of my Own

Ah, so I have a new apartment. Although I miss having a roommate. Sean- you were so fun to live with this past year.
My new place is even closer to the main Jardin and my school. It was a good deal and its pretty big, seating for 10 people or so since it came furnished and utilities, linen and cleaning included. Downside, it doésn´t have as much light as I would like and it kinda smells like sewage and smoke . I had a cold when I rented it, so I am working through this issue.

When I told the family that I liked them and their food but I couldn´t live with that other student, the mother sat me down and said, YES! I know! Turns out the whole family and the three girls that work in the house avoid him like the plauge. That´s why they never ate with us. Shame. They don´t know what to do as he wants to stay for 5 more months.

And now I no longer live a half block from my mexican boyfriend. No more pebbles tossed at my window to get me to come down to the street. Back to basic text messaging. Thank goodness my cell corrects my spelling. I am getting much better at Spanish, even if I have been skipping some of the afternoon classes. This week I have to miss some of Wednesday because I am in a dramatic play reading. Yes, you read correctly. I have never thought of something like this, but they needed people as its Semana Santa and many people are gone. Its a holiday week, no school and everything is closed on Thursday and Friday. We´ll for me I just get Monday off for Benito Jaurez´s birthday- St. Patrick´s Day. And on Good Friday, people come here from as far as Mexico DF for the celebrations. I´ll be sure to pop my wallet in my front pocket and join the crowds.
Super good news, Erika from South Carolina is coming on Saturday to spend almost a week with me. I can´t wait to have a good friend to explore the area around here. Ok, off to go figure out to cook mexican food. If you have any simple recipes, please send them to me. I can get fruits and vegetables and grains pretty easily. And I bought a super sharp knife and a stone to keep it that way. Since Cutco, I am particular about my knives.

Week 1 San Miguel

Ok, so it's been a busy week. Sure I wanted to come to Mexico to relax and take a break from the rush and stress of my life in the States. However, I seem to have planned a full life down here. No extra time to sit and ponder my yoga sutras. Spanish classes run from 8:30 am until 6:30 pm with a 2 hour break to walk home for la comida in the middle of the day. My Spanish is improving, but I feel like I need to take another break. Now I know it is not my location, but my drive to learn and do as much as I can that pushes me towards crazy schedules. Yoga training, dive certification and now intensive Spanish. The school I am at is well respected. Academia Hispano Americana and my main teacher, Aide, is wonderful. She's only a year older than I am but she is very energetic and always prepared for class.
I live with a family about 15 minutes walk from the school. San Miguel is such a beautiful town. The family has 2 other students living there two. Both bald guys, one 41 and one 61. Having students is more like a business for them than a cultural experience as we don’t eat together or interact much. I have my own bathroom and a tiny room, just enough to lay down a yoga mat, but not enough to stretch beyond the limits of the mat. Many people live in the house, the 3 students, the parents, a renter on the 4th floor, the oldest daughter (18) and her husband and child, the son (16) and another daughter (15). The only people I have talked to are the mother and the son. One of the other students totally freak me out. Yikes, just as I wrote that he stepped up behind me and tapped me on the shoulder at the internet cafe. See what I mean? I think I will not be living with the family for much longer because he makes me so uncomfortable. It might be nice because the food is good, but I am eating more white flour and fewer vegetables than I´d like. I´ve also never seen a house with so many decorations. Every wall is covered, I´ll have to take some pictures.

I started this post last week so I will just pretend its still last week. I wish mom could have stayed with me down here; there is so much to do and its been sunny every day. We stayed at Casa Luna, a very romantic B&B. Staying there made me appreciate decorative details. Last Thursday and Friday they celebrated some conquistador with Aztec dancing. This week its a Cuban Festival with lots of music and dancing too.
The cobblestone streets of San Miguel are really nice, hard to run on, but beautiful. However, huge doors block off so many of the fantastic interiors. Its not like the US where the outside of the house is the showpieces. The beauty is for those inside the courtyards. There are so many things I want to do here, I think I may end up spending two months instead of one.

Scuba Steve

Ok, so sweat lodge was great. Didn't cry, but realized I don't need to. I am perfectly ok with being my happy self. It was emotional for some other people though. Glad to be there holding the safe space for them. I stayed for all four doors, but sometime during the third door I found myself patting mother earth for comfort. Felt a little drugged, but still love the experience. And the moon was halfway done with the eclipse when I emerged almost 3 hours later. Would love to do it again and again; the group and the leader certainly made it special though. Officially became a yoga teacher last Friday. Parents came down to pick me up on Saturday and we took a boat ride around the Laguna Bacalar with Kate and Vonni. Lazy river channel floating was the highlight.

Now in Belize where I have found a huge love of SCUBA. I want to dive and dive all the time. While in the Jungle (ok, when Internet is not so expensive and I don't want to run outside and dive in the ocean, I'll say more about Belize. The jungle was awesome, ruins and caving. Have great pictures of skeletons that we climbed 4 hours in a cave to see. ) Well, I met this girl Emily just back from her second round in Iraq. She recommend I meet up with this guy Steve at the beach to go diving. So I went to Jam-Bell and asked for Fritz, the owner. He gave me his cell to call Steve and now I go diving all day long with Steve and his son Steve. Scuba Steves. Tomorrow I will be certified, no pool dives involved, just in the ocean and what an ocean it is down here. Today is stormy and rough and we went out past the barrier reef. Huge waves, bigger than I have ever been in. They said normal people would have been scared. Loved every second of it. It's so magical down there. Hooked.

I passed!

Here´s a picture of us studying on Friday night.

So excited! We had a written exam (quite easy) on Saturday morning. Piece of cake, just needed to learn some of the sutras and answer some questions about the yogic diet, meditation techniques and how to incorporate yamas (abstinences) and niyamas (observances) into my life. Then yesterday, I taught my qualifying class at 6:50 in the morning. It went really well and I can´t wait to teach. I hope I can remember and even improve my teaching over the next few months in Mexico. In the meantime, my family will be subjected to many classes next week. I need to see how I work with people who aren´t also yoginis, people who don´t know where I am going with each pose. Now just classes on marketing yoga, yeah still probably my favorite part, and guidance for those making the transition from yoga heaven to their regular lives.

We have been fasting all day for a full moon sweat lodge tonight. I still haven´t let sad emotions out so maybe tonights the night.

And here´s a picture of the sweat lodge, don´t know how we are all going to fit. Group bonding- like we need any more of that. I love the support I get and give down here. Its a really loving group.