Mexico ~ James Taylor
Way down here you need a reason to move
Feel a fool running your stateside games
Lose your load, leave your mind behind, baby james
Oh, mexico
It sounds so simple I just got to go
The suns so hot I forgot to go home
Guess Ill have to go now
Americano got the sleepy eye
But his bodys still shaking like a live wire
Sleepy seorita with the eyes on fire
Oh, mexicoIt sounds so sweet with the sun sinking low
Moons so bright like to light up the night
Make everything all right
Babys hungry and the moneys all gone
The folks back home dont want to talk on the phone
She gets a long letter, sends back a postcard; times are hard
Oh, down in mexicoI never really been so I dont really know
Oh, mexicoI guess Ill have to go
Oh, mexicoI never really been but Id sure like to go
Oh, mexicoI guess Ill have to go now
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Well, we left Cuernvaca today for a hour bus ride to Mexico City for the weekend. We rode the subways and went to 3 museums. It is so amazing and I am getting some great pictures of old buildings from the 1500s. I am learning about the history of Mexico from our guide who is from Mexico himself and now lives in Arizona where he teaches at a college. We are really running around this city non stop like one of the locals because of him. We went to the palace of Cortez and saw the most magnificant murials painted all over the walls which tell the history of Mexico with astonishing detail, it's like you can just stand there and feast your eyes on things you hadn't noticed 3 minutes earlier. Then we went to the Zocato, which is a large, large town square sort of thing where cars go around in a circle. There is the most beautiful cathedral that takes your breath with the architectural detail, I took so many pictures. And the bell towers, awe, they are my favorite to frame in the viewfinder. Back in the 1980s a man working for the electrical company was drilling in the street there in front of the cathedral in the Zocalo and low and behold the earth gave way to reveal a pyramid! There is an excavation taking place since then and we walked about 10 feet down into the formations which have been revealed. The place where they made sacrfices, the stone roads, all the historical existence from 500 years BC. Even some of the paint is still of the sculptures! Then we went into the museum beside it to learn the history of the Mexican people. Then we got back on the subway which is the largest in the world. It was so great to just follow along, I could never have been able to find my way alone. It is dangerous and we practiced several times before we came here how to carry your backpack in front of you and stay together. When the first subway came up that had people with their faces literally smashed up against the windowed doors, I prayed outloud, Lord please help us. All ten of us had only a few seconds to smush in as some were passing us going out, with our bookbags. Not once did we have a problem. The holtel is nice. My room is on the top floor and there is a door that goes off my room onto the roof which is a terrace that looks out over the city. There is no air conditioning, but it is cool here because we had a nice rain this afternoon. I ate a nice steak in the resturant here in the hotel tonight which was such a treat. My family I live with are very nice but the way they eat is taking some getting use to. Our schedule goes like this. Juana Marie has breakfast on the table at 7:00 as I appear from my bedroom to a kind "buenos dias". She has the table all set. She serves me fresh mango, bananas, oranges etc. and some sort of cereal, but my favorite is when she makes oatmeal. Then we all eat and talk for about 30 minutes, then at 7 30 Ross and I leave for school. Ross is a professor there and also teaches two days a week at the University of Mexico in Mexico City. You need to google his name, Ross Gandy. He is a well known writer about Mexican history, politics and economy. God just game me icing on the cake to be with them. They live in an upper class neighbor, heck more than that, the govenor s mansion is in their neighborhood. He drives like a mad man in his little toyota rattle trap over the cobblestone roads. On the way home one day it was so hot and bumper to bumper traffic and his survival mode is to unbotton his shirt and open his door for a breeze when he stops. He is indeed brilliant and loves to instruct and inform such interesting information. When he parks the car on the street, we get out and he puts on his little english flat hat made of straw, grabs his breifcase from the trunk, I also get my rolling backpack, and off we go to school, me following behind him up the side walk to school. School starts at 8 00. My first class goes until 10 00 with learning verbs. It is so interesting. Every hour we have a break. Then another class of converation from 11 to 12, and then grammar from 12 to 2. Then the day is over unless my CSU group has a scheduled excursion. Then Ross and I hike back to the car and race the crazy streets home, no red lights or stop signs on these narrow roads, people just proceed through intersections honking their horns to warn of their approach. I wear my seatbelt. There are not lines drawn on the road either, peple just drive all over the place, but he said they rarely have wrecks! The whole city shuts down from 2 to 4 while they all go home for the big meal of the day. Juana Marie has a big meal set out on the table for us all and then we take a little nap. Aw, that is right up my alley. Actually though, in the week I have been here, I have only been home twice for the meal, other days she makes me a sandwich to take to school. On the first day of school, I laughed at myself inside because I felt like my children must have felt coming out of school looking for their moma. I was looking for Ross and some of the other momas had shown up looking for their students. It was such a welcome sight to see the familiar face who was going to take me home. Hee hee, it was weird to feel like that. One day, we were driving home and he was so hot I thought for sure he was going to faint so I was fanning him with a newspaper. I finally offered them my battery operated fan that clips onto the sun visor. He thanks me over and over again every time we get into the car. The days I have to stay after school for excursions, I take a cab home. It costs about 3.00 and its so cool because all the houses on the cobble stoned streets are behind walls and have solid no see through gates. I have a key to the gate so I just go right up to it and open it and go right in! I couldn´t ask for a better situation. Some evenings I take a walk around the beautiful neighbor. Some mornings on the way to school with the mist over the roads, we pass two nuns walking up the road with their old fashion habits on in black and white. It is such a picturesque sight and I plan to take my camera and get that shot some morning. I have already been here a week now and it seems forever, but yet the time seems to be going fast at the same time.
Well, my arm is cramping up and I am getting tired. Have to meet my group at 10 in the morning for another day of touring Mexico museums. This is so great, I wish this experience for everyone.
Love to all.
dbone you write so expressive. as i read, it seems as if i am there.it does my heart good to know (even though intense), that you are happy,excited and energized as you experience the opportunity that you have worked so hard to obtaine. i am glad we have this blog thing going on due to patricks'taking the time and thoughtfulness to set it in motion. this is too cool, i'm a blogger! well i have got to go. i have dozed off 4 times. each time i wake up to about 5 or more lines of letters that i have to delete due to my fingers pressing down keys as i doze off. i love ya, love ya, love ya! have sweet dreams and a wonderful time over the weekend. love, terry
Hi Donna,
This is Dotti. David just read Mom and I your blog. Sounds interesting. Now I'm going to translate for Mom as she speaks.
Hi Donna,
I'm glad your situation has changed with your group. And I'm thankful that you're having so much fun. I'm also impressed that I haven't heard anything about fact that you are in a 3rd world country and being grossed out by anything. What a sweet gesture to let Ross have your fan. It would be a great hostess gift. Would you like for me to send you another one? I don't have an address yet though.
I know you type fast but I still wonder how you have time to study as you are writing such long, interesting letters. Keep your eye on your goal.
Next week I'm going over to Athens for sleep apnia. They're hoping they will be able to connect my sleep apnia with my restless leg. We'll see, I'll let you know.
How is your tickle leg? Maybe with the amount of walking you are doing you want have more problems with it, I hope not. God bless you sweet girl. I love you.
Mama
well thank goodness, it has been frustrating to go to this site and have to read my blog over and over again. thanks be to louise and dotti! if donna does not reciproblog (i just made that up),then we can blog each other(ie, louise,dotti, and possibly others).
okay dbone, you need to gmail,reciproblog, or call. we need to know what you know! where have you been, what have you been doing? have any little pedro's been hitting on the tall, blond, green-eyed good looking amercan girl? have you bopped any of them in the head with your bookbag?!! where in the world is carmen santidbone?? please give us answers. please have mercy on the one's left behind!! luv, the man who you once shared where you were going and what you would be doing whether i wanted to know or not ---tbone ennis
Trip to Taxco and Tepoztlan
Saturday we took a public bus (like a greyhound, pretty beat up with no air conditioning) for about a one hour trip to a place in the mountains called Taxco where they mine silver and you're suppose to be able to get great deals on silver. They didn't quite know what to do with such a seasoned shopper as I, they don't know about TJ Maxx. I'm not a wearer of silver anyway, but trying to keep an opened mind, I still didn't see that great of a deal in any shop. It was definitely a tourist trap. Not to sound ungrateful, I was totally pleased with the photo opportunities. Approaching the city on the side of a mountain was like the views shown of distant Israel off in the distance. And of course the most beautiful structures even from a distance were the churches with their domed tops and bell towers along side. The streets were cobble stoned and narrow. The buildings were stone with beautiful flora arching over doorways and cascading down from balconies. In the center of the town square, called the zocolo, was this awesome church with a doorway you had to step up and over like stepping onto a ship (that's how all the old churches are here). The ornate gold sculpter inside was amazing. It is sad to think that the people were so poor, yet this is where all the money was spent. Like Dotti said, there is such a strong hold of the catholic religion here. From what we've learned about the Spanish who brought Christianity here to "civilize the natives", they scared them into believing. From the zocolo, the different streets stream up the mountain disappearing as they curve behind beautiful buildings. It is not as if there is a section of old and a section of new, it's all old and still functioning as a vibrant city. The pictures I took are unbelievable, one I'm sure National Georgraphics will want to pay me big bucks for! I actually left without buying anything.
Sunday, we again took a public bus from Cuernavaca for another 40 min. ride to Teoptlzan. The most significant point of this city is that there are only 2 or 3 Aztec pyramids left in all of Mexico that the Spanish did not tear down and one is there up on the cliff of a mountain. It took over one hour to hike straight up to see it and I of course thought of Patrick. Everyone in our group took on the rugged, rocky trail to the summit, but I was wise enough to know my limits. Instead, Dr. Cook and I stayed down in the city. There were lots of shops with mexican fare, I was looking for some special small piece of pottery to sit on my bookshelf, but so far, it just hasn't jumped out at me yet. The joy is in the hunt!! A lot of "new age" reflection was there, for example you could indulge in a tantra message or get a picture taken of you and your auroa. What I enjoyed was the open market where indigenous were selling fresh fruits, raw meat and beautiful stacks of dried beans. The colors were vibrant and I can't wait to show you all the pictures. When we got back to Cuernavac, I waved goodbye to my group and stuck up my arm to hail a cab. Before you get in you show them the address from the card you carry with you. Well, there I was holding up all the traffic looking for my card with the address. I couldn't find it. The name of the street is Rio something or another, it's hard to remember or pronounce. So I had to let that cab go. I stood there on the street corner wondering if I was about to panic. I knew I would get through this somehow, but didn't know for sure just how. So with the best spanish I could muster up I went into the store behind me and asked if I could use the phone book to look up Ross Gandy. No phone book. Then I went to the pay phone right there on the corner because I had the phone number memorized. The phone didn't work. Suddenly, I remembered a street name nearby the house, Rio Mayo. So I hailed another cab, and told him I had forgotten where I lived, but it was near Rio Mayo. When he got me there, I pointed left, right, etc. Wew, and to think I almost panicked. So far in my life I've never met a dead end there wasn't a way out. Like I used to tell the children when they were young, be careful when you're scared that you don't panic because it keeps you from being able to think clearly. I'm finding myself to be my own mama on this trip.
Last week ended the equivalent of a full semester of spanish, and I'm proud to report I made an "A". I was so exicted on Friday, and like each afternoon, I spent a long time in the computer lab either doing my CSU assignments or writing emails. About 4:30, I decided I needed to celebrate the weekend and looked around but no body I knew was still around. So I asked the workers there where they go to the movies. One of them helped me look up on the internet what was playing, where and what time. With the word, "Gallaria", I hailed a cab and ended up at the most modern shopping mall, it was like in Atlanta! I just dragged my bookbag with me inside and got my ticket to see "Premonition", with Sandra Bulloch. It was very entertaining and was in English with spanish subtitles. Those poor Mexicans!
This week starts the second semester and it's just as intense. In addition, my online class in communications is going well, somehow I'm managing to find time to submit my assignments.
Tomorrow we go on another excursion, but I forgot the name of it. See how busy we stay?
Oh yeah, forgot to tell you Ross and Juan Maria and I got two new roommates. They are staying in a little bugalow outside the house (not near as nice as my accomodations). They are both from South Carolina, both a little older than me. One is a librarian at a high school, the other is a retired stock exchange marketing executive. Her husband is a retired CEO of some brokerage firm and the librarian's husband is a marine. They are both very nice and it's nice to have someone else at the breakfast table. This morning Juana Maria made eggs with salsa mixed in and pinto beans with tortillas and fresh fruit. It was good, but not worth all the trouble she had to go to. I like the oatmeal just as well. It rained so hard last night, all night long, which has really cooled things off, there's a nice breeze too. I sleep so well here, the bed is very comfortable and it's quite with crickets chirping outside my window. The birds sing to wake me up each morning. I am missing my family and have such fond thoughts about how extemely blessed I am to have such great children and how much Terry means to me. What a blip in time that really holds a snag of significant permanence in my journey. This is a very special moment in my life. Thank you to my family who support me with this decision to come to Mexico. I love you all very much!
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