en la cima del mundo

It was another short week in terms of classes. There was some sort of conference going on this week, so my only class that meets Tuesday/Thursday was cancelled, as well as one of my Wednesday classes. This means that I only had to go to three classes this week. I spent the rest of the week running around getting the pieces together to obtain a visa. Once I had inconvenienced mis padres as well as a few other people, the lady at la UAQ decided that it would be ok if I didn’t get one. This was nice because it saved me money, but I felt bad because I had inconvenienced people for no reason.
Monday - We had to write a short essay for European lit, and when we brought them to class, my professor decided that he was going to randomly choose some to read aloud. This definitely caught me off guard because we never do that in the US. Luckily mine was not chosen.
Tuesday - I had told mis padres one of my first days here that I don’t like hamburgers. They were ok with that. This week both of the guys that rent rooms here found out, and they were shocked. My host brother asked, “not even hamburgers from McDonalds?” I said, “Especially not hamburgers from McDonalds.” We also had a discussion about language, and how I need to stop thinking in English, and the 23 year old who rents a room was pretty startled. “You think in English?!?”
One of my random visits to El centro this week:

Wednesday I went to the public library here with two other students from Michigan to take salsa lessons. It was a lot of fun and only 10 pesos (77 cents) for an hour lesson. The library is really huge and gorgeous, and the middle part is all open.

Saturday I went to a little town just southwest of Querétaro, called El Pueblito. There, there’s an archeological zone called El Cerrito (which means little hill), which has a pyramid. It was really pretty, but unfortunately we couldn’t climb it, as it was being restored.


the view from the base of the pyramid:

We walked into the town where there was a festival of sorts going on. A whole lot of people were gathered around watching a play depicting a battle between los morros and los cristianos. I didn’t really understand what was going on, but I didn’t feel too bad about it because some of the locals didn’t know either. After the play, there was free food for everyone. It was pretty warm out and I received a lovely sunburn.
Later that night I went to Italian Coffee Company with mis padres and my grandma, as mi padre’s daughter owns it and it’s closing this week for renovations. So, I met my “sister,” her husband, and their two kids. The kids were busy playing though, and they barely stopped to see their grandpa or great-grandma, let alone to meet me.
Even later that night, I went to a new bar/club in town. It was pretty amazing, as they had fountains that lit up and glass over parts of the floor with lights and mirrors underneath. After getting back home around 3:30ish, not going to sleep until after 4:30, and waking up at 9, I went to Bernal on Sunday. We took a bus to get there for only 28 pesos ($2.16). It was about an hour bus ride. We climbed the Peña. I talked a little about it in one of my previous blogs. You can’t climb the whole thing, once it gets to a certain point, you need special equipment. This is a little sad, as there’s a chapel on top, and I’m sure it would be amazing to go all the way up there. We climbed for at least an hour and 15 minutes. At that point, there wasn’t much to hold on to anymore, and the people who were coming down from a little bit higher were having a lot of trouble coming down, so we decided to stop. I think it was the coolest thing I’ve ever done though. When we were about half way up, there was a huge rain cloud and we felt a few drops. Luckily that was it; it would have been one big, dangerous mud slide back down.
Climbing up...


The view from our highest point of the climb:


the pink spot is where we were:

There are a few figures on la Peña, the most obvious one is the side view of an elephant’s head at the top left.
After we went back down to the town, we bought some ice cream and walked around.
In Bernal:

We then headed back up to the bus stop. It was time for the last bus of the day, and there was quite a crowd waiting to get on the bus. All of the seats on the bus were already taken, so everyone waiting had to stand in the aisle. I’ve been on busses almost that full on my way to school, but never on a bus for an hour long ride after climbing so much. My feet hurt a lot, and I had my knees pretty much locked the whole time for balance, so they hurt once we arrived back in Querétaro. However, it could have been worse. One guy had to hold a baby and stand the whole time.
Food: I had my first Mexican burrito this week. I also had a paleta, which is like a popsicle, except it had chunks of fruit in it (guava…I love guava). I also had a type of dessert called a guava roll, which is essentially the fruit mixed with sugar and in roll form. Mis padres put cheese on it, and it was delicious. We also had a “salad” this week. We took a lettuce leaf and then put chunks of tomatoes, garlic, herbs, and some sort of dressing or something inside. Interesting but good. My favorite new food of the week was some ‘traditional’ ice cream. I got a medium which meant three scoops (the scoops are small by American standards) and you’re expected to get three different flavors. I couldn’t decide, so I just got the first three on the list. Flavor one: “lullaby of the moon” with mango, peach, strawberries, and some type of nut. This was my favorite. Flavor two: “angel kiss” with strawberries, mamey (which is a tropical fruit), and pine nuts. Flavor three: “cinderella kiss,” with strawberry jam, cream, and cheese.
Photo Album from this weekend: El Pueblito and Bernal