Yes, I’ve been MIA for a while, but I’m still here. It has been kind of busy around these parts, but I’m not complaining. That is certainly a good thing.
On Tuesday night, Cammie invited Andy and me over to celebrate her roommate, Elena’s birthday. There were about 15 or so people, and we were treated to a wonderful meal put together by all. We feasted on stuffed chicken in tomato broth, egg salad, fresh bread, garden salad, and
tostadas. Later, we sang happy birthday in Spanish (
Las Mañanitas) and English. We topped the night off by enjoying a beautiful chocolate cake decorated with fresh fruit.
On Friday, I strolled around Coyoacán and the
zócalo. I bought some earrings (surprise, surprise) and several Spanish teaching books from the book fair. I also ventured into some fabric stores in the
zócalo and purchased some beautiful
Día de Muertos fabric to decorate my future Spanish classroom.
On Saturday morning, Clau, Javi, Ekaitz, Andy, and Cammie came over my place for a Mexican-American breakfast. We chowed down on French toast, scrambled eggs, fresh corn
tortillas,
frijolitos (refried beans), papaya, kiwi, and fresh squeezed orange juice. Mmmm. After breakfast, Clau, Javi, Ekaitz and I headed to the
zócalo to watch the
alebrije parade put on by the
Museo de Arte Popular (MAP).
Alebrijes are brightly-colored Mexican folk art sculptures of fantastical creatures. The term can be used to describe papier mache creatures, but it is more commonly used in reference to Oaxacan woodcarvings, like my blue lizard pictured at the top of my blog.
The parade was fantastic and the
alebrijes were impressive in both size and color. In addition to the
alebrijes, there was music in the form of marching bands and
mariachi, dancers, performers on stilts, and a wide variety of other entertainers.
I enjoyed seeing the little kids at the parade, both the ones who observed and the ones who participated.
Afterwards, we decided to trek to the top of the
Torre Latinoamericana. At 45 stories tall, it was Mexico City’s tallest building from 1956-1984. Today,
Mexico’s World Trade Center holds the record for the tallest building in the city. The view from the top was incredible. I wish I could say that you could see for miles and miles, but unfortunately the smoggy atmosphere prevents this. Nonetheless you can see a fair distance across the monstruous city.
There were four photo displays on each side of the
Torre (north, east, south, west) that identified the important landmarks that can be seen from the top of the
Torre. It was fun to pick out the various places that I had visited such as the
Palacio Nacional and the
Parque Alameda.
After our high altitude journey, we came down and meandered through the
zócalo. We saw this guy drawing a picture of the Mona Lisa on the sidewalk with chalk. For a temporary work of art, it was certainly a beautiful rendition.
We also stopped by the
Palacio Nacional to scope out the
Día de Muertos tianguis (market).
Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) is a holiday celebrated in Mexico on November 1st and 2nd. Family and friends gather to pray and remember loved ones who have passed away.
Ofrendas (offerings) are set up in churches, homes, and public buildings to remember the deceased souls. There was a gorgeous ofrenda in the
Palacio Nacional based on Diego Rivera’s
Sueño de una Tarde Dominical en la Alameda Central (Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park.) Some of the people in the original mural were represented as
muertos/calaveras (deceased/skeletons) in the
ofrenda. Check out Frida and Diego for example!
The
tianguis was small but nice, and we snacked on some
pan de muerto (bread of the dead). I bought a pair of rockin’
calavera earrings and a very rad
Día de Muertos T-shirt. It was such a beautiful day, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself in the wonderful company of my friends. By the way, our clocks changed for Daylight Savings on Saturday night…a week earlier than in the U.S…a cool little fact.
On Sunday morning, I got up early to meet two other fellow English professors at the university for breakfast. Daniel and Luis took me to the nearby
San Cosme market for a breakfast of
barbacoa.
Barbacoa generally refers to sheep meat that has been slow-cooked in a hole dug in the ground and covered with
maguey leaves. We feasted on
consomé de barbacoa,
tacos de barbacoa and
pancita (stomach), and
agua de mandarina. It was quite delicious. Afterwards we metroed (yes, I think this should be a verb) over to
Pino Suárez to look for some T-shirts with Spanish phrases on them. This is something I have yet to find here in Mexico—clothing with Spanish writing on it. To our
mala suerte (bad luck), many of the stores were closed due to the Sunday protests going on in the
zócalo. In addition, any T-shirts that we did find were written in English. While our mission was unsuccessful, it was still fun to spend the morning-afternoon with Daniel and Luis.
A little preview for next time…I'm heading to Michoacán this weekend with Clau and her family to celebrate
Día de los Muertos. I’m certainly looking forward to this, and I hope to have some jammin’ pictures for you guys when I get back :-).
Click for more pictures!Abrazos, Nicole
4 comments:
Nicole,
Did you really eat sheep meat that was cooked in the ground and covered with leaves? That sounds....interesting. LOL :) It sounds like you are having a great time! Any chance you can fill us in on your students, and what you are teaching them? Also, it sounds like you have a LOT of free time. I remember in college you were always doing lesson plans and stuff when you were student teaching. Do you find yourself less busy teaching in Mexico?
Well if we can't be in Mexico this is the next best thing. You are our eyes and ears there, and what wonderful things you see and tell us about. No guided tour was ever as informative as this blog has been. Thanks for putting all the effort in to creating, researching,(living)and posting, the information you include every time. We enjoy it immensely! All our love.
Hey Beth!
Yep, I really did eat sheep meat. It tastes very similar to lamb if you have ever tried that. My students are wonderful, and they range in age from 18-70 or so. I conduct 6 conversation classes each week, and I am often invited into teacher's classrooms to give presentations on cultural topics, such as the difference between greetings (kiss or handshake). I teach basic and advanced conversation and our topics range from such things as idioms to current events. In addition, I am volunteering my free time at the Benjamin Franklin library and I conduct some conversation classes there as well. I don't find myself less busy with lesson planning here, which is why I tend to do a lot of things on the weekends. We pack our hours into 4 days a week instead of 5, so it is nice to have Friday free for traveling or whatever. I really enjoy both my work and free time here!
Hi Nicole,
What a great weekend!
I really enjoyed traveling around the city with you. As I told you: "Until the ugliest monster has its own charm".Walking in Downtown you will always appreciate the beauty of this monster called Mexico City. I always get surprised to see my culture reflected in every place I visited even with the big chaos (so many people and a lot of traffic).
These days are also so important because remembering dead people; you can realize that we are very lucky to have the great opportunity to be alive. And I think that traveling, meeting new people and learning about a different culture is one of the best things to enjoy life. ;D
See you for the new adventure in Michoacan!
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