Allison and Billy´s Mexico Adventure!

Oaxaca

2008-03-17T20:39:00.000-07:00

During the week of Semana Santa (Holy Week), we took a bus down to Oaxaca for a much-needed vacation. Look, 17.5 hour work weeks are rough-- we deserved it! (Actually, the craziness we went through preparing to leave the US did leave us a bit tired and torn, so we really did need it :). Anyway, Oaxaca is a beautiful place, and we had SO MUCH FUN!

On our way to Oaxaca we stopped in Mexico City. Actually, we were forced into a 6-hour layover there. When we tried to buy tickets from Mexico City to Oaxaca at around 2 pm, we found out the next bus with available seats didn´t leave until 9 pm. Anyway, it turned out to be a lucky inconvienience. We took the metro (subway) and visited the main sqare there-- the buildings seem ancient and are spectacular, beautiful monstrosities. Mexico City is rich with culture, and we plan on returning there many many times over the next year. In addition to checking out the vast city plaza and wandering the beautiful streets, we also stopped for our favoite tacos al pastor, which are little mini tacos made of pork, onion, and cilantro. We like ours with lime and pineapple as well. It is definitely something we will miss when we come back, because I know they don´t have tacos al pastor in America (trust me, after I did my study abroad in Cuernavaca and fell in love with them, I looked relentlessly at US Mexican restaurants to no avail).

Anyway, once in Oaxaca, we had an experience searching for the best hotel. The first night we stayed at a cute place for around US$35/night, although the next day we found a haven that we are likely to dream about for the rest of our lives (for US$30). It is a super cute hotel called Casa Arnel. Holy cow this place is awesome. Granted, the rooms aren´t anything to write home about (although here we are, doing just that), but the place itself, well-- it's quite heavenly. The courtyard is massive and filled with all sorts of tropical plants and such. There are so many little plant-filled balconies and hidden surprises at basically every turn. We spent a lot of time just chillin' in the hammocks there, listening to the parrots, and now and then playing some cards. We did leave Casa Arnel for one night (against our better judgment) to stay in another even-cheaper hotel called Hotel Chocolate Posada. This place was super cute as well (although really not very cute at all in comparison to Arnel), and it housed a chocolate factory that of course acted as constant air-freshener / evil temptress. The chocolate in Oaxaca is amazing, and so we thought it would follow that an experience at this Chocolate Hotel might be a fun deviation. Umm, not so much. Aside from the aroma and outward aesthetic appeal, Hotel Chocolate Posada sucks. We have never heard so much noise so early in the morning. Starting at about 5 am, we were greeted with the pleasantries of steel garage-like doors being flung open, people yelling, and other things that sounded like barrels being thrown around on concrete. All of this nicely echoed in the cinderblock courtyard that the hotel rooms surround. Needless to say, we returned to our wish-it-was-our-second-home Casa Arnel the next night.

While in Oaxaca, we tried all sorts of yummy foods, many of which you´ll see Billy eating in the photos we promise to post soon (he wants a running visual account of his foodie experiences). These food experineces included both of us trying mini fried grasshoppers (not too gross), and walking through a chaotic barbeque-smoke filled market with people on all sides yelling at us to buy their meat and their vegetables.

We also visited the ancient ruins of Monte Alban which were amazing. It really makes you (or at least us) wonder what it must have looked like when those cultures were in their prime. Wish we had a time machine. Anyway, we also checked out some cool museums and such, in addition to walking the many many cobblestoned streets of Oaxaca´s colonial center. It seemed like every little doorway you looked into held exciting secrets (FYI, much of Mexico has streets lined with homes and/or businesses that look like plain flat facades squished tightly together from the front-- to see what they really are, you have to be allowed inside. All their courtyards, etc, are hidden from street view and are accessible only upon entry). There were also coutless food vendors, artists, etc, etc lining the streets and established "mercado" areas. We loved hanging out in the city´s various plazas and soaking in the cultural ambiance. Very, very fun.

Since we were in Oaxaca during Semana Santa, we were also able to watch their Procescion del Silencio (Procession of Silence). I had seen more dramatic versions of this tradition when I was in Cuernavaca years ago, but it was still very interesting. Huge amounts of people come to watch this holy "parade", wich basically consists of people in various types of dress carrying several flowered "floats" with statues of Christ and Mother Mary (many of them being ones of Christ on the Cross). In Cuernavaca, there were men who would actaully whip their own backs into bloody messes, others who would carry huge wooden crosses, and women who would walk miles hunched over carrying mini-crucifixes. The Oaxaca version wasn´t as gruesome, thankfully.

Finally, (on a lighter note) before leaving, we also checked out a 2000+ year old tree called El Tule. That thing was amazing. It is really hard to capture the perspective via photo, but believe us, that was one big tree. The trunk seemed to house many many other trunks within it, all worthy of their own little zip code.

On our way back to Queretaro, we once again stopped off in Mexico City (this time by planned choice). We got up early and went to the temporary museum, Ashes and Snow. This is travelling museum, and believe us, if it comes to your city, GO. We were lucky to have gotten up early, because by the time we left at around 10:30 am, the line to get in was already as long as the notoriously horrific Disneyland ones. We found out that the musuem gets an average of about 250,000 visitors per day. No admission price, but trust us, this place is making money. Almost everyone buys something in the gift shop after going through that spiritually-enlightening exhibit. We certainly did. Just go-- we really can´t explain what it´s like, but you can also check it out at http://www.ashesandsnow.com/

After Ashes and Snow we headed to the famous ruins of Teotihuacan. They had a different feel to them than did the ruins of Monte Alban, although they are equally impressive and appealing. We climbed the huge pyramids and wiggled our way through the zillions of people selling souveniers. Once again, pictures will follow soon. And after Teotihuacan, we said goodbye to our Semana Santa vacation and bussed it back to our cozy mattress-on-the-floor abode.

The Story of Gino(a)

2008-04-14T10:19:00.000-07:00

Well, we were parents!....for about 5 or 6 days. It went like this:

On the day we were moving out of the empty mattress-on-the-floor house, we looked out the window and saw a baby bird hopping around in a futile effort to fly. He had something stuck to his foot and was obviously trying to escape it. Anyway, we caught him and helped untangle the string, etc from his foot. Then we tried to find where he had come from: Billy was climbing up on the roof looking for nearby nests and such. We couldn´t find any nests in the back, but we had previously recognized a nest in the front. We had seen the parents of that empty nest hanging around, so we decided to put our little orphan up there to see if he would be adopted. Well, not so much. The parents of that nest apparently didn´t appreciate the newcomer and basically attacked him. So....after feeling quite bad about putting our refugee into a deathtrap, WE decided to adopt him! We put him in a bucket nest and packed him along with the rest of our stuff to our new apartment.

Since we weren´t sure what adoptive human parents are supposed to feed a wild baby bird, we decided to try milk and baby veggie lasagna via syringe. The little guy definitely seemed hungry and was pecking excitedly for food. He suffered a few shots of milk to the face due to our lack of syringe-food-giving experience, but hey, we tried! After researching on the internet a bit, we found out we shouldn´t be giving him liquids, so we stuck to giving him veggie lasagna via spoon. Since the little guy/girl really seemed to like lasagna (as opposed to the higher-protein options we tried), we decided to give him the italian name of Gino(Gina if it was a girl).

Gino(a) was so freakin cute!! The little guy just could not be contained. It didn´t take him long to figure out how to escape his bucket-- the first time he did so he came hopping from our bedroom into the living room where we were hanging out. He obviously had decided to adopt us as parents, cuz he came right up to us and would hop into our hands, etc. In the mornings he would hop out of his bucket and jump around, chirping, to get us to wake up and feed him. One morning he jumped onto the bed and hopped right up into the nape of my neck. Ahhh... to be trusted and loved by a wild animal: not the worst feeling in the world!

Gino(a) also may have been a bit vain cuz he really liked to be clean and pretty. He would preen his feathers and even took a couple baths! We would put a little water on a plate and he would birdie-roll around in it. Honestly, one of the cutest things I have ever seen.

Now to the sad end: About 5 days after taking him home, we had to go to a training at work. When we got home several hours later, our birdie had flown :( ! The window in our bedroom was open, and although we thought it impossible for him to fly so early, apparently he suddenly developed the insight, or he climbed up the curtains and then jumped out the window. He left us a birdie poop by the window seal as a clue/goodbye. Gino(a) was tiny so we hope the best for his welfare! It appears the little guy/girl was just too much of an adventurer to be restrained--neither by his natural birdie nest nor our huge aparment human nest! We miss him, but are also proud of his spirit and boldness. And that, my friends, is the story of Gino(a).

Random Thoughts: Food in Mexico

2008-04-17T20:06:00.001-07:00

Well, as we mentioned before, Billy is more than excited about the cuisine here. I do use the term "cuisine" loosely, but the food really IS good, and I´m becoming more and more of a fan myself. However, the eats here are also amusing and they do take some getting used to. For example....

*Eggs in the grocery stores are NOT refrigerated. Granted people do tend to refrigerate them once they have been purchased, but until then, theyjust hang out by the dozen with the room temperature produce.

*Billy has suddenly become a sweets fan, mostly thanks to the pan dulce here (aka pastries). The pan dulce is sold everywhere, and in the grocery stores they have shelves and shelves of pan dulce varieties sitting out in the open (likely to tempt passers-by via scent and close encounter). Rather than protect the sweet goodness with the obvious protection of glass or plastic enclosure, most places instead strategically place fly traps in and around the area. Fly carcass + home-made dingdong? How could one possibly resist?

*Although many things here are significantly less expensive, some of our favorites are decidedly more costly. For example, Ben and Jerry`s ice cream in the states is appx $3. Here? Oh, at least twice that-- hence, we are not going to have many movie nights accompanied by Chunky Monkey. But, you know, my birthday is coming, so...

*While in an Oaxacan restaraunt, we were delivered our food bill on a sticky note! Despite the seeming novelty of the situation, we have observed that sticky notes are quite the popular vehicle of record-keeping here. The clerk at the gift shop in Teotihuacan took inventory of our sale on a notepad, as have many other store keepers. In fact, a few stores/restaurants haven`t even bothered with the formality of a pen and paper- they have just come to the table and announced the amount we owe :)

*We did mention that we ate cooked grasshoppers, right?

*ORANGE JUICE! Ok....this is why I`m in love with Mexico. So I`m easy to please, so what? Anyway, seriously-- the orange juice here is ridiculous. We can buy a litre of fresh-squeezed OJ in the grocery store or at a restaurant for appx US$1.00 - $1.70. That, and the pan dulce, and the tacos al pastor, and the produce, and the 17-hour work week might just keep me here (just kidding, Mom).

*Speaking of produce...aahhh...try super fresh and juicy and not-dry-like-American-fruit deliciousness. Especially the Mexican papaya, cantalope, mangos, oranges, grapefruits, avocados, etc. etc. etc.

*Chili/chile. Most things have it. Even ice cream. We got a vanilla/chocolate cone in el centro (which was delicious, by the way), and they both tasted distinctly like chile.

*Popcorn with chile sauce and mango with chile sauce. Need we say more?

*Avocado and banana smoothie. Don`t freak out, just try it. One avocado, two bananas, a little sugar, and enough milk to make it however thick or thin you want. Everyday, at least once a day.

*Meat just hanging out--without refrigeration--in the markets, everywhere.

*Remember my tale of the fatty fatty lamb-fat taco breakfast? It comes accompanied with lamb fat soup.

*Comida Corrida: (translates more or less literally into "running food", but what it really means is "four course meal"). These are popular during lunch time (akin to American happy hour) for a measly US $3.50.

Ruin Photos

2008-04-18T14:53:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos from the ruins we have visited so far. The top two are from Teotihuacan-- first a photo of the ancient city followed by some detail from a pyramid. The big pyramid there is one of the largest in the world! Pretty cool.... The bottom three are from Monte Alban: 1)cityscape 2) me on pyramid steps 3) ancient "ball court"-- they used to have to move the ball around by hitting it with their hips and such....

Birthday Vacation...

2008-05-11T15:06:00.000-07:00

So, having been here for almost 2 months, we figured it was time for vacation #2. It was a good one too-- we made it back to Cuernavaca where I did my study abroad 10 years ago, as well as to Tepotzlan and Taxco. Check out our pics...starting with Cuernavaca. The top two are the Cathedral in the city, followed by a pic of the awesome Robert Brady museum -- see www.bradymuseum.org . The final two are of Jardin Borda (we took the pic from a rowboat we rented and paddled around the lake), and ruins that are right smack in the middle of a residental part of the city.

Taxco

2008-05-18T11:49:00.000-07:00

School children parading through the city for 5 de Mayo

El Cristo looks over the city

Opposite of wide = the streets of Taxco. They are pretty, though, eh?

The aeriel view we were looking for

Coke break on our walk up the steep streets in search of an aerial view of the city

The city´s main cathedral

Taxco is an awesome city made of cobblestone streets that are ridiculously narrow and steep. There are also about 350,000 silver shops to choose from. We took advantage of the relatively cheap prices for the high-quality silver. I got a thick silver chain with two sets of pendants and matching earrings, a bracelet, and a ring. Oh yeah, and one other pair of earrings. Gotta love Mexico... =)

Tepotzlan

2008-05-20T10:07:00.000-07:00

Cool tree at the base of the hike to the pyramid

Congratulatory kiss for not dying on the way up the mountain

Notice the footwear -- yes, those would be flip-flops. Perfect for hiking steep terrain.

Billy pyramid climbing....?

Tepotzlan is a super cute little town about 45 min away from Cuernavaca by bus. It houses a mystic pyramid that is accessible only by hiking a steep mountain. By the time we were done my thigh muscles were shaking from near muscle-failure, but it was worth it!

These are for you, Thurop....

2008-05-20T10:07:00.001-07:00

No questions, please.

Rewind: Semana Santa Procession of Silence

2008-05-20T10:07:00.002-07:00

Since we have the time, I figured we should post some pictures of the Semana Santa procession (holy parade) we watched while in Oaxaca on vacation. Unfortunately I ruined 2 CDs of photos, one of which had many more pics of the Semana Santa stuff, but at least most of them were still saved on our memory card. Here are the survivors.

More Rewind: Mexico City

2008-05-20T10:07:00.003-07:00

Billy knocking on the slightly large door inside the cathedral

Inside the cathedral downtown

Street art

More sculptures in the street downtown

Dancers in the main square

Main cathedral in the city's zocalo (main square). Nice, eh? Unfortunately, however, it was built right on top of an ancient pyramid during the Spanish conquest.

For Jeremy....

2008-05-23T08:32:00.001-07:00

Just for you, bud!

Finally, our own city.... Queretaro!!!

2008-05-23T08:34:00.000-07:00

We figured it was probably time to show you some pictures

of the city we actually live in.

Here we are in downtown Queretaro.

Awesome church in Queretaro

Billy in front of the awesome church.

Pious Billy inside the awesome church.

???

Me eating ice cream (chocolate with a little chile flavor =) in downtown Queretaro.

Rosa and Fernando: The owners of our language school.

Me in our first "home". The mattress-on-the-floor place. This was our fancy dining room =)

Maya

2008-07-06T15:13:00.000-07:00

One day, while I was walking to work, I found this little cutie barking at the passing cars. We've see a ton of homeless dogs in Mexico, so I'm not sure why I felt it was so obvious that I needed to help her, but it was, and I did. I just called to her, and she immediately ran over to me, licked me, and put her paw on my leg. I motioned for her to come with me, and she ran right next to me all the way back to our apartment. Once there, I left Billy the early morning surprise of a puppy to take care of. But seriously, look at her-- who can say no? When I got home from class I opened the bedroom door and found Maya and Billy snuggled in bed together =) Anyway, she is so smart, sweet, and affectionate, and we fell in love with her right away. Billy came up with the perfect name-- "Maya" -- in honor of finding her in Mexico. She lived with us for two weeks and learned some fancy tricks in that time. All things considered, we ended up deciding it was best for her, and for us (although it was super hard) to give her to our boss' family. They have 3 kids and had been wanting a new dog for a while. They were so excited at the opportunity to adopt her, and they have since told us that she is very happy in their family and that all their kids are sharing the dog-owning responsibilities. We miss her but are super glad she's not living a homeless-dog life and that she is with a family that loves her and can give her lots of attention and exercise

Billy and His Best Mexican Friend / Spanish Teacher, Yaid

2008-07-06T15:37:00.001-07:00

'Nuff said. Aren't they a cute couple?

Tequisquiapan

2008-07-06T15:39:00.000-07:00

So, a while ago we went to this cute little town about 1/2 hour away from Queretaro. We attended their annual wine and cheese festival and walked around with our friend / Spanish teacher, Yaid, and his family. Good stuff.

Billy and I with Yaid and his family in Tequis

Main cathedral in Tequisquiapan

Main square in Tequisquiapan

Local Pyramid... El Cerrito

2008-07-06T15:57:00.000-07:00

One day our friend, Yaid, took Billy and I to some local ruins right in the middle of a town, Pueblito, close to Queretaro. They are called "El Cerrito", which means "little hill" in Spanish, because for a long time people didn't know that ruins existed in the area, they thought it was simply a small hill in town. After finding that the hill was actually a pyramid covered by vegetation, they kept the name. Apparently these ruins are quite historically significant. After the Spanish conquest, some rich Spanish dude with an ego built his mansion on top of the pyramid...the remains of which are still there, as you can see.

Random Thoughts: "Work" life, and life in general

2008-04-17T20:06:00.002-07:00

So... who knew? Teaching English turns out to be a job we both have quite an affinity for! Honestly, it is really fun, and neither of us feel like it fits the definition of "work" at all (except for the fact that we get paid--not much--but we are paid nonetheless). We are both working a whopping 17.5 hours a week, usually in the evenings. So, our days pretty much go like this:
Wake up around 10 am, hang out, do yoga, eat, hang out, watch some TV, read, play the guitar (Billy), play Cribbage, read, hang out, eat, read over lesson plans, walk to work, "work", walk home, hang out, eat, watch movies, eat popcorn with chile, and eventually sleep. Start over. It`s a good life. However, we may have lung cancer by the time we get back. Thanks to our route along a freeway entrance, our walk to work is nicely accented by copious car emmissions. Lots and lots and lots of car emissions. We could probably etch our names on each other every day by scraping through what feels like inches of black film on our skin.
Since the lung cancer seems inevitable, I am trying to evade skin cancer during our walks by donning a super-sexy sombrero-ish hat I got from WalMart. I shall enlighten and delight you with a photo later. Try to contain yourselves. I am especially attractive upon arrival to work due to the fact that the hat, though it shields my skin from the sun it so very hates, it also retains heat. It just so happens that Queretaro is a lot hotter than we expected it to be, so my face and hair are usually sweat-laden upon our arrival.

No longer homeless!

2008-03-27T11:23:00.000-07:00

That´s right, we have found a home. We have decided to move in with another English teacher from our school named Hugo. He´s a really nice guy and we think it will be great to have a native Spanish speaker around all the time to help us with our language aquisition. The complex has security and the apartment is two-bedroom, 1-bath. It is already furnished so we won´t have to buy much except for some kitchen stuff (since Hugo isn´t much of a chef and his dinnerware collection consists of basically one plate, one fork, and a couple spoons) and whatever we want to add to our bedroom decor. It will be SOOO nice not to have to squish onto a twin mattress on the floor anymore! Yeah! We can´t wait. We move in Saturday afternoon, and so the eager anticipation for normalcy is running rampant in our hearts. (Actually, it hasn´t been that bad staying at the empty house, but believe us, this is one heckuva step up :) Oh yeah-- one more thing: the apartment is really close to school (walkably close!), so we won´t have to take any more taxis or buses to/from work. We will probably be walking an average of 2-4 miles per day which should thankfully help counteract all the tacos/pan dulce (pastry-type deliciousness). I actually think I'll come back in better shape! Whew. Ok one more thing, again: Our rent for this place is ridiculous. We only have to pay appx US$200/month for rent + all utilities (that is $100 a month per person, my friends. We may never return).

Blog Debut!

2008-03-15T12:46:00.000-07:00

Howdy everybody!

So...we have only been here for a few days and yet we already feel so far behind in story-telling. Hmmm... where to begin. Let us start with the Phoenix airport. So... yeah. For those of you who know us well, it shouldn´t be too much of a shocker to find that we were really pushing the limits when it came time to catch our flight. It took us a while to check in because, well, we ran into some complications for having too much stuff! We both had 2 checked bags and 2 carry-on bags. And you know that whole 50-pound-per-bag weight limit thing? Um...that didn´t really work for us. We actually both had to pay an extra fee for packing too much crap (mostly WAAAYY too many clothes--who cares about bringing essentials like alarm clocks when you can have 15 pairs of shoes and about 16,578 shirts...each?). So yeah.... Billy´s big suitcase weighed 73 pounds and my biggest checked in at 58. Let me repeat that: BILLY´s bag was SEVENTY-THREE pounds. MINE? Heavy.... yes.... but not like that of my boy. And NO-- I did not have my stuff crammed into his suitcase (granted I did have a few things in another of his suitcases that was under the weight limit...but no big deal =). Anyway, we had to rearrange and shuffle some stuff out of Billy´s 73-pounder just to get them to check it at all, as their maximum weight limit is 70 pounds. We also found out that due to the fact we are returning during holiday season (Dec 23), we will have to meet a very strict, no exceptions, no-extra-fee-for-extra-weight option, 50-pound-per-bag weight limit when we come back. Taking into consideration that we are likely to buy many souvenirs, etc, during our stay here, me thinks we may be in a bit of trouble. Perhaps a few of you would like to visit with an extra suitcase, and foster a few dozen outfits for us until we return ;) ?

Wow, this blog is going to be long!! So.... we check in and wait forever and ever and ever to get through security, just in time to hear our names being called via intercom to board our flight for immediate departure. So we did...and we made it. No real bumps in the road yet. We had a quick layover in Houston which was also interesting due to the fact that we had to take a bus from terminal A to terminal B so we could switch planes. This almost made us late for our connection to Mexico City, and I also almost left one of our bags at the "bus stop". Nice one, Allison.

Ok... I need to cut back a bit on the details--- for your sake and mine. Anyhow, all went well and good once in Mexico, except for one tiny little detail. Once we were all checked into our hotel and about to go out for our first dinner in Mexico, I all of a sudden realized that I was missing a bag. Yup....7 bags with us in the hotel room instead of 8. I really kinda freaked... thinking about all the stuff that was in the missing suitcase and not having any idea whatsoever where it got lost in the transition. We called our Mexico contacts/bosses and they told us they would try and call the airport to help track the bag down. The really convenient thing was that I just so happened to have lost the carry-on suitcase that was NOT marked with my name-address-etc!! Sweet. So I lamented the loss of my bag, knowing the chances of finding it were very very very small. But this is what makes it an adventure, no? So we went out to dinner and laughed at the fact that our first dining experience was "eating Mexican food in a Chinese restaurant in Mexico". But seriously, the tacos I ordered were really really really good, and the Chinese-ish thing Billy got (which he thought was going to be a Mexican-ish thing) was OK good. So the moral of the story is: when in Mexico, always order Mexican, even from a Chinese restaurant. After some good laughs and such at dinner, I made one final desperate call to Continental Airlines-- and, as luck would have it, my bag appeared to be safe and sound at the Continental baggage claim desk. Ahhhh... and all was well with the world again. (Oh yeah, while making the phone call about my luggage, we saw a group of obvious prostitutes on the street corner, and shortly thereafter we saw a pair of Mormon missionaries walk by. Welcome to Mexico City, my friends).

The next day, after such an interesting roller-coaster introduction, we began training in the Mexico City branch of InterAct. The owners of the company are a married couple, Rosa and Fernando. They are both extremely nice, hospitable, funny, and supportive. We are very excited to be working with/for them. They bought us breakfast and lunch, and both were really very yummy. This country is definitely made for Billy. I, on the other hand, am already a bit "over" the whole tacos-for-breakfast-lunch-and-dinner thing. We went to this one famous breakfast place on our way from Mexico City to Queretaro where they serve Barbacoa (a very very fatty, as in chunks-of-visible-fat-everywhere-fatty, lamb fajita thing). It was not the easiest thing for me to eat at 10 am, but I did it with the help of a yummy, thick hot-chocolate drink called Champurrado. In later conversations with students at our school, they adamantly insist Barbacoa and Menudo (tripe/intestine soup) are absolutely, no-questions-asked, breakfast foods. Ummm, ok then. I miss my smoothie ;) Billy, as I said, has been in heaven. He ate like 4 or 5 of those lamb taco things, and is trying to imagine ever getting sick of the idea of having many many more meals like those.

We have been taking a lot of taxis, and for the time being we are staying in our bosses´ empty house. They recently moved from Queretaro to Mexico City and so we have free reign of their 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house--- mattress on the floor included. It has been interesting for us to go without a car, phone, Internet, etc etc for the past few days. We are searching for a place of our own, but it may take us a week or two before we find something appealing close to work. We definitely DO want a place close to work--hopefully close enough so we can always walk. If not, we may end up spending all our earnings on transportation! Rosa was wondering why we didn´t just drive here since we were from Phoenix (which, by the way, came as a surprise to her because for some reason she had it in her head we were Canadian). But seriously, even though a car would be WAY more convenient, I cannot imagine driving here. There does not seem to be any laws regarding Right of Way. It translates mostly into "he who is most aggressive wins". Drivers here are crazy. Crazy. I don´t really know how else to describe it. As an example, a bus we took an experimental ride on actually ran into the bus next to us!

As far as work goes, we are very excited to begin teaching. We have been observing classes and we have both already taught a class. Funny thing though-- we got here right in time for Semana Santa (Holy Week), which means that we have all of next week off! I know, I know... it´s about time for a vacation! So that´s exactly what we´re going to do. We are planning to take a bus from Queretaro to Oaxaca tomorrow, and will return sometime next week. Oaxaca is an awesome city south of us, famous for its chocolate =). Oaxaca also reportedly has some amazing ruins that we will go see. Neither of us have ever been there, so it should be interesting. We will take lots of pictures and try to get them uploaded ASAP. Sorry we don´t have any pics up yet, but they will come, believe us. Lots of love until next week!