Mexico 2009: Finale

Hi again,

As my time here draws to a close, I feel like an update is in order. My spanish is definitely improving. My thought process has moved from very broken span-glish to a fully spanish mindset. I still do not know many words but at least I am able to think in spanish (albeit in short sentences). Class still take up most of my day. Occasionally, I have some time to wander around the city. Some of my recent haunts have been to the local ripley´s believe-it-or-not museum, a market that is 3 stories tall and full or approximately 1,000,000,000 vendors and the audio district. I do not know if Audio District is at all the proper name but after seeing 30-50 stores all selling audio equipment (one store right next to another, etc), I do not know how it could be called anything else.

Since I last wrote, I´ve also been to beach! A group of 14 of us went to Barra de Navidad, a small beach town on the Pacific Ocean. The 5 hour bus ride was full of picturesque views of the changing altitudes with ranches, cactus trees and beautiful mountain drop-offs. The bus we took was nicer than any plane I´ve ever been on. Large seats, drinks and food, amazing foot rests and hilariously bad movies (i.e. Blue Smoke). We did not get there until late. Once we finally moved into our exactly-what-we-paid-for hotel ($6 per person per night) we were all itching to go swiming, so most of us went skinny diping! Most of my time at the beach was spent sleeping, eating the most amazing guacamole and sea kayaking and jetskiing. I drove a jet ski for the first time (without glasses or contacts). Naturally I wanted to go as far out as possible. The man working there drove out to us to say "did you guys know sharks could tip your jetski in this part of the ocean?" I still wonder why he did not mention this before we got on.

(In case you´re feeling jealous, my good time came with a price. I got food poisoning from tamales bought on the bus ride home (which was bumpy and made everyone nauseous). Luckily I have just recovered.)

Obama´s inauguration was very fun with 30 obies! We were allowed to skip class for the speech and following musical/vocal interludes. We got our own room to watch it in. There were so many wise cracks at Bush´s sad face, so many ooos and awws at Obama´s speech. We all cheered the loudest when Bush finally got on the helicopter and left the capital. To celebrate we went to a cuban restaurant (irony?) after class (about 15 of us). Cuban food is amazing!



I just got back from a vegetarian restaurant where I got a huge bowl of soup and tostadas for 15 pesos, approximately $1.10. I am really going to miss the cheapness of this place. Ray