I have the feeling that no one is really reading this anymore since its been taking me so long to write posts. Lots has happened since I last wrote. So what's new...I have a new favorite Mexican candy called Paleton de Cajeta aka a Goatmilk Lollipop. I'm trying to make a concerted effort to learn Mexican slang. It's funny because lots of slang makes no sense when translated literally and also its takes time to really have an understanding of how foul and/or inappropriate certain words are in different contexts. In Mexico you hear lots of, "al huevo", "guey" "cabron" etc., but my favorite so far is "que pedo". You can say "que pedo" to say "whats up", "that sucks", "that's cool" or you can say "no hay pedo" to say "no problem or don't worry about it". Here's where my 5th grade humor comes in...pedo literally means fart. I love it. I can only imagine how it sounds to the Mexican ear to hear me attempt to be cool by using foul language.


que mas...
My brother, sister-in-law and two cousins came and visited for a week. They rented a "casita" which was actually 3 story house. It felt like I had a vacation home away from home while they were here. We ate lots of home cooked meals, drank beers with limes on the roof and I even got to use their washer and dryer! I requested that we have family photo shoot with corny backgrounds and that we all wear red shirts. Needless to say the fotos are amazing. We also went to Mexico City for the weekend because they had to fly out on Sunday. Coordinating meal plans for five people en el D.F. turned out to be a challenge for us. It seemed like every time we tried to each lunch or dinner we ended up walking the streets starving and looking for a place to eat. Overall it was really great to hang out with my family and I was sad to seem them go. Once the fam headed back to the states I stayed in Mexico City through Monday. I went to see Diego River's murals at the Palacio Nacional, walked around the market tepito, ate tamales de mole, tacos al pastor, chopped up beets, carrots & jicama w/ chile and lime, etc. I couchsurfed with a guy named Alex in Coyocan, a neighborhood in Mexico City. For the most part it worked out well, but it was inevitably awkward a times to be hanging around someone's house that I barely knew. That being said, I definitely plan to couchsurf again.

I wasn't so exited to go back to San Miguel de Allende. Sure, San Miguel is situated in a beautiful hilly area of Guanajuato with a very temperate climate and lots of sun shine. For this very reason, however, it's a place that has attracted a lot of Americans and Canadians. I've heard there is an estimated 10,000 expats roaming around San Miguel, myself included. Most are middle aged to elderly and have come to San Miguel to retire. A lot of the foreigners I've met hear have been living here for over 10 years and can barely order a taco! For me that's just not okay. While one could argue that there are lots of Mexicans that immigrate to the U.S. and don't learn English I still feel like its a different situation. A lot of Mexicans come to the U.S. looking for work, because there isn't any in Mexico, with the intent of saving money to send to their families. The Americans that I meet here come to retire and most definitely have the time and the money to work on their Spanish...but they don't. For this reason being in San Miguel has been a little bizarre. Yes, I'm American, but I don't feel like I necessarily fit into the same category as the older, can't order a goddamn taco, Americans that reside here.

Mexico is in the midst of celebrating Semana Santa. Fortunately for me, I have the week off from working at CASA. There is a tradition in San Miguel that the Friday before Easter people set up alters to La Virgen Dolorosa and open up their homes for anyone to stop by. From what I observed, the alters are made up of lots of images of the Virgin, candles, white and purple cloth, containers of wheat grass and piles of chamomile. Everyone was out and about in the streets buying food and passing by homes and churches to check out the elaborate arrangements of flowers, candles and Virgins. The best part when you stop by to visit an alter you get an ice cream cone or a paleta.

Right now I'm hanging out in the city of Guanajuato visiting with a friend. I had planned to go to Michoacan and then Guadalajara, but for a number of reasons it doesn't look like that's going to happen. Regardless, its nice to have a break. My internship has been stressing me out. I plan a little too much and things at CASA have been a little too disorganized for me. I'm still really trying to find my place and to figure out how to make progress on projects when people here seem to have a totally different sense of time. My time off so far has been very relaxing. It's been nice to stay with my friend Leon and his family. I've eaten lots of home cooked meals and have been able to hang out and read and chat in their big, beautiful garden/patio. I've also been going for lots of long walks and treating myself to good coffee and street snacks.

I had planned to post some photos, but for whatever reason its not allowing me to. Que pedo! I'll post them as soon as I can.