End of Classes and Acapulco!!

Last Monday was the final day of classes at IDEA. We took our final exam, had our last culture class and headed home to put finishing touches on our presentations. We then returned to IDEA later that night to present and have a good-bye dinner for Chloe, who unfortunately had to leave after only four short weeks. The dinner was not what I was expecting at all. They told us that there would be musicians. While we were waiting to eat, a man came onto the stage in full native costume and began to dance.

After his dance, other dancers came out to perform some traditional Mexican dances. Their costumes were so elaborate and the dancing was phenomenal. Afterward, they tried to teach us a quick dance, but it was a hopeless effort for most of us. 

After the farewell dinner, a few of us came back to my house for a final good-bye to Chloe. It was so sad to see her go. The next few days were a lot of just chilling before I began my internship the following Monday. I am in a pharmacy, and love it so far but more on that later. 

More importantly, we went to Acapulco for the weekend! We left at 1 AM on Friday and the bus ride was so long. We made stops that lasted for hours in other cities along the way. In the first, it was mostly shopping and walking around the town. There were some cool statues and we saw a really pretty church. In the second town, we walked through some stifling heat, explored, visited a museum of the Mexican flag and then had some delicious food at a local restaurant. Then it was back on the bus. We finally arrived in Acapulco around 7 PM and checked into our hotel. Our rooms were on the 11th floor and the view of the city was pretty awesome. There was a  casino and a Walmart nearby. We hit the beach for an hour, and then quickly got ready for a night cruise on the ocean. It was nice, the best part was the entertainment. There was a transvestite that sang and danced and then two couples that came out to dance. Overall, it was a great show. The cruise itself was nice, it was good to be out on the water at night. After, we went to the hotel to hang out before our day at the beach Saturday.

After we got up Saturday, we went on the bus to get to a really nice beach about 20 minutes away. To get there, we were on one beach and then took a boat with a partial glass bottom to get where we stayed all day. The beaches in Acapulco are so beautiful! There was so much swimming, it really was a great day. We ate a seafood dinner, and then went to see the famous cliff divers, a truly spectacular sight. We didn't pay for a fantastic view, but what we saw was crazy. The kids came out, and they were around 15. I was shocked by how young they were. Then, some of them went down into the water and were just swimming. They all climbed up a really high cliff, kissed religious statues for safety, stretched and took turns diving. I wasn't able to capture actual dives with my camera, but I did get a few shots of them on the cliffs. After, we went to get some tacos and had a great time dancing at a place on the beach. 

Sunday was spent hanging out at the Hard Rock Cafe in Acapulco while we waited for the other bus trip goers to be in a water park. Cheap college students that we are, we thought that the water park would be a waste of money. Plus, who wants to deal with being soggy for a 9 hour bus ride back to Orizaba?

I finally started my internship this Monday and I love it. I'm in a hospital called Sanatorio Escudero which is kind of like a giant clinic, which operating rooms, specialists and of course, a pharmacy. The system here is so much different than in the US, so getting used to that after all my shadowing has been slightly difficult. The staff is great at answering questions, and super nice when I don't quite understand something they tell me. I think I have learned a lot and can't wait to keep learning during my remaining five weeks there!

Weeks 2 and 3!

Ever since I last posted, life in Orizaba has been absolutely crazy! Jessie and Gio keep me busy every night, there is always somewhere to go, something to do or someone to meet. We've been to a park called Alameda where we skated with their friend Ivan, it was a great night to practice our skating skills.

The group celebrated the birthday of Brian, one of the guys from Juniata, the night before our big trip to Oaxaca and Puebla (two other states in Mexico). We met up at a sushi bar for some delicious food and good times before we had to be at school super early the next day.

The drive to Oaxaca seemed to take forever, even though I slept most of the way there. When I was awake, I really enjoyed looking at the landscapes, there were so many beautiful mountains, it reminded me of home. Oaxaca was so hot, it felt great to get to the hotel and take a few minutes to relax before we went out in search of food. After a long drive, enchiladas really hit the spot! We also went to visit a church, where there was a party in the street going on. It was quite the experience, with music, drinks and plenty of dancing. The inside of the church was beautiful, with plenty of real gold in the interior. Also, the view from our hotel was a spectacular view of Oaxaca, and the roof itself had a great atmosphere for relaxing with some friends.

The next day, we went to a museum , which was not exactly the most fun way to spend a Saturday. It was cool to see the Mexican history. My favorite piece was the skull encrusted with jewels. After that, we went to the site of some ruins called Monte Albán. It was a huge area to cover and we definitely didn't explore all of it. Exploring the ruins was such an experience and definitely one fo the best parts of Oaxaca! The coolest part of Monte Albán was going in an ancient tomb! Other highlight of Oaxaca were going to see a huge tree, sampling a local drink called Mezcal and going to watch a guy make pottery in an area called Barro Negro!

The next day, we took another long bus ride to Puebla. When we got there, we walked around the city for a while. There were markets set up, so we bought things as souvenirs. We met up with one of the host siblings from Orizaba and she took us to this stunningly beautiful church that was built on top of ancient pyramids in the next town over. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see inside because it was after dark and ready to shut down for the night. 

 

The next day, we took a bus tour of Puebla since it was the best way to see most of the huge city.  There are so many churches in Puebla, it would be impossible to see them all! After the bus tour, we went to an church for the indigenous (native) people. It was also really beautiful and ornate, but no pictures could be taken inside. We explored some pretty cool shops in Puebla, and one of the guys bought crickets (a common treat in Mexico) for everyone to try. I thought they were disgusting at first, but I tried one a few days later with chili powder and lime, which made it a lot better. In Puebla, we also visited a 16th century convent. The convent itself was huge, and being able to visit the convent was a unique opportunity.

After the trip, it was back to life as usual in Orizaba. Homework, catching up with my host family and daily life were back to normal. Jessie and I did some pretty fun things, like walking in the park with one of her friends, going to her choir practices, teaching me to skateboard and going out to meet more of her friends. 

Although we've done so much in the past two weeks, the only truly noteworthy thing was our climb up the cerro. The cerro is a small mountain, with a trail to get up it. Gio told me that we were going to go explore some caves, so my friend Chloe and I agreed, assuming that we would use the trail more or less and just go off to see the caves. We were super wrong! He took us up this crazy way that wasn't exactly a trail. I felt like we were legit mountain climbing. It was exhausting but so worth it. The first cave we went to is called "Cueva del Diablo" or Cave of the Devil. We didn't go inside because it went down and we weren't sure we could get back up.  We continued on our journey, using branches and rocks to get up the rest of the mountain. After a while we cut on to the normal trail, which was actually more tiring than the other way. I had trouble catching my breath for some reason. We stopped a lot and the views were spectacular! From the cerro, you can see so much of Orizaba. When we finally got to the peak, they sold different types of water, like hibiscus flower and orange. So delicious after a tough climb! When we got to the peak, we weren't done with our adventure though. We continued on to another cave, which we actually got to go into, although not very far. After that cave, we went over to another cerro connected to the one we had just climbed. From there, we had a wonderful view of Pico de Orizaba, a volcano that is the highest point around. It was so beautiful, not to mention snow covered! We continued on toward the third cave, but did not actually make it to the cave. It was so hot, especially after 3 hours of climbing, that we decided not to continue on. The way down was a lot easier than the way up. We ended up coming out at a different part of town, so we walked back to where we were parked by the river. I love walking by the river and seeing the animals, especially the peacocks. 

Well, that is really all of the exciting things that have been happening here. I couldn't be enjoying it more!