A big “hola” for those who are reading my blog, I’ve never had one before – so yes, I am a newbie. I thought it would be a perfect way to update and stay in touch with all of you.
Well I’ve completed 1 full week here in Guanajuato! According to my visa I have 126 days left. I don’t even know how to describe the city, I know many who’ve already visited and studied here, I think they would agree that it’s an eclectic, unique, vibrant city – peaceful but lively. I live with Senora Emma she lives very far from the school, about 2 miles one way. The good thing is…I can eat basically whatever because I walk (on average) 6 to 7 miles a day. The first few days alone, I walked 10 miles each day (mostly uphill). Guanajuato is very hilly and most roads as well as sidewalks are cobble stoned, so good walking shoes is an absolute must!
The first week was orientation – usually they’re boring, tedious and useless. However, I am really glad we had an orientation, it was ‘Guanajuato 101’ – where to go, where to eat, don’t do this or that (a lot of common sense things but useful information too). There are 22 semester students, we’re from all over: California to New Jersey, to Wyoming, Oklahoma, Iowa, and Michigan. There’s even a girl from Canada. We seem to get along quite well (hopefully it continues), we’ve definitely had some laughs. I have a room mate, named Emily. We don’t share a bedroom (she lives down the hall) but share one section of the house. There are 11 bedrooms and 12 bathrooms here (no joke). The house also has wireless but it is very bipolar, it works whenever it wants to.
I survived my first excursion in Mexico! We stayed in Michoacan (4 hours from here) for the weekend. On Friday we hiked through mud, slippery rocks, bushes and sand for 2 miles. Some of us swam in the waterfalls (I didn’t because the water was brown and I would have had to climb up, barefoot on jagged rocks to get to the water). My tennis shoes sucked, they kept on falling off especially when we would go through wet mud or when I jumped from rock to rock. I am surprised I didn’t sprain my ankle or break something.
On Saturday, we rode horses to a volcano – 3 hours there and 3 hours back = 6 painful hours on a horse. Oh yeah, I’ve never rode a horse until now. My entire body is in pain. The ride to the volcano wasn’t bad; our horses were slow and galloped slightly. We stopped after 45 minutes to climb to church ruins that were left after the volcano erupted. It was breathtaking. We continued to ride our horses for another 2.5 hours afterwards. But, on the way back it down poured: lightning, hail, thunder, buckets of rain. I couldn’t see the sky or mountain range. It was awful, a lot of people got hurt, some were thrown from their horses and others got wounds and purple bruises. Since, I am short (surprise, surprise) the stirrups didn’t fit me properly, so my legs and knees faced inwards instead of outwards, I felt like my legs were going to fall off. And when my horse ran, I thought for sure I was a gone-er, there were many times where I thought I was going to flip forward off my horse. Fortunately, I didn’t and my horse was a definite exception. My horse knew where it was going however; I got separated from the group for about 20 (very long) minutes. I started panicking, not going to lie. There were 60 students who went on the excursion (summer session students came with us too) and so there were pockets of groups throughout the wilderness in the torrential rain. I was one of the first 10 who got back to the ranch. The rest of the 50 students came an hour or so later. Once I realized I was alone, I didn’t know what to do, by then, the rain stopped (which was a blessing) but I was totally alone, I couldn’t see in front of me for miles and when I looked back, no one was even close by me. God was truly merciful because a guy appeared out of no where, I don’t even know if he was guide from the ranch or if he was just riding a horse for pleasure. He appeared to be indigenous though. I didn’t understand him well, by the time my horse caught up with him, I was exhausted, panting, panicking, cold and exhausted (when a horse cantors, they just take off – and you get the wind kicked out of you, it’s a bad feeling). My legs felt like jelly because I tightened my leg muscles when my horse took off. My Spanish also went out the window, the only thing I could say was “ayudame, por favor – yo perdi mi grupo” (“help me please, I lost my group”). To make a long story short: I am ok, I finally got back to the ranch and I did catch up with some of the students. Needless to say, I never want to ride a horse for 6 hours again.
Sunday was very low-key. We visited a national park (reminded me of Costa Rica) and went to a town called, Patzcuaro in Morelia. There, we ate and shopped. Surprisingly, I didn’t buy any souvenirs. I think I’ll start buying for family and friends in November; I have a lot of time. No worries. Even though my excursion to Michoacan sounds like hell, it wasn’t – it was interesting and at times dangerous but a once in a lifetime experience. Fun fact: Mexico is so green! I never knew the landscape was so beautiful and luscious.
I don’t start classes until next Monday. I have no idea what I will be doing this week. I am really excited about starting class, it will give me something to do and I will have a daily routine. As of now, I am enrolled in 5 classes: literature, history, grammar, conversation and a once-a-week seminar.
I will try to update my blog weekly. I have a flickr account and plan to post my favorite Guanajuato pictures there, like I said the wireless at my home is weird, sometime it works and sometimes it doesn’t. I have over 50 pictures already and tried to upload them last night but it wouldn’t let me.
Please keep in touch with me too – I would love to hear from you all.
