weekend news

Well, Mexico City was interesting....traffic was tough getting there but after we finally surfaced near Alameda Park it was fun to show Nate around, being that it was his first time ever in the D.F. It was a beautiful day and the park was hopping. We came with a mission to get Bob Dylan tickets and although the lady in the bookstore who worked the Ticketmaster desk was out to lunch when we came through we drank coffee for a half hour till she came back and we got the tickets. Its gunna be a fun time, our friend Chrystian is driving us into the city and we're taking a full car of Stu, Nate, Hilary, and I. Its like the 27 or something, a wednesday in February.
Oh i made the big mistake of accidentally leaving Stu's Lonely Planet guide book, our travel Bible, in the taxi as I was getting out at the bus station in Pachuca. It would have been real helpful on Saturday. We went to four bookstores in Mexico City looking for another one but they were all sold out everywhere. We had wanted to see Chapultepec Park but it closes at about 5 so we werent going to make it. We wanted to see an incredible huge art exhibition in the main zocalo too but the line was literally a mile long....all day long. So instead we thought wed check out the yuppie area of Condesa and Roma but without a good guide book we spent a couple hous walking around big peopleless boulevards trying to find a good place to eat or even a sign of life. We were definitely in the wrong side of town. It was supposed to be a pretty popular neighborhood. So we gave up and took the metro back into the centro and came up near the Zocalo. We sat down at a touristy restaurant, too tired to talk, and after waiting for 15 minutes for them to take our order, quickly all agreed that good old McDonalds would be perfect instead. We suddenly were filled with new energy as our trained gringo noses found the closest fast food restaurant. A quarter pounder never tasted so good. Exhausted we got back on the metro to go home. But that turned out to be quite a trip (it always is because we have to change trains twice to get to the bus station) because at our first change we realized the entrance was blocked and we overheard that someone threw themselves in front of the train and that entrance would be temporarily closed. Well we didnt know how long that would be so we came up to the road to find a taxi. So did everyone else and their brother. We were three gueros flailing down taxis and we still couldnt get one. So we went down again. This time the metro was cleared out and we got on fine. But 2 minutes into our trip and the train stopped and all the lights went out. Ay, caramba. The city's been plauged with power outages a lot recently. Too bad the train was packed so full we could barely move and it was stinking hot. We sweated it out for over 5 minutes until we felt the engines gear up again and the lights came back on. That was the first time that every happened to us. Finally we made it to the bus station and made it home to sweet old Pachuca. What a day.
Jenny's friend from college, Drew Cooper, aka David Spade, came to visit us from outside Cuernavaca where he volunteers at an orphanage. He is a ton of fun and lives and loves Mexico like we do so we hit it off right away. We took him up to Real de Monte on Sunday for brunch and then later that afternoon hung out with the huge crowd that gathered at the baseball field by our house. Drew claims that if he lived in pachuca hed be there every Sunday. I'd been there once with Stu but the crowd hadnt been that big. They were really into the game. It was a blast.
So anyway, tranquilo weekend, but stilll a good time. I did see the main Cathedral in Mexico City for the first time and the ruins of Templo Mayor that lie behind it. So that was cool.
Have a great week!

Lucha Libre and Ziplines

Well I haven´t written in awhile and you are definitely due a story on Lucha Libre. I dont know how this crazy sport began but it is uniquely Mexican but resembles the States´ WWF. Storied characters come out to the wrestling ring in high laced up boots, tight pants, bare chests, and colorful masks. Its really hilarious. They toss each other around and throw each other down and do a lot of hand slapping but its all in fun and these guys are actually more athletic than I imagined because they do all those stunts and dont get hurt. It was pretty entertaining. I took videos and lots of pictures and found it funny how many people in the crowd were wearing a Lucha Libre mask as well. We went to see EL MISTICO who was the reason for the special fight night and he came out in the last fight in his white pants and mask and the crowd went wild. Good times. Made me laugh. And Stu got a great picture with a novice luchador. We bought El Mistico posters too. I was pretty shocked by the lack of security at the event though, in between fights little kids stormed the ring and it would always take a while to clear them out for the next fight.
Interesting.
Schools been going well, we´re doing letter Ss this week and that is just fantastic because we get to talk about Superman and Spiderman and snakes. I had my first open house ever on Monday and all my kids parents came to see our class. It went well. We have good parents. Also, got 2 new kids in 2 weeks and we have the smallest Kinder room! Ami is a sweetheart and always tells me I´m pretty - Eres muy bonita, Miss - and Diego was a trip yesterday, his first day, he screamed and cried for the first hour and a half. By the end though he was fine and happy and talking it up with his new friends. And theres a rumor today that we might get another student transferred from the other Kinder class. So that would be 18 kids! Yikes.
This weekend was good, we went to Pachucas season opening game and they beat Los Tecos 1-O. Good start. We really missed our Tuzos, its good to be back. Sunday Nate, a new teacher here from Idaho, Hilary, our favorite veteran from Toronto, Stu and I went to the National Park near Pachuca called El Chico. We had a great day, it was so nice to be among trees and go hiking. Its up in the mountains and their are these crazy rock cliffs that appear out of nowhere around the town. We hiked down the road behind the church to find the river, or Miracle River, so called, according to a local who we passed along the road, because couples used to go down to the river and make miracles, haha. It was a long walk down, lots of caves and some waterfalls and around a bend were some little shanty restaurants so we sat down and ate the local specialty, river trout. It was really tasty. As we were sitting there eating we realized that there was a zipline set up and people were zipping over our heads. Hilary was interested in doing it and I said Id do it with her. She´d never done a zipline before. So without much hesitation after we paid our bill the 2 girls in our group found the zipline guides and trekked up the side of the mountain to the launch point. I think the trek up and down and not the zipline itself were actually the most dangerous parts. Hilary and I were huffing and puffing by the time we got to the top and laughed out loud when we said to each other, dont we have to sign a waiver or something for this?? Nope, harness up and go. Hilary took a bit to get off but she loved it, I loved it too. The view was amazing but unfortunately I left my camera with Stu down below. Hes afraid of heights so he wasnt even close to climbing anything. It was a lot of fun though, I´m glad we did it.
I started up dance again this week, it was good to see everyone again, they were afraid Rod and I werent coming back! I´m probably going to Mexico this weekend to do some more sight seeing and buy Bob Dylan concert tickets.
Have a great day in the USA.

Back in Mexico

I cant believe Ive already been back in Mexico a week! Time flies here. I had a great holiday and loved seeing my friends and family again but its good to be back. My kids have gotten cuter and my stomach is getting used to Mexico again. It was soooo good to see Rodney and Jenny and Stu again, my second family, I really missed them. We were all over the place for the holidays, Rodney in Colombia, Jenny in Chicago, Stu in Cuba, and I in Boston, so we´ve spent a lot of time catching up. The first week back went fine, took a break from dance classes with Rod and just relaxed. Last night 2 teachers threw a birthday party and today we are about to go see a Lucha Libre fight! We`ve been looking forward to it for a long time. Tonight comes the famed El Mistico to Pachuca and we`re going to see him. Going to be a good time.
Thanks for reading, and Happy New Year!
Talk to you again soon!