Epilogue

I’m not sure how many people will even notice this entry, but I think I need to put it up for personal closure.

Here are some keywords and phrases for our last week:

Monday/Tuesday: hideous, lap of luxury, virgin drinks, I love the Burnetts.
Wednesday: mountain, bike, fleshwound, jungle, crepe.
Thursday: lazy, copious forks.
Friday: parting is such sweet sorrow.
Saturday: the heartland.

After Brandon left us last Monday, Matt, Angela, and I were left to our own devices for several hours before our red-eye bus ride to Puerto Vallarta. Left homeless by the Hotel K’sa’s checkout time, we amused ourselves with such endeavors as finding the craziest (or ugliest) outfit at the boutique on the corner. (Documentation of this extravaganza to be found below.) The bus left around 10:30pm and arrived at the bus station in Puerto Vallarta at 7:30am. Although we couldn’t check in until early afternoon, the Canto del Sol resort let us leave our bags there in the meantime. Let me note, at this point, that this is probably the nicest place I have ever stayed in my life, not to mention to the all-inclusive package (three meals a day plus an open bar—I love virgin piña coladas). All of this comfort is completely due to the generosity of Angela’s parents, who donated some time share credit to us. If Brother and Sister Burnett read this, thank you so much!

Our keywords for Wednesday are: mountain, bike, fleshwound, jungle. What do these words have in common? Answer: Angela. Actually, Matt and I participated in all of them except the fleshwound bit. We rented bikes and headed off up a mountain on a dirt road. Not too far into the ride, a rapid mountain goat (read: bicycle gear) attacked Angela and she fell off her bike having incurred a nasty gash on her ankle. Angela cleaned the gravel out while Matt looked for bandaging material and I cringed. And if you don’t think I was carrying my weight, you can ask Angela; apparently she found the cringing comforting (not joking about that). Despite this mishap, we made it up to the end of the trail and back down. The scenery was beautiful and probably as different from the villages as possible. After returning our bikes, I discovered a crepe stand and we enjoyed an amazingly authentic crepe on a Mexican boardwalk.

Thursday we pretty much did nothing all day until that evening. Part of this super-awesome all-inclusive package was vouchers for one night at one of three nice restaurants. We chose the Italian option, and made our reservations for 6:00. I don’t think I’d ever eaten at a restaurant that actually sets out three forks and two glasses at every place. The food was good, and we actually did use all the forks we were given.

On Friday, Matt and Angela came to Guadalajara (my departure city) with me instead of going straight to Mexico City (their departure city). They stayed long enough to get dinner and shower, and then took another overnight bus on to the D.F. I was sort of lonely after they left, and half expected one or the other to come knock on the door at any moment, but of course that didn’t happen.

Fortunately I didn’t have too long to brood in my sorrow, as I myself spent less than 12 hours in the hotel before leaving again for the airport. I landed in Iowa around 3:00 on Saturday afternoon, and I’ve been enjoying the homey, freezing, Iowa goodness ever since.


Me in the ugliest dress I've ever tried on, my t-shirt (because that portion of the dress is sort of see-through), and some sort of tube top over it all. And Matt to accessorize the whole thing.


On the way to our mountain biking adventure.


On the trail up the mountain.


Matt and Angela by the beach on Friday morning before we left (the Cantol del Sol is in the background).

The end

What can I write about my last week in the ranchos that would do it justice? It was a week of embroidery, crocheting, new foods, and (host) family bonding time.

This week Matt and I learned how to embroider napkins. It is apparently the season for napkin-making, which was very fortunate for Matt since he wanted to make a napkin for a class assignment. I jumped on the bandwagon because my feminine nature inherently attracts me to things like embroidery. Maybe it’s not my feminine nature, but I do like having something to do with my hands. Matt finished embroidering his napkin (which turned out really well) and Martina put the crocheted border on it. I started embroidering mine, and then had Martina show me how to crochet the border so I would have something to do during our traveling of the next couple weeks. All the other women in our household have been pulling out napkins to work on, so I’ve enjoyed several peaceful hours on the patio with them.

On Monday we brought back an extra-large batch of groceries, including ingredients for a few new dishes they wanted us to try. Monday afternoon we had this really nice spaghetti dish with sliced avocado, tomato, and onion. Later in the week they gave us redondas, which seem identical to gorditas as far as I can tell. They’re made from the same stuff as tortillas, but not ground as finely, and shaped into smaller, fatter patties. Those are then fried and stuffed with whatever (cheese, potatoes, chicarrón, etc.). I like the usual beans, eggs, fideo, or potatoes, but it’s nice to mix it up sometimes.

On Thursday morning Matt and I went with Lola to the river to try our hand at washing laundry there. There are a few flat rocks in different places along the river bank which are about the size and dimensions of a lavandero, and that’s where they scrub their clothes. It takes some skill not to remove all the skin on one’s knuckles on the rocks, but it’s a strangely satisfying way of washing clothes.

Thursday night I accidentally spent the night in one of the family’s bedrooms. The electricity had gone out earlier, so we were relying on candlelight. Matt and I were enjoying ramen cups with everyone. Next thing I knew, I was waking up. I was sort of disoriented, and started to put on my shoes to leave, but Martín told me to go back to sleep. They had all rearranged themselves, stuffing themselves into two beds with Beatriz on a petate on the floor—this despite Matt’s assurances that I wouldn’t mind if they used the bed I usually sleep in, or if one of the girls shared with me. The next day I apologized for taking their bed, but no one seemed at all bothered by it.

This morning we had to say all our goodbyes. Chepe, who’s sort of a crabby little kid at times, was none too pleased to see us leaving. He’s overdramatic about everything, but it was sort of depressing to see him weeping disconsolately on the ground. Everyone gathered to say goodbye and to see us off on the bus, which was nice and hard at the same time.

All in all, it’s been a pretty amazing semester. I know I’ve enjoyed reading about it, and I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about it. Maybe if you’re lucky I’ll tack on a postscript about my vacation to Puerto Vallarta this week…


Emily embroidering...

Matt embroidering...

Amazing spaghetti dish

Alina and Jovani wearing clothes that my amazing mother sent them (Mom, Lola and Mina loved the clothes, they fit perfectly, and they told me a million times to tell you thank you).

Beata, me, Martina, Martìn


Martìn and Alina

I love this picture. Here you have Beata, me, Dani holding Lupita, Flor, Matt, Martina, and Mina.

A week of learning

Questions asked and/or answered this week:

Is mariachi attire the new vogue for LDS high councilmen?
Has Brandon been bitten by a lethal spider?
What does esquincle (spelling uncertain) mean?
Does Angela wear diapers?
Who gave the four-year-old the knife?

Answers to the above questions:

Is Mariachi attire the new vogue for LDS high councilmen?

Perhaps. More likely, the high councilman that visited our ward last week also happens to be a mariachi musician (which would explain why he was carrying a violin with him). I halfway expected the fluffy white bow at his collar, short coat, and gold lacing up the sides up his pants to be an object lesson, but I guess it’s probably just his work attire, and he had a performance after the meeting block.

Has Brandon been bitten by a lethal spider?

No. Matt and I met Brandon and Angela in la Estancia on Wednesday with the intention of playing basketball and frisbee. However, upon arriving we discovered that Brandon had been bitten by some unidentified bug on his arm. He said it didn’t hurt, but the area of the bite had increased to an inch or two in diameter, and there was a reddish line running from the bite up his arm. Angela thought that lines heading for the heart from a poisonous bite might be a bad sign, so we went back to Santa Rosa to ask Martina (who is some sort of medical authority who villagers come to for medical advice and treatment). She, and the rest of the family, immediately said it was just a wasp sting, and wasn’t dangerous. The spider option would have been more exciting, but I guess it’s just as well…

What does esquincle mean?

It means kid, or maybe child. I heard Maira, my student Ramona’s daughter, use it while we were teaching Ramona on Thursday. Her newborn was inside, and she said she was going to go check on the esquincla. I understood by the context that she was talking about her baby, but the word was definitely new. I’m planning on popularizing it when I get back to the U.S. You can all feel very cutting edge with the new slang when it catches fire and goes into common use.

Does Angela wear diapers?

No. And yes, this question was actually asked, but not by me. Angela went into the city on Thursday with her host mom, Audelia. Audelia likes to take advantage of the toilets when she goes into the city, so she uses them everywhere she goes. Having just done so at a relative’s house, she suggested Angela should do the same. Despite the fact that Angela didn’t particularly need the bathroom, Audelia kept after it. Nearby, Audelia’s mother assured Angela that the bathroom was clean. When she still declined to use it, the relative asked if she was wearing a diaper, staring pointedly in the direction of the theoretical diaper. Why that would be a more logical explanation than Angela’s simply not needing to use the bathroom, we may never know.

Who gave the four-year-old the knife?

Her mother. On Friday, Matt and I went to Comederito to celebrate Audelia’s daughter Andrea’s birthday. To address the question first, a relative (el padrino del pastel, or the godfather of the cake) had brought a fairly sizeable cake. Andrea blew out her four candles and took the traditional first bite (at which point the custom is to shove the birthday girl/boy’s face in the cake, but we skipped that step due to her age). The next thing I knew, she had been handed the knife (which was large) and was standing over the cake preparing to divvy it up. Apparently it’s also traditional for the birthday-ee to cut his or her own cake. Andrea made a few scratches at the frosting, and then Audelia took back over (thank goodness). There was also a piñata as part of the festivities. At some points, I thought bodily harm to some guest was imminent as the stick-wielding child lost all sense of where the piñata was and started swinging willy-nilly at the onlookers.

Piglets born the night before...the two on the left are apart because they´re the smallest and the others would crush them (so said the piglets´owner).

See that huge bale of hay? That´s a donkey. Carrying the bale of hay.

This is Matt making his super-awesome map of Santa Rosa. And my knee in the corner.

Painting the flowers.

Our second masterpiece.

T-two weeks

Dear blog,

Here are the week’s highlights:

1. I got 41 interviews done! As my good friend Brandon Baird would say, yay woo-hoo! This was quite an accomplishment for me, since I had only 35 done at the beginning of the week, and had never done more than 20 in one week prior to this week. I can honestly and sincerely say that I believe I have been the beneficiary of a minor miracle. Now I just have to get 24 more done in the next two weeks, gather a bit of side information from a couple of people, and my information gathering will be complete.

2. We played twister at our weekly meeting. It was in Spanish. That actually makes it more additionally difficult than one might expect. The instructions had a strategy section, which recommended trying to push opponents off by encroaching on their space. I found this to be highly enjoyable, although not totally effective as I was just as likely to fall over in the close quarters as my opponent.

3. Brandon and Angela came to spend the night in Santa Rosa this week, and we all walked up to the big, flat rock that Matt and I found weeks ago. We watched the sunset from there and made it back without any serious dog attacks.

4. Brandon and I spoke in church on Sunday. I did get a bit more nervous than usual because of having to do it in Spanish, but I was really glad for the opportunity. All four of us were going to speak, but the bishopric had forgotten that another speaker (a high councilor) was also scheduled. My talk was pretty short, but I felt good about it once I finished.

This is Matt teaching our student Francisca. I guess the background leaves something to be desired, but keep in mind that I have to take these pictures secretly.

Here you have Matt, Angela, and me playing twister in my room. Matt looks completely normal in 99% of the pictures ever taken of him, so I have to admit a little gleefulness on my part when I catch him looking funny.

Here´s sunset from the rock. Anyone tired of looking at the Mexican sky? I´m not...

Four friends.

El jefe

The main news this week was that our director, Brad Wilcox, visited us. He got into León on Wednesday night, and I met him in Irapuato. Unfortunately, there was some sort of tractor convention going on in Irapuato, so he had gone all the way back to León to spend the night after finding all local hotels full. They were pretty booked through Friday night, which ended up influencing our plans. We met with INEA on Thursday morning, which was a pretty productive meeting, and then headed out to the villages. I took Brad around to meet all the host families. He’s very big and jolly. Lots of hugs and compliments for everyone. We spontaneously decided to pack up and take off in his rental car that night, instead of just taking a day trip on Friday as we had planned.

Our first stop was the city of Guanajuato, which is where we went to the Cervantino festival a few weeks ago. We all wanted to go back to see some more of the city by day, instead of just the crowded, fiesta-filled streets. After spending the night there, we visited the birthplace of Diego Rivera, which had a lot of his artwork in the upper floors of the house. I’ve never really looked at any of his work besides his murals, but he experimented with a startling number of styles and media. He has a lot of depictions of Mexican campesinos, which I especially liked. We also visited an old armory (now museum), which was taken by Miguel Hidalgo and a bunch of peasant rebels in the Mexican Revolution. Hidalgo himself was ultimately beheaded, but the revolution was obviously successful. Our final stop was the Pípila, which is a statue on a hilltop with an amazing view of the city.

From there, we went on to Dolores Hidalgo to spend Friday night. We didn’t do a lot of sight-seeing there, beyond the main square and the church there. That’s the city from which Miguel Hidalgo started his revolutionary course, gathering up men to fight as he went. He started with only 700, which grew to 20,000 in just one month (that’s just a trivia side note for anyone interested).

Brad brought us back to Irapuato Saturday morning, and flew out of León that afternoon. It was nice to have a break from the routine, and to have his words of encouragement (and BYU taffies…mmmmmm). The main activity for the rest of the weekend was Stake Conference.

This is just...Mexico.

Me with Angela overlooking the beautiful city of Guanajuato. The sun was totally blinding, hence the squinty-ness.

P.S. Thank you to Matt´s various relatives for leaving me blog comments :)

More Mexico goodness

Hello my dear blog readers! Things have actually happened since last week. Here are some of the highlights (I really like the numbered-list format, so I’m going to employ it once again):

1. I cut hair for the first time. Angela hadn’t gotten a haircut for a year, and she asked if I would be willing to get rid of the split ends for her. I did disclose the fact that I had never previously cut hair, but she didn’t seem to mind. So on Wednesday when she and Brandon came to Santa Rosa for our weekly meeting, we set ourselves up outside with a chair and some scissors, and I went to work. I think it turned out pretty well. She has asked me to trim it a bit shorter, so I assume I didn’t commit any truly heinous errors on the first attempt.

2. Matt and I spent Thursday morning painting a house. We helped the family paint a little bit earlier in the week, and that was all the experience either of us had going into our Thursday painting extravaganza. The house in question belongs to our student Efigenia. She received the building materials and paint from a government program that provided the same to a lot of villagers, based on the quality of their current housing and the size of their families. Everyone was given two colors of paint—cream and bright pink—and required to use the pink. We showed up around 7:30am, and left five hours later, having painted the entire front of the house (see pictures below). She told us the pattern she wanted. By luck, we had already figured out how to make stars earlier in the week (I don’t know how the villagers do the whole star thing, but my way involved the sine function, Excel, and a ruler). We traced it all out, and then got to painting. She seemed really happy with the final product, which was, of course, the main goal.

3. Friday was the Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). It’s traditional to visit the graves of your dead on this holiday, so we went with our family to the panteón (the closest cemetery) in the nearby town of Aldama. There’s a pretty significant contrast between the cheapest and most expensive burial options. The upper end consists of mini houses, but the range continues down to walls of boxes stacked on top of each other, or rusty crosses or plaques stuck in the ground. We visited the graves of Martina’s mother, a child of hers that died in infancy, and one of Daniel’s children that also died only a few days after being born. That afternoon, we went back to the city so we could go celebrate with the young single adults from church. Finding a costume given our available wardrobes and budgets was a little tricky. Brandon just hiked up his pants, ruined his posture, and called himself a nerd. Matt stuffed shirts into the shirt he was wearing and tied a bandana around his head to be a bodybuilder. Angela and I got some yellow electrical tape and made a sad little attempt at being bees (a pareja de abejas, for the Spanish-speaking among you). The cheapness of the costumes didn’t inhibit our enjoyment of the party, which was a really good time.

4. On Sunday, we went to an early church before heading back to Aldama for the baby baptisms of Alina and Jovani (I discovered that “Giovani” is actually spelled “Jovani”). There was a mass before the baptisms. We didn’t actually observe the baptisms, because they closed the doors to the church right after the mass ended, and we were outside. As soon as they finished, the doors were reopened and picture-taking commenced. There were quite a few relatives hanging around, plus the godparents. All four of us were lower-tier godparents of some sort or another: Matt and I were the godparents of the medallions, while Brandon and Angela were godparents of the “colored clothing” that the babies can wear before and after the actual baptism. Having additional godparents is a tradition they have out here, and has no religious significance as far as I can tell. After picture-taking ended, we all piled into trucks and headed back to Santa Rosa. Over the course of the afternoon, a surprising number of people showed up to enjoy mole, meat, and rice. Music got started later on, lasting until about 10:00. I was actually surprised (and grateful) that it ended so early.

Me giving Angela the haircut. We´re sitting outside my host family´s houses, under a mesquite tree.

Matt and me roasting s´mores, our FHE treat for the week. The family usually puts a comal over this fire every morning to cook the daily tortillas.

Before our painting adventure....

The final product.

Stacked graves at the panteon, decked out with flowers for the Día de los muertos.

Bodybuilder (culturista), bees (pareja de abejas), and a nerd (ñoño).

This is me holding baby Alina in her baptismal dress. She looked like a very fluffy cupcake.

Not much to say...

Dear friends and family,

I’m afraid this week’s entry may be a little drab. For some reason, there was a dearth of picture-taking this week. I also used up all the Mexico City excitement last week, and the rest of the week was basically normal. After changing my survey a bit, I restarted the interviewing process; all previous interviewees have to be revisited. So far I’ve done nearly 20. My goal is still to get 100 done by the end of the semester, and I think it will be possible. I’m not going to lie, interviewing total strangers is a mixed bag. For the most part, I really do enjoy meeting new people, but sometimes it is a little awkward. I think the good experiences outweigh the bad—I’m really quite amazed by their willingness to talk to me.

Matt finally got a nickname this week (the rancheros are all about nicknames, especially our family, I think). Now they’ve started calling him Moto (which is their nickname for another Mateo in the extended family), and they usually call me Cami (which derives from Camila, which derives from Emilia), or sometimes Milo. So Moto and Cami it is. I would nominate these villages for use in the witness protection program, since they’re difficult to find and get to, have no organized record of residents, and anyone who lives there long enough will almost inevitably get a nickname that may or may not resemble their given name (examples: Luz goes by Chalino, Erminia sometimes goes by Ermes, Luis is known as el Chiquis, etc…There’s no method to the madness).

Sorry not to have more excitement to report from this week. Stay tuned for next week’s installment, in which all four of us get to be some sort of obscure godparents at the baptisms of Giovani and Alina (babies in Martín and Martina’s household).

Mexico City

Hello, non-commenting blog readers. There has been a famine of comments on the blog. As my dear brother pointed out, it is less natural to comment on a blog than to reply to an email. I like emails more than blog comments, but both is even better J

So this blog comes to you from the lovely D.F., which is Mexico City (D.F. stands for “Distrito Federal”). We came here from the villages on Thursday, and it’s been pretty awesome, I’d say. We’re staying in a hostel near the Zócalo (which is the most prominent plaza in the downtown area of Mexico City). It’s a ton cheaper than a hotel, and so far I’m enjoying the experience. Angela and I are in one of the normal dorm-style rooms, taking up two of the six beds. They aren’t usually all full, but so far our roommates have been from Argentina, Italy, and Israel. They’ve been super-interesting to talk to, especially Liat from Israel, after spending the summer working with Afghanis. I think the hostel is exactly what I thought it would be: a bunch of young people from different countries, many with large backpacks and hiking shoes. The average hair length for guys is definitely above the average for their respective native lands.

On Friday we took an all-day tour offered by the hostel. Our tour guide, Eric, was really personable, and full of the sort of information you expect the tour guide to have. We stopped first at the Plaza de Tres Culturas, where there is architecture from three different cultures: an indigenous culture whose name I forgot, the Spanish conquistador culture, and modern Mexican culture (represented by the ever-picturesque office building of the foreign ministry). From there, we went to see the Basilica of the Virgin Guadalupe, which I think is the most culturally significant religious structure in all of Mexico. There are an old and a new basilica, because one end of the old one has sunk several meters since it was built, and it’s structurally unsound. The new one went up in the 1970s, I think, and it houses the most famous image of the Virgin Guadalupe, which supposedly appeared miraculously on the cloak of a man named Juan Diego several centuries ago.

Our final stop was Teotihuacán, which is the site of ancient pyramid ruins. It’s pretty amazing how they’re all lined up in terms of the suns movement, etc. We climbed to the top of the sun pyramid, which is pretty dang tall. From there we had a great view of the rest of the ruins. It’s amazing what archeologists have been able to discover about these ancient cultures, but it’s equally amazing how much information is still unknown. The name Teotihuacán comes from the Aztecs, who discovered the ruins abandoned, and thought that it must have been made by the power of the gods (the name translates to “place of the gods” or something like that…Anyone else think it’s interesting that “teo” means god in the Aztec language?). So the original culture, their language, and their name for the place are all quite mysterious. On the tour we befriended Dana, an Australian girl traveling by herself before meeting up with a friend. We spent the movie hanging out with her, which was a lot of fun.

On Saturday we went to the Anthropology Museum (tons more than you can see in a day), and the Palacio de Bellas Artes, which had an extensive Diego Rivera display up. His murals are pretty intense. A lot of social commentary and harsh criticism.

Sunday (today), we went to church with some friends from Iowa, the Garvins. Elder Garvin is the director of the temple visitors’ center, when it’s open (sadly the visitors’ center and temple are both closed right now). Their apartment is inside the temple compound, and the chapel is next door. It was a nice ward, and it was really great to see the Garvins. They had us over to dinner after church, and I think we all enjoyed some good American fare (mmmmm, apple crisp with vanilla ice cream). After that, we headed back to the hostel. We’ll be going back to Irapuato tomorrow.

Oh, I almost forgot…The main excitement from the villages is that Matt and I got to tumbar maíz this week. That means cutting down the corn stalks so that the corn can be removed later. They do this by hand, using a sickle. We both got a bit blistered and sliced up by the corn stalks, but I’m really glad I went. You don’t realize how much skill supposedly unskilled labor takes until you try to do it yourself.





All of us on one of the pyramids at Teotihuacán (Matt, Angela, me, Brandon).

Angela and me with Liat, the Israeli girl we shared a rom with for a couple of nights.

Me with the Garvins in their apartment.

Cervantes and false eyelashes

This week went by incredibly fast. On Tuesday I got my second batch of enchiladas for the semester, this time from my host family. I think these were the best ones I’ve had so far, probably because they didn’t make them too spicy. We brought the ingredients back from the city, and the women in the family prepared them for us.

Lupe is still pretty sick. She’s been off-and-on sick since June, but it is increasingly more on and less off. I think they’re all resigning themselves to the idea that she’s dying, because no doctors (medical or supernatural) have anything left to do for her. Martina (Lupe’s grandmother) told me that she hopes God will remember Lupe and either take away her pain, or take her home to him. I think that’s a pretty good statement of how we all feel, I think.

On Friday night, we came back to the city early so we could go to a festival in the city of Guanajuato. It is supposedly the Cervantes festival, but now it’s just a smorgasbord of cultural events from all over the world. The four of us went with some of the Young Single Adults from church (I think that title is self-explanatory, for my non-LDS readers). We wandered around the streets for a while, stopping to buy fake eyelashes (see the pictures below) or to watch street performers. We ended up paying to join a recorrido of the city by a group of musicians. They took us touring around some streets, leading singing and dancing, and performing some mini-plays and songs for us. According to the Mexican friends we were with, this is a really classic experience, and I think it was well worth the 50 pesos. After the recorrido, we went to a plaza for some late dinner. I ate some of the most amazing Argentine empanadas. The ones I ate were filled with corn and cheese, but they come with lots of different fillings. By the time we finished eating, got to the bus station, waited for the bus (which was late), and got home, it was well into the wee hours. The whole thing was a good time, though, and worth the lost sleep.


This is me with a bowl of the best enchiladas I think I´ve ever had. I´m sitting at the table in the kitchen (in one of the new chairs--note the intact backing).

This is Martina with a pile of peanut plants from the peanut field she´s sitting in the middle of. My main regret about this picture is that she´s not smiling, because she usually is.

This is me with Lupita, Chepe, Lina, and Paulina (left to right). We´re sitting outside Lola´s house, and all the children are miraculously looking at the camera.

Me with some of our Mexican friends, sporting our fake eyelashes, or fake beard, in Jorge´s case: Jorge, Teren, me, Laura, Adriana, and Ruby (left to right).

Odds and ends

Alright, here are some highlights from the week:

1. We (Matt and I) made hamburgers for dinner one night. Angela and Brandon came from Comederito to enjoy them with us. We got most of the family members who were around to at least try one. The only bad thing was that Daniel (Martin and Martina’s son-in-law) who had originally told us how much he likes hamburgers, ended up taking his daughter to the doctor that evening, and didn’t get back in time to join us.

2. We helped out one of the family dogs. We saw her (they call her la negra) limping around one afternoon while we were eating. When she passed by again, we could tell that her front paws had been tied together. Although the cord between them had broken, one of the knots had slipped and cut deeply into her paw, probably at least an inch. The cord was still tied onto her foot, so we decided to get it off. This was sort of a delicate process, involving two pairs of scissors (the first pair wasn’t sharp enough) and a stack of tortillas for confidence-winning (they feed their animals tortillas). I held the dog’s head while Matt got under the cord and cut it. I was really impressed with the dog: she just whimpered a little and pushed against me, but she didn’t growl or snap at us. Once the cord was cut, we thought we’d have to hold her again to pull it out, but she quickly discovered that it was loose, and got it off herself. Now she’s walking a lot better, and she also starts wagging her tale madly whenever we’re around.

3. We went to las Adjuntas, a neighboring village, to get Pedialyte for Lupe, Daniel’s two-year-old daughter. I mentioned in #1 that she’s been sick. She was born prematurely, and has some permanent mental/physical disabilities because of that. Sometimes she gets additionally sick on top of that, and she’s been in pretty bad shape recently. As it turns out, the family actually thinks that she’s cursed (I’ve had some seriously fascinating conversations with people here about witchcraft and superstitions), and that’s why medicine doesn’t cure her. Anyway, she hadn’t really kept any food down since Monday; all she’d had was Pedialyte, and they were running out. The stores in Santa Rosa don’t sell it, so we made the trip to las Adjuntas for them. The only hitch was a little puppy that wanted to follow us out of town. Fortunately we outran it, and I’m hoping that someone there took it in.

4. Erminia, Daniel’s wife, asked me if I would paint a picture on the front of their house. I’m not exactly sure what I’ll be painting. I am well aware that my taste is quite divergent from theirs, so I’ll just try to figure out what they like, and get it as close to that as possible. It’s also possible that they’ll have lost enthusiasm for the painting prospects by the time the house is ready to be painted, in which case I guess I won’t have to worry about satisfying their ranchero preferences.

5. We watched General Conference this weekend. For any of my non-LDS friends who may read this, General Conference is when the general leadership of the church (comprising the prophet, his two counselors, the twelve apostles, and other general authorities, as we call them) addresses church members around the world. Conference takes place in Salt Lake City, but it’s broadcast by satellite and translated into quite a few languages. Fortunately we tracked down the American missionaries here, who were watching it in English, and watched with them. I really got a lot out of it.

Sorry this is sideways...I don´t have the time or patience to mess with turning it around at the moment. Here I´m holding Martin and Martina´s granddaughter, Alina.

And it´s sideways once again. This is me painting the ceiling on a house for one of my students. I think she should have left it the original color, personally, but whatever makes her happy.

I love this picture...Alright starting with the woman in the red shirt and going clockwise, we have Beatriz, Martina, Erminia holding daughter Lupe, Daniel holding son Giovanni, Chepe, and Lola holding daughter Alina.

Sunrises and party buses

I think we have fully settled into our routine at this point. On Monday we missed our first bus, which was kind of exciting (if you like that sort of thing). We ended up taking a taxi out to the villages, which was a bit expensive, but cheaper than staying another night in the hotel. It was also a lot better for my spinal column, and gave us the chance to meet another taxi driver. The taxi drivers here have been some of my favorite people. After spending the summer in Manhattan where the drivers rarely said more than two sentences to me, I especially appreciate the chatty, philosophical taxistas that I’ve gotten around here.

On Tuesday, Matt and I hiked up to the top of a hill that the rancheros call “el Picacho.” I don’t know why it’s called that, and neither do they, but it’s the tallest hill around, and we got there in time to see the sunrise. (Note: The Matt of this semester is not to be confused with the Matt who was my facilitator last year. A couple people have asked me about that, so let it be known that they are different people). The sunrise was really beautiful, and well worth the hike up.

On Friday I had a close call with some nasty dogs. It seems like the further toward the outskirts you get in the villages, the more aggressive the dogs are. Maybe they just don’t get as used to people walking by as they other dogs, or maybe their owners feel more vulnerable, and train them to be more protective. Whatever the reason, I knew that the dogs up this hill could be feisty, but I went up there anyway to do some interviews. Since I’m interviewing every family in the village, it had to be done eventually. I did a couple of interviews, and then found myself at the very last house. The door was open, but no one was in sight. At this point, I made the serious tactical error of calling out a “Buenos días” to get someone’s attention. Next thing I knew, four crazed dogs were bounding toward me, backing me into a thorn bush. I hesitate to speculate about what might have happened next had their owner, Jaime, not appeared at the fence at that moment to call them off. He recommended that I carry a stick up there to hit the dogs with, and gave me one to use. He then proceeded to discuss the disparity in quality of life between Mexico and the United States, and the different social classes within them. Then he abruptly wished me well and went back to work; I didn’t even get a chance to interview him, which means I have to go back to his house (and his dogs). Next time I’ll walk softly and carry a big stick. And bring Matt. (At this point I have to ask my parents and other assorted relatives not to stress out over this…Just try to enjoy the story and the fact that nothing bad actually happened to me.)

This Saturday we took the early morning bus back, which leaves around 6:40 from Santa Rosa. I don’t know how many of you have heard of the MTV reality show “Pimp My Ride,” but I think this bus may one time have participated in said show. I’ve never seen an episode, personally, but I imagine that it involves taking cars and adding purely ornamental and/or convenience features to make them more…pimp (Note to parents once again: Pimp in this context is not referring to the manager of female prostitutes, but rather to a certain type of masculine attractiveness). Anyway, the bus is decked out in colorful lights, the interior mostly lit by the black lights in the front. The area around the driver’s feet lights up when he brakes, and music blasts through the fairly impressive sound system.

The sunset that Matt and I enjoyed Tuesday morning...

The sun rising behind some nopales...I really like this one.

Some women carrying things on their heads. For anyone who has never tried this, you really should so you can appreciate the difficulty of the feat.

Matt and me eating some tasty tacos this weekend. Mmm...I miss this food when I´m back in the States.

Viva Mexico

Dear the blog:

Last weekend we got to participate in some serious Mexican culture. It was Independence Day on Sunday, the 16th, but the main celebrations took place on Saturday. We went down to the centro with some people from church (young single adults), where we wandered around buying snacks. We ended up in a plaza near the municipal president’s office. The crowd and the excitement (and foam squirting throughout) continued to build until about 11:00pm when the municipal president came out and led the grito (shout). This involved the president yelling “¡Viva (something patriotic, like Hidalgo or Mexico)!” and everyone in the crowd responding “¡Viva!” That was pretty much the culmination of the celebration.

During the week, I kept up teaching our students (with Matt), and also worked some more on my research. I also got to keep helping at the kinder (which is like preschool) in el Encino. I don’t know if I mentioned that before, but I’m going there Tuesday and Thursday mornings to help out/enjoy the kids. I’ve observed (once again) that children in the villages get a lot freer reign with what they can play with, i.e. knives, old tires, metal dustpans, etc. I’m really quite amazed that so many of them make it to adulthood, not to mention having all their appendages intact.

On Friday night, Matt and I stayed in Comederito with Brandon and Angela. We had a movie night at Angela’s house, because her family owns a TV and a DVD player. Los increíbles was pretty good. It’s better in the original English, but not bad in Spanish.

As for our weekend in Irapuato, it’s basically business as usual: laundry, internet, blessed shower, perhaps even more blessed toilet. I guess I don’t mind bucket showers and bush toilets, but it does make me appreciate the conveniences of piped water all the more when I get them.

Matt, Angela, and me drinking various mexi-drinks (mine is traditional horchata). This was taken the night we went downtown for Independence Day.

This is me with Brandon, faces painted, and foam-covered. Fortunately the foam melted off pretty quick, or we would have been totally coated by the end of the night.

This is Matt looking at the view from a nice rock we found near our village. It´s much better in person.

Mexi-dance parties

Dear blog fans,

I can only imagine how many of you wait with bated breath every week to read my next post… And here’s another one. Last week I didn’t think far enough ahead to really type up a proper blog post, but pictures are more fun anyway.

Over the last couple of weeks we’ve settled into our rancho routine. Early last week I finalized the housing arrangements. The final set-up puts me and Matt staying with Martin and Martina (husband and wife…I’m on the look-out for an Emilio) in Santa Rosa. Angela and Brandon are staying in two different homes in Comederito, which is about a mile and a half away from Santa Rosa.

This week we all started teaching our respective students. Matt and I are teaching together; most of our students are in Santa Rosa, with one or two in nearby la Estancia. Although several students ended up being busy (not too surprising), the classes we did teach were really successful. I think we’re teaching three different women who run stores. At least two of them are taking classes to help them out in the store, and they’re pretty quick with their schoolwork. Another student, Olga, wants to get her secundaria certificate so she can go to nursing school part-time. She doesn’t even need us to teach her, really; we just check her homework.

Speaking of Olga, it was her birthday on the 13th. Matt and I were giving her and her friend Ignacia class on the 12th, when she suddenly remembered that her birthday was the next day. They decided that they would have us over for enchiladas and a little dancing to celebrate. So the next night after we’d finished teaching, we showed up at Nacha’s house (Ignacia goes by Nacha). They brought out some beautiful enchiladas which we all enjoyed, along with some wandering children. After dinner, they set up a stereo and put on some classic rancho music. It was pretty much Matt and me, with our two adult students (whose husbands are sort of out of the picture), and a little horde of children dancing on Nacha’s patio. The kids were really hilarious; they would imitate any crazy dance move we came up with, and a couple of the little boys even asked me to dance. In the style of one of my favorite speakers, food was imparted, dancing was enjoyed, and good times were shared by all (Mom and Dad, I’m counting on you to appreciate that allusion).

This is my room. The room takes up the whole building, and the families have their rooms in another couple of buildings across a patio and down some steps.

These are the enchiladas that Olga and Nacha made for us. Mmmmmm...

This is Santa Rosa, the village where I´m living. Actually, this is only about a third of it, maybe. It´s all spread out on these hills, so there are housing behind me (the photographer), and more in the periphery that you can´t see.

I unfortunately didn´t get any pictures of myself this week, but I´ll take some soon.