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| Center of Querétaro |
Today I'm feeling pretty good. My host mom Lulú, has been very kind and helpful for making me feel better. She said getting sick was very normal, especially coming from an area of extreme cold, to the desert with extreme heat and cold in the same day, it's also very dry compared to home. She said it will take time for my stomach to adjust, but that's ok because they have pepto bismol here!
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| Antique buildings, and antique Church Center of Querétaro |
Luckily I had a few days while being sick that I felt ok, so I was able to see some sites.
Del Centro or "The Center" is the historic downtown neighborhood and business that has a lot of the old buildings and roads (lots of cobblestone!) It has a lot of old school charm, warmth, and lots of bright colors.
Last weekend I was able to take an excursion to a place called Peña de Bernal which is about 45 minutes away from Querétaro. It is one of the largest monoliths (of single stone or rock) in the world. My goal was to climb to the top, unfortunately gravity and the extreme changes in altitude were against me. At home, Mt Pleaseant is about 750ft/228m above sea level and FLAT, and Peña de Bernal is 7,087ft/2160m--at it's base. At it's peak, 8,235 ft/2510m. Some of the girls and myself had every intention of making it to the top, but it was brutal and hot--and we were under a time limit due to other things on the itinerary. We made it about half of the way, which was a lot since there was no specific path and it was very rocky. A few of the guys and girls made it to the top (I applaud them). One thing I've learned from my big sister,Alicia, who has worked in several national parks for about 6-8 years, has told me never to push yourself and if you need a break then take one. When hiking it's best to take your time or you run the risk of altitude sickness and exhaustion. |
| View from halfway |
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| Examples of spices and ingredients |
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| Sugar Skulls and Deer |
While in Bernal we also got to visit a "Dulce" or Sweets Shop. They showed us how they made candy in the early 1900's and compared to the modern version of today.
School started last week and has actually been pretty good. Text books seem to be done a little bit differently, either 1. you're required to buy one (not sure from where?), 2. your professor give you a book that you print out, or 3. your professor just doesn't use a book and gives hand out or has online readings. I have mixed feeling about it, mostly because none of my classes have actual books which is nice because it is free and we're not paying insane amounts of money for books. However I keep all of my textbooks for my both my majors for references and I don't get any for this semester. One of my classes is a more "hands-on" class about Mexican culture, so next week we'll be going to the art museum in the Center which I am very excited about.
Some cultural differences I have noticed, I was completely unaware that in Mexico when greeting someone you do the "air kiss" on the cheek kind of like in Spain or France. A friend told me before I came to Mexico (though I forgot), but she also said it doesn't mean they're hitting on you; it's a form of politness. Even one of my professors did this with me, but I think it was more of a "welcome to Mexico" since I told him I was from the U.S.
Personal space here is smaller. In the US most people seem comfortable with about 1.5-2.5 feet of distance when talking to other people. Here in Mexico it's about a foot. It's not a problem, I'm just not used to it.
So that's about it for now, I'm going to probably go take a nap since I am still a little sick.
