¡HUATULCO!

¡Hola, amigos!
Shortly after my whirlwind adventure into the city of Mexico and the ancient ruins nearby, I decided that because my time was shortly ending in Mexico for this semester, that I would take it to the beach! If you can recall my blog post on Oaxaca, I went to Puerto Escondido before day of the dead and had a grand ol' time. So I thought, why not head on over to the Mexican state reknowned for its cheese and chocolate again? I'm so glad I did, Huatulco is even better than Puerto Escondido and I still can't believe the beautiful things my eyes saw there.

More to come later...

¡LA CIUDAD DE MÉXICO Y TEOTIHUACAN!

Hello blogger friends!
I am happy to say that I have finished all my classes for this semester and am ready to head back to Vegas to spend a nice Christmas with my family and friends. I hope to catch you all up to what I've been doing in the last month or so via blog or in persno, so the first adventure I shall share with you virtually is my little excursion to Mexico City and the ancient ruins of Teotihuacan just outside of the city.

The trip to Mexico City and Teotihuacan was planned by the study abroad program that I take classes through. But a friend and I decided to go ourselves into the city the day before to catch a Norah Jones concert. We both kind of splurged on the tickets and got seats 3 rows from the stage and a little to the left. I say this because we saw the show at the National Auditorium in Mexico City, one of the largest venues in Mexico. Norah was awesome, but her set was all too short, and there weren't any opening acts. But I can't complain, I had been wanting to see her ever since I was 12, and to see her in Mexico made it a little more exciting. The staff there were camera nazis, so I only have one blurry picture of Ms. Jones:

So the next morning we met with our compatriots in the zócalo of Mexico City and headed over to the Palacio Nacional, which is basically the White House of Mexico. The Palacio Nacional shares the zócalo with the imposing colonial-era cathedral built by the Spanish shortly after the fall of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital where Moctezuma lived and met Hernán Cortés. The cathedral is beautiful and terribly imposing:

So after meeting up, we toured the 'palace', which is decorated with murals painted by Diego Rivera, the Mexican artist extraordinaire and husband of the equally brilliant Frida Kahlo. With that said, most of the tour was just discussing the work of Diego and the significance and sometimes subtle and hidden meanings in his murals that may not be very apparent to the casual non-art history major. His works are colossal, and took him many years to finish, he intended to paint the entire interior way around the Palacio Nacional, but alas, death caught up with him. His themes are very nationalistic, and he painted about Mexican history and the pre-Hispanic lives of the indigenous Aztecs and other groups. I was really wowed by them and can't wait to learn more about him. I was especially stunned by his depictions of pre-Hispanic Tenochtitlan, the city built on a lake. Here are a few glimpses are his awesome work:

After the Palacio Nacional, we headed over to one of my favorite places in Mexico City, the anthropology museum! I love this place, and have already been there twice, each time 2-3 hours, and still have not seen all of the exhibits. The museum is a national museum, so all of the exhibitions are about the different regions of Mexico and the groups that have lived there. We all went to the Teotihuacan exhibit to acquaint with the history and culture of this ancient city.

Let me give you a quick run through: Teotihuacan was one of the largest cities of its time, having a population of almost 200,000 around the time of Christ. The city even had like modern-day equivalents to Chinatowns, where ethnic enclaves lived together. The architecture and art was very advanced, but the city fell into decline somehow (famine, war, disease) and the city eventually became dispopulated, there is even evidence that fire destroyed much of the city. Which that said, the two GIANT pyramids still remain, and I love ancient ruins, especially pyramids. The city is kinda creepy-cool. The main road the divides the city is translated into being called the 'Passageway of the Dead' and the two pyramids are each dedicated to a celestial body, one dedicated to the Sun and the other to the Moon, thus garnering their respective names Pyramid of the Sun and Pyramid of the Moon. The another reason for these names is that popular legend says that Teotihuacan is the site where the gods met together to create the Sun and the Moon. The pyramid of the Sun is much larger than the one of the Moon, and I, being afraid of heights, almost didn't make it to the top. Strangely enough, on the top I found my Swedish friend who I met at my school in Puebla. Small world, huh? Here are some picture to feast your eyes on:

As you can see in the last picture, the pyramid of the sun was preeeeettttyyyyy high up there. In the background you can see the pyramid of the moon, which is also big, but dwarfed by the Mr. Sun. What is especially exciting about Teotihuacan is that it is an active archaeological zone, many sites are cornered off due to ongoing studies. In fact, the top half of the pyramid of the moon is sectioned off because archaeologists found human remains, possibly of royal digniaries or priests. Even though the pyramid of the Moon isn't as tall as the one of the Sun, the steps are hecka more steep and I thought I was going to die:

All in all, Teotihuacan is utterly amazing, and I can't wait to visit again, even though I may fall to my death in doing so. :D

MÁS FOTOS!

¡STREET ART IN OAXACA!

Just as Puebla is known for its culinary splendor, Oaxaca is known for its art. It really is a hippy town full of galleries. There is such a profusion of art in Oaxaca that it seems to have seeped into the streets as well. I personally love street art and would totally partake in graffiti art if there weren't such legal complications involved. That being said, I loved what I saw on the walls on Oaxaca.

Although some of the art is crude, it is exactly that grittiness that I like. Here are some of the wall pieces I saw roaming the streets of Oaxaca:

¡OAXACA!

Hello friends!!!

I know - it's been a really long time - let's just save us the ensuing awkward conversation/groveling and just jump into my next blog post... OAXACA (Whaaa-HAW-kah).

I'm been so busy that I have neglected to tell you all about my Day of the Dead journey that I made while all you in the United States were celebrating Halloween by getting wasted on candy and dressing in gender-confusing costumes.

I've been a huge fan of Day of the Dead and the whole culture that surrounds it, so going into my study abroad adventure I was stoked for Day of the Dead. I decided to spend this awesome day in the equally awesome city of Oaxaca, this decision being mostly influenced by the fact that los Poblanos (the people of Puebla) don't really celebrate Day of the Dead, so leaving town was a given. Second, the culture of Oaxaca is friggin' awesome and so are their Day of the Dead festivities.

A few friends and I started off the weekend by going through Oaxaca, desposing of one of our classmates in the city while we continued for the coast... Which was Puerto Escondido. The trip was vale la pena (worth the pain), even though it was about a 5 hour bus ride into Oaxaca and another 10 HOURS to Puerto Escondido. And to make matters worse, at about 2 hours out of Oaxaca on our overnight bus ride, one of fellow passengers suffered a something I can only call a 'medical episode'. To be honest, I don't really know what happened to this poor woman, but the paramedics had to be called and everyone on the bus had to wait for their arrival --- for a full two hours.

Also, we happened to stop at a military checkpoint, and at first when I had NO idea what was going on, I thought that the solidiers were going to comandeer our bus when they starting boarding... HAAA. Thankfully, it was only a medical problem and we made it safely to P.E.

I had not been to the beach for over 2 years, so once I laid eyes upon the pristine waters and the desolate shores I got excited... Really excited. I literally wanted to rip my shirt off and sprint into the water. For our lodging, we stayed in a small hostel outside of the actual town of Puerto Escondido, on a beach known as Zicatela. Temperatures were in the high 80's low 90's the entire time and I think it's the closest I've been to paradise.

The only problem with the beach were the waves, they were almost deadly; one of my friends was knocked down, and cut up her back and legs on some stones in the process. But thankfully she quickly recovered and we all ate at a shwanky restuarant on the beach later that night. All I have to say about the food is... Mmmm.

Besides the beach, I also went on a lagoon tour and spent one night on the town partying it up, including making an appearance at a toga party at one of the larger bars. Unfortunately, I did not dress up, though I did see a lot of bed sheets and bath towels reinvented into Greek wonders. The amount of Europeans at Puerto Escondido was a little strange for me; the toga party had the largest gathering of non-Mexicans I'd seen since I left Vegas in August.

After two days in paradise and a chance encounter with my Swede and German friends from Puebla, we headed back to Oaxaca for the Day of the Dead.

The day before the big day we headed over to Monte Alban, an ancient fortress city that sits on top of one of the many mountains that surround Oaxaca. I had heard about the ancient city a few times before, but I had absolutely no idea at how big it actually was. I was taken aback by its size, it truly amazed me at how much people could achieve before our modern technology.

After the ruins, we spent the remainder of our time in the city proper, enjoying all that Oaxaca had to offer; chocolate, ofrendas, giant skulls, mezcal, food, and more awesome sights as well.

Downtown in the zócalo, the city had set up some sand formations to celebrate Day of the Dead.

On Halloween night, I was fortunate enough to watch a legit Mexican folk dance show just outside of downtown area in the courtyard of a colonial church. The steps were decorated with flowers and candles and numerous altars, it was a sight to behold.

The last dance of the night was the traditional dance of the devils, in which the dancers wore diablo masks (and fur pants) while cracking whips. My friend was even beckoned to dance with them (sorry Chels), haha.

The night was unforgetable, and I'm so glad at the opportunity to witness something so off the beaten path and so culturally rich.

BUT THEN IT WAS DAY OF THE DEAD.

For those of you who may not be acquainted with this traditional Mexican holiday, let me get you up to speed really quick...

The traditions of Day of the Dead date back in Mexico to the times before the Spanish arrived and destroyed everything (precolombian), and its a day when Mexicans and other Latin Americans celebrate the lives of those who have passed on. Many believe that it is they day in which the veil between the living world and the underworld is lifted, and the spirits roam amongst us. Due to this, a lot of Mexican will make altars (known as ofrendas) to commemorate their deceased loved ones, but they are also used in a way to summon their spirits as they pass from the spirit world into the real world. Many altars will have the picture of the loved one, and also fragrant foods and flowers to attract them.

Also on this night many of the families visit the graves of their loved ones and lay candles and flowers to beautiful their resting place. Its also a time and place to talk about their loved ones and grieve in a healthy way. I love this concept and wish that United States wasn't so far removed from a subject that affects ALL of us. Death is such a taboo topic in the US, and I think its so healthy to bring it out into the open and even celebrate it.

A few friends and I decided to visit the main cementery in town, which was not only HUGE, but also had a carnival set up outside the walls of the graveyard. Excitement and joy filled the air as mariachi bands and costumed people wandered the graveyard. Parents brought their children, and even the elderly were enjoying themselves.

I can't 'til next year. I'm so going to make my own ofrenda.