Feliz Navidad, Prospero Año y Feliz Edad

"Today does not feel like Christmas. We didn't decorate the tree, we didn't shovel the driveway, and we didn't have sausage soufflé for breakfast. No, the Grinch didn't give us a late night visit. We're just in Mexico."
I wrote this snarky beginning of a blog on Christmas Evening, but I didn't mean it, promise. Although RedlineFam Christmas 2010 was not its usual self, this did not mean that it was not excellent. We were up with the sun on Christmas Eve to head towards Orizaba, Veracruz, Mexico with my host family. My host mom's parents live in Orizaba, where she grew up, and my host dad's parents and siblings live in Córdoba, the next town down the toll way. They graciously invited us to spend the holidays with them, an option which turned out to be infinitely better than spending it in a sterile hotel room. After a tour of Orizaba, a second breakfast at a street taco stand, a brief hike, and a nap, we headed off to our first dinner with the warning that this was "just a snack."
The Córdoba grandparents had other ideas, however. The table was covered with pastas, chicken, potatoes, beef, vegetable dishes, salads, bread, refried beans, and of course, tortillas. Mexican grandmothers are the best Food Pushers there ever were and we ended up eating a meal-sized snack. Oy vey. Although the room was a bit tense and quiet when we first arrived, we soon fell comfortably into a broken Spanglish conversation which leaned (this sounds incorrect…) towards Spanish más translation. Although I've previously spent whole weekends speaking Spanish followed by English-heavy weeks with the ND crew, I've never done so much rapid language switching. This previous sentence probably gives you a pretty good idea of how strugglesome my English has been this week. I had to ask my mom for multiple basic words, such as tusks, unload, and orchid. As Charlie said, "she doesn't speak well English." Despite the language barrier, we managed to have a great time. I braided abuela's hair because her ponytail was causing a headache, sampled some of abuelo's fancy tequila, and secretly made jokes about my family with my host family. After exchanging hugs, Feliz Navidad's and some small presents, we moved on to the next set of grandparents.

This is where the real dinner began. The menu included hammed (there's a Spanish word for this, maybe not English though) turkey, cheesy potatoes, quiche, pasta, fruit salad, spinach salad, chicken, fish, and deviled eggs. Not to mention the dessert table. Mama Olivia and Mama Redline spent a good half-an-hour circling the table and sharing food vocabulary. Considering that neither speaks the other's language, it took some very patient, open-mindedness. ¿Qué preciosa, no? While post-dinner chatting with some host cousins, I had a realization. I am comfortable in Mexico. Six months ago, I would have been sitting with my family, afraid to speak Spanish or sit with people I didn't know well. Now, I don't flinch at rattling off imperfect Spanish to a stranger or sitting down to platicar with someone I just met. I am no longer afraid of conversation. This seems silly, but I honestly used to avoid talking with people I didn't know well enough. This included vague elementary school acquaintances, friends of friends, and customer service employees at Target. No más.
This newfound confidence is exaggerated by my family's newness to the whole Mexico thing. I didn't realize until now just how much I've learned over the semester; everything from how much a bus costs to safe drinking water etiquette to the difference between ahora and ahorita. My classes were not what I would describe as rigorous, but that doesn't mean that I wasn't learning. As my mom pointed out after reading my previous post, I under exaggerated the depth of their culture shock. We're talking post traumatic syndromes here. (Was that off-color?) The foreign language and the traffic and the crowds and the smells and the constant noise were enough to drive any Idahoan-grown gringo to tears. Or in Sam and Jackson's cases, the barfs and the shits, respectively. While I feel bad for the pobrecitos, it really wouldn't be a Mexican adventure without someone yacking into a trashcan because the toilet is occupied. This might make me a hard-hearted, horrible hermana (couldn't resist the bilingual alliteration there). On the bright side, having 2 sickies back at the hotel has really cut back on metro, bus and entrance fees.
Anyways, here's a brief summary of our whirlwind adventure through central Mexico:
Day 1: Pickup from bus stop. Nap. Nap. Nap. Brief wanderings through the Puebla centro. Definitely not up for the rough crowd at the lucha libre arena.
Day 2: Africam Safari with Mama Olivia/animal vocabulary review.

Day 3: SUBIMOS. Climb Tepoztlan. Dad probably insults David with his backseat driver inclinations, exclamations, and under-the-breath comments. Sorry David! You're still our favorite driver (although I can't speak for Malia)!
Day 4: What up Cholula! Successful navigation of the bus system, more subiring, a leisurely stroll through the zócalo, and dragging the boys through a healthy amount of Cholula's 365 churches, followed by a Tour Guide Libby tour of the UDLAP campus and a visit to La Suprema Salsa, my 2^nd favorite taco haunt on Camino Real. We didn't go to Tacos Israel because it was closed, not actually out of regard for my family's delicate constitutions. By this time the fam was feeling a little braver and we ended the day with another visit to the Puebla centro, this time in tourist and not survival mode.

Day 5: Christmas Eve (see above)
Day 6: Christmas Day and return to Puebla
Day 7: morning adventure into Puebla in search of a mass and some souvenirs. Double success. Afternoon bus to DF after a quick visit to the fayuca, or black market. Scariest taxi ride of Dad's life from the DF bus station to our lovely hotel near the zócalo. It's a good thing we eased into the Great Mexican Adventure by starting in Puebla because I think someone's head would have exploded if thrown straight into the streets of DF.

Day 8: This is where the itineraries split. Shortly after Sam ate "the best hamburger of his entire life," it made a second appearance. Charlie and Sam stayed home to closely supervise the television while the rest of us explored the subway system, joined the throngs at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and strolled down Paseo de la Reforma, the "most beautiful street in all of Latin America".

Day 9: Jackson got jealous of all of Sam's special attention and developed an ailment of his own. Similar problem, other end. Luckily our fayuca visit had left us with plenty of movies that needed to be "tested" and Jackson & Sam were more than willing to help out. Under skeptical looks and WikiTravel instructions, I led the rest of the troops on a "we'll just wing it" adventure to the Teotihuacán archeological site. Yep, you guessed it. Subimos. Unlike my last visit to the pyramids, today was crowded, sunny and FREE! My secretly expired UDLAP student ID has gotten me into everything for free. Gracias UDLAP.
Day 10 (this part of the itinerary is requiring some psychic powers): We'll hopefully have time to hit up the Diego Rivera murals in the Palacio Nacional before loading into a taxi and heading to the airport. Due to Notre Dame booking and rescheduling my return flight, I am on a separate airline in a separate terminal from my family. But I think I'll be fine. I have 4 chick flicks, 2 best-sellers, some snacks, and, when I reached Salt Lake, a cell phone to keep myself occupied. It's going to be so strange to use a regular phone again. I'm dreading the time sucker that I know my cell phone will return to be, but this dread is overshadowed by my excitement to be connected again. As Eminem says, back to reality. Knock on wood, fingers crossed, 11:11 wish all will go smoothly, Salt Lake will not be snowed in, and I will be sleeping in my warm bed in my cold basement within 24 hours.
So if you have a minute, say a little prayer for the Redline Fam's international travels tomorrow and we'll try to send a little Mexican sunshine in your direction!

¡Bienvenidos Familia!

 The much-awaited day is finally here. The Redline Fam has fled the country, under cover of darkness, and is in MéxicoMéxico (as compared to CancúnMéxico). As you can see, they are thrilled to be here.

But really. This is so exciting. Despite the fact that this is my 5^th semester away from home, I still haven't gotten used to that adrenaline rush of seeing my family waiting in a terminal. I always think that I'll maintain my composure, walk calmly towards them, and not make a scene. I always end up skittering across some slippery tile floor and crash into the nearest family member, my coordination completely lost in the flood of emotion and joy.

After recovering a bit from their long journey and dumping the luggage at the hotel (which happens to be right on the bus route to our favorite Wal*Mart and favorite hospital. Win.), I shuffled my poor bewildered family off to my host family's house, where breakfast awaited them. We had a surprisingly successful conversation featuring Mama Olivia's limited English, Mama Redline's limited Spanish, Charlie's complete lack of language skills (don't worry, he has been officially dubbed Carlos), and Sam's Latin contributions. Who knew that the Spain-Spanish word for swimming pool comes from the Latin for pond? Sam did. Despite huge plans to wander through Puebla and take in a night of lucha libre, the travel-weary Redlines had other ideas. Between Dad's stomach ache + chills and everyone else's 3 hour nap, we didn't roll out of the hotel until the sun was gettin' low. Not unlike Flo Rida.

The Redline Fam should get Purple Hearts for Bravery because they followed me all around Puebla, rarely doubting my navigation. Even after I admitted that I wasn't really sure which bus we should take home, took them to a sketchy market to score some cemitas, and marched them right past some riot police. After 5 months in Mexico, this all seemed pretty cotidiana to me. Not until we got back to the hotel and I saw their shocked faces did I realize that this was quite the immersion experience. Over super cemitas we replayed the events of the last few hours and I joined in their wonder over the friendliness of Pueblans, the strange contents and arrangements of mini-shops, and the whole pig's head that we saw in the market.

It's a completely mind-boggling experience to share this city that I've come to consider as a home-away-from-home with new guests. Not only have they never been here, but they don't speak the language. The bossy big sister in me is loving every minute of it. The exhausted traveler in me keeps looking to my parents to make decisions, only to find them looking back at me expectantly. The itty bit of mexicana in me never wants to leave.

And the homesick little girl in me is subconsciously counting down the days until I can open that front door, drop my bags, and breathe in the scent of home.

The Beginning of the End

I'm not sure whether it was the chest-rattling cough, the sweats, the chills, the headache or the nausea that woke me up. Regardless, I was awake on a bus at 5AM, trying not to throw up every time I coughed, wishing I could just die and get it over with. This was NOT how I had planned to begin my relaxing week in Playa del Carmen. Fever and the Black Lung are not conducive to sunbathing and snorkeling. The bus seemed to move in slow motion, as did the taxi to the hotel and the hotel employee who checked us in. All I wanted was a bed, a blanket (or maybe an ice pack- it changed every 5 minutes with my fever), and to stop. traveling. Luckily, this was the low point of the week and it just got better from here. Which is good, because the only way it could have gotten worse is if I had actually coughed up a lung or thrown up on my bus buddy. Luckily, I was traveling with 14 pre-med students and I was offered ample advice, sympathy, and access to everyone's personal mobile pharmacies.

Due to some divine intervention and a saintly mother, we spent the last week in the nicest hotel I have ever seen, much less slept in. The Maya Palace Riviera was just that: a palace. It took us a few days to adjust to the Americanized Cancun area. The only Mexicans to be seen were hotel employees, everyone spoke English (yes, the taxi driver can understand you when you are doubting his navigation in the backseat…whoops), and everything was expensive/listed in USD. It was a marvelous opportunity to sit back and relax by the largest pool in Mexico and a gradual transition back into American culture, but I found myself missing the "real Mexico". We knew that we had definitely left Mexican Mexico when the bus driver told us that the bus was full and no, we could not stand in the aisle. Whaaaaa?!?!?! Since when can you not stuff a Mexican bus with twice as many passengers as its design intended? Nevertheless, we continued to go about our business, speaking Spanish to the hotel employees and chuckling when they threw out a no mames güey or pinche _____, crude phrases that most guests didn't notice. My family might disagree in favor of beachtime, but I'm glad that they are going to see the "real Mexico", eat real Mexican food, and be fully immersed in the language. Even if they don't like chile and don't habla español. Don't get me wrong, the Mayan Riviera is gorgeous and sunny and vacation-y. But it's not Mexico.

After laying low for a few days to nurse myself back to health, I was ready to leave the hotel complex. I had opted out of an earlier trip to Chichen Itza, a choice that I might regret later in life (it is one of the 7 Wonders of the World, afterall), but like I said before, I am all pyramided out. On our second to last full day in Playa del Carmen, we hired a driver to take us to the ruins of Tulum. Yes, this meant more pyramids, but these were beachside pyramids. Like I said, the Mayans were all about location.
These were by far the touristiest (I wanted to say most touristy here, but Word SpellCheck suggested touristiest. Definitely not a real word, Word…) ruins we had visited, but it was also the best maintained site we had visited. The pyramid sits on a cliff overlooking the aqua blue ocean and the surrounding jungle is slowly creeping around the ancient stones in a valiant attempt to reclaim the site. After getting our daily dose of pyramids, we continued on to Paamul, a little paradise hidden between Playa del Carmen and Tulum. We rented snorkel gear from an American-turned-Mexican couple and flippered into the ocean. I have this thing where water makes me feel very squished and claustrophobic and I never quite grasped the idea of face-in swimming, so I was nervous about this whole snorkeling thing. Not to mention the fact that my sinuses were filled to capacity and I was still coughing like I had been smoking 6 packs a day for my whole life. Once I got over the weird feeling of breathing through a tube and stopped hyperventilating, I had a great time. Paamul is not home to the world's most breathtaking reefs, but that was alright with me. I was having enough breathing struggs without having my breath taken away. It was surprisingly easy to just float along over the reef, giving a few kicks once in a while to avoid a sea fan or a coral outcropping. We spent a relaxing afternoon spotting tropical fish, laying on the beach, and playing follow-the-leader through the reef.

This seems like enough adventure for the day, but it was only half over. We returned to the hotel just in time to form TeamPuebla for beach volleyball and spent the next hour and a half throwing ourselves around the beach, laughing, and occasionally making contact with the volleyball. Despite our obvious lack of serious dedication or team cohesion, we managed to be Queens of the Court for quite a while. Even if we hadn't won however, I had a great time and left the court with a laughter-induced belly ache, a swimsuit full of sand, and a big smile. We rushed through the showers and donned our favorite red, green and white clothing in preparation for a Mexican Christmas party. We had gone shopping the day before for hot chocolate, apple cider, cookies, and decorations in preparation for one last Shabang before heading back to the wintry tundra. Over steaming mugs of hot cocoa and Bailey's (early Christmas splurge) we revealed our Secret Santas and put on a mini talent show. The youth group classic "Christmas Carol Trivia" game was a huge hit and inspired an impromptu caroling outing to spread a bit of Christmas cheer throughout the hotel. Although we were all missing our families, garland-decked homes and snowboots, it was a great way to end our semester together.

On Friday morning we did some last minute packing, turned in our keys, and had a rushed goodbye group hug before everyone headed their different directions. Some members of the group headed towards Cancún for a few days, others prepared their passports for US customs, and I got on a plane towards Puebla, by way of Mexico City. Sitting in the airport, I suddenly felt completely alone. I had spent every single hour of the last 2 weeks in close contact with the same 16 people and they were suddenly gone. I didn't realize until that moment just how much they had defined my semester here in Mexico and how much I was going to miss them. Sure, we'll see each other back at ND but everyone will have own friends, do their own thing on the weekends, and probably not share frequent updates on the state of their digestive tract.
Malia, Erica, Marisa, Alexxis, Kelsey, Regan, Amanda, Shelly, Patrick, Mitch, Pat, Stella, Maggie, Cara, Andy and John: Thank you for an unforgettable semester. ¡Nos vemos pronto!

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes and Chiapas

Disclaimer: The following entry should be considered a brief summary with generous omissions and forgotten pieces. Unfortunately, there's a lot to share and NOT MUCH TIME.

I've decided that the best way to sum up the last week is to tell it in superhero comic book style.

Our hero's (this is my blog so, yes, I can make myself the hero) adventure begins at the Puebla bus station, surrounded by her comrades, the last Pueblans she would see in a while, and some suitcases. The reader should see some and read monstrous pile. It turns out that the "we'll just bring our semester's worth of luggage on a crosscountry adventure" was much easier said than done. But that is said and done. Once the said luggage was safely stashed in the underbelly of the bus, it was time to go to Chiapas. SHAZAM!!

We woke up the next morning as the bus pulled into the station in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas. This superhero story is now going to take a brief intermission in favor of some background & history.
Chiapas is the southernmost state of Mexico that shares the border with Guatemala. The state is important because of its various products: coffee, hydroelectric power, and Zapatistas. The Zapatista movement is based on the original Revolution movement led by Emilio Zapata, who demanded political and land rights for indigenous groups. While it was not originally a violent movement, the conflict between the Mexican government and the Zapatistas has led to some (see definition above) tension in the area. To protect their identity, Zapatista rebels often wear black ski masks, ninja style. Ever resourceful, local vendors have taken advantage of this imagine and sell dolls, keychains, earrings, and postcards portraying Zapatistas.

BAM! Back to the batcave. We soon got on another bus and faster than a speeding bullet, headed towards Sumidero Canyon. We hired a great guide to take us on a boat tour through the national park, where we saw iguanas, turtles and cormorants. We were pretty thrilled with this in and of itself. Then the guide said, "Mira, un cocodrilo! Ya lo vieron?" WOWZA! Our heroes came face-to-face (well not quite) with a hugeass crocodile just chillin' on the beach. As if this wasn't exciting enough, the boat guide knew about our favorite Tule Tree guide! Small world? After narrowly avoiding a crocodile-induced death and fighting off a couple of bad guys (not really), we dashed back to San Cristobal to browse the markets and make plans for the next day.

If I had to choose one sound effect to describe the next day it would be clipclop clipclop. Yep, you guessed it: horseback riding. I have never ridden a horse for so long and my sitbones have never been so sore. Under the skeptical guidance of a local horseman we rode through backroads and forest trails to the small town of San Juan Chamula. We left our loyal steeds to enjoy a break in the shade while we wandered through the local market, ate some mandarin oranges, and took in the pueblo. Then WHUMP WHUMP WHUMP we trotted back to the homestead. I patted Flash, my newest equine friend good-bye and hopped on yet another bus, back to San Cristobal, the luggage, and the prospect of yet another long busride. Next stop: Palenque.

I cannot say that Palenque, Chiapas is on my list of favorite cities in Mexico. Although it is surrounded by beautiful forested mountains and is home to some of Mexico's most breath-taking Mayan ruins, it is not a pretty place. The town is dramatically divided between the fake-jungle hotel district and the slightly sketchy main part of town. Luckily, we had enough on the agenda to avoid spending much time in this less-than-lovely town. We were finally able to cross a very important and long-awaited item off the community To Do in Mexico list while in Palenque: WATERFALLS. The Agua Azul and Misol Ha cascadas had been sneaking into conversations, guidebook articles and travel suggestions all semester. After visiting, I can see why these waterfalls are the talk of the town. Not only were the waterfalls beautiful and refreshing, but the drive through the jungly mountains offered ample scenery and TeamPuebla bonding time.

No day is perfect, however, and we ended ours with a visit to Mexico's 2^nd worst restaurant (we had already found the worst one, it's in Guanajuato). KATHOOM Palenque:1 TeamPuebla:0… We'll just say that we made a Dinner Round Two trip to the grocery store to make up for the disappointing chicken salad and stale bread. To be fair, we should have known to call it quits when there weren't any other customers, the kitchen was nowhere to be found and there appeared to be 2 employees in the whole joint. Ah well, you win some, you lose some.




The next morning, after a slow start, we reluctantly hopped on a bus towards the Palenque ruins. By this time, we were more than a little travel weary and not terribly enthusiastic about seeing yet another pyramid. Nevertheless, we felt obligated to go and I'm glad that we gave into our tourists' guilt because these ruins turned out to be my favorite in Mexico. Nestled in the rain forest, the Palenque complex looks like the set of an Indiana Jones movie and the view from the top of the pyramid is stunning.
After subir-ing this Mayan marvel and purchasing our obligatory Mayan calendar souvenirs, we headed back to the hotel to prepare for our last epic Mexican busride of the semester: next stop, Playa del Carmen. KATHOOOOM! But that's another story.