Hotel Alameda Centro Historico Morelia

After my first week of classes I decided to visit the neighbouring state of Michoacan. A couple of Mexican guys called Hugo and Raul were taking a coachload of students to party and see a bit more of the country. I was the sole Englishman but it was a real international group, mostly comprised of Germans, French, Mexicans and Americans.

We arrived in the state capital Morelia on the Friday night and took a brief tour around the city centre. It was fairly lively as the annual ...

... pretty fluently. Exciting! I've started buying the local newspaper this week too, and can get much of it!

I seemed to hit a big bump in classes around Tuesday where I couldn´t say anything right, but seem to have gotten over it a bit. Conversation class has started to be really fun - Lupita (see picture several entries ago) really keeps us on our toes and keeps the ball rolling. Also went to Conversation Club a couple of times and both salsa classes this week ...

... with masks of old men and women, grey hair, hats with long streaming ribbons and traditional sandals with wooden soles. They dance bent over with a cane to look old, but the intricate rhythms they make with their feet take lots of energy! A bottle of water in my bag leaked and my camera got wet so the pictures end abruptly with lunch - unfortunately none of los viejitos. I hadn´t budgeted for a new camera on this trip....(sigh)

... to remember the conjugation. (If only there weren´t so many exceptions!!) But this is only a short respite - subjunctive is coming!

I´m fighting the gringo tummy bug, but Martha is being really helpful. Made me plain rice (do you know how hard it is to find plain rice in Mexico??) and jello (jelly for my UK readers) yesterday, and fresh chicken broth today - guess it's Mexican penicillin, not just Jewish penicillin! (It took me days to realize that when Martha ...

... all were having mass and I didn´t want to walk around during the service. So I headed on down to a former convent to go to a play and after I walked all the way around this massive building (about 3 city blocks) I finally found the entrance. The play was a collage escenica - a collection of short scenes. Not ideal really as just as soon as I finally figured out what was going on it was over and they were on to the next one! However, they were really well-acted and ...

... in that direction. I soon
realize that this was no small market -- but a gigantic maze market
selling everything that can be sold from gold fish to tea leaves, from
phone chargers to wrenches and saws and machetes, from tacos to used
and new shoes, from mirrors to mango smoothies to full bottles of
perfume (see pic). I spent probably an hour and a half walking around
the market ...

Sorry I missed yesterday - busy day and did not get back till past midnight: We started off the morning meeting at the "Villa Montana en Morelia" which overlooks downtown Morelia. This is the setting of the "Club Rotario Morelia Camelinas A.C." This is an all womens Rotary club with roughly 15 members. Jim Fitch received a special recognition award for the work we were doing on the elementary school. Our two projects in Morelia were done in conjunction ...

... anything Ive ever seen before. You seriously felt like you were in the rainforest. There were coffee trees, banana trees, parrots, fish, water everywhere, awesome stone formations and waterfalls and flowers. It was shady and good weather and I took an assload of pictures. Oh, it was great. Not so great was the city of Patzcuaro. Sorry to everyone who doesnt want to hear me swear but that place was a ****-hole! We were like ... "this is where we are supposed to eat??" the guide told ...

... I was full of anticipation. It felt exciting to be in such an elegant city just as the weekend kicked off. Colonial-era facades and monuments shimmered under floodlight while the sidewalks and porticos around the zócalo buzzed with people out for the evening paseo. A few blocks way, at the hostel where I checked in, a pleasant surprise awaited. Belinda and Coree, old friends from Zacatecas days, called out to me from across the courtyard. After receiving a brief low down on ...

... remained erect in their posture as they aged but the Spanish grew stooped so the indigenous developed a satiric dance in which they hunched over and scurried around with canes wearing white masks, but since they wore traditional garb the Spanish apparently didn't get the joke. The pictures show the beautiful main cathedral and the dancers. Be sure to go to the zocalo at night as the main buildings have been beautifully lit thanks to all the new money.