La Mancha Cuernavaca

... plates, lacquerware, woven baskets, furniture, sugar skulls, needlework, and Day of the Dead paraphernalia. At 10 am in the morning, there were already hundreds of Mexican and foreign tourist meandering through the stalls. <br><br>We then headed to Tzintzuntzan to visit the Tarascan pyramid and also the cemeteries. The pyramid was up on the hill and had a spectacular view of the Patzcuaro Lake. You could see why the Tarascans had chosen ...

... just in my head, but guacamole is so much tastier here! Celia bought a bottle of tequila, and told us we had to drink it. If you know Rob and I, you know we aren't big drinkers. Between Buzz, Rob and I we kiled that bottle though. There was a futbol (soccer) game going on in this big fancy sports bar and the later it got in the night the louder the crowd. We were caught up in all the Spanish and futbol cheering and tequila drinking for sure. <br> <br>

... a first for me!! See photos attached of hotel.<br><br>Then time to leave Nige to fly south to Peru. After quite an eventful trip including having to try and sleep on airport benches through the night in Lima airport arrived safe in cusco. First week is to learn Spanish in school with Clare. Slight shock to the system becoming a student again, living in student digs but I'm sure good for me!? See student digs entry for photos and more chat on our time in cusco.<br><br><br><br>

... t feel confident. Our teacher was fantastic &#8212; she had limitless patience, even when one of us would blurt out an English word in frustration, and she made us feel very comfortable, which helped us more easily absorb all the new words and grammatical concepts we were presented with each day.<br><br>On Monday through Thursday afternoons, students may attend private tutoring sessions, cultural presentations, and instructional lectures. Early evening ...

... the remaining three walls had been added to her home, along with a bathroom and a new bedset. Now she can listen to the thunderstorms patter on her new windows instead of feeling the rain soak her bed. It is wonderful to see the progress being made in different projects. Next week we will be joined by a new volunteer. I can´t wait!

... y a deguste un barbacoa : tu creuses un trou dans le sol, tu y mets des braises, puis des pierres, ensuite tu enroules ton agneau (mort) dans des grandes feuille de cactus et le met par dessus, et enfin tu recouvre de terre. Tu laisses comme ca pendant environ 7h puis tu le manges. C'est excellent accompagne avec un verre de pulque (une boisson locale a base de cactus) et le soleil qui te tape sur le crane, t'es bien pour la journee. L'endroit, entoure de foret est ...

We want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas, or shall we say Feliz Navidad! We will be thinking of you over the holidays. We miss you, but not the weather, lol! We would love to get some emails from you, since we won't be getting any Christmas cards:( Take care, Jack and Audrey P.S. We put a photo of us on this post for those of you we didn't get to see on our short visit home. Just in case you are starting to forget what we look like!

We met a nice couple in a cafe in Tibet of all places. They reside in the U.S. and have a property in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. They talked about how neat of a place it was. We kept in touch with them throughout our trip. They offered to rent us their place through the winter. We would get to come home and visit family and friends for a few days. Then we could escape for the winter to an interesting city. What could be better? After a year of moving around, it would be so ...

... Xochicalco where there are old ruin temples so that was exciting and amazing to see. Of course it wasn´t just a free vacation instead we did a lot of learning with speakers and classes but we did have a bonfire one night and with that we had S'MORES!! So that made my day. We returned once again to Cuernavaca for a week of more classes, speakers and Spanish. My Spanish teacher is great really friendly and she was someone who gave us a free salsa ...

... we noticed in this city was the fortress-like, almost medieval architecture of the main historical structures in the city's center. One such building was the Cathedral and Cortez's Castle. In typical conquistador fashion, the latter was built with the same materials and over the ruins of a pre-existing Aztec structure (in this case another pyramid). It was strange to see how this style was used almost exclusively here and nowhere else. I read ...