Day 3: Quinceañera

Saturday, May 13.

A  quinceañera is a party celebrating a girl's 15th birthday. I just realized that I was calling the event the Quinceañera which is wrong according to the wikipedia I link for context. Whoops.

Today was a day I got the feeling that Tere is sometimes frustrated with Mexican time. Mexicans experience time more as a series of events than a schedule like we do. It can be frustrating. I feel like it's disrespectful but also have to remember that it's culture, no disrespect intended.

I was excited to see this fiesta because when I was a kid, my dad had Mexican-American neighbors. One of their girls was turning 15, and we saw she and her friends practicing some dances out in the driveway for a few weekends in a row.

This was a modest affair. The first part of the event was a mass. We went to a church in the Centro, the town square where all the action happens. We walked past 2 Catholic churches and a little chapel on the way in less than 2 miles, probably. If you thought Omaha was really Catholic, especially South Omaha, then you clearly haven't been to Mexico! Tere was giving me a little tour of Coatpec, explaining how this is the way to get to the Centro and back. It's really easy to do so that made me optimistic. The first part of the event was a mass.

We got there about 12:45 for mass at 1. There was no one there. I had to go to the bathroom because I'm trying to stay hydrated. There was a door to the side of the entrance to the church that said "Bathroom, 3.00 pesos. Ring the bell and wait, the office is below the bell tower." Basically, someone from the office had to unlock this door and the office was on the other side of the church. I had no idea who long to wait for, so after 5 minutes I rang again. The birthday girl and her family began to arrive, so I got nervous that I was going to be in the bathroom when it started. I didn't want to be that stupid uninvited guest who comes in late and then everyone turns around to look at me and I embarrass myself AND Tere. So I slide into the pew next to here. I say, I can wait! She tells me to go ask the lady at the front. There is a women who works for the church that is preparing stuff on the altar. I ask her and she unlocks hallway to the bathroom from inside the church. Here is what I saw:

 There is a door at the end of this hallway that is where I was ringing the bell. I say "hallway" but it was outdoors. The photo on the right is the perspective from the bathrooms looking back.

This was the second chicken area in the passage way. The other one had smaller ones it in that looks like some sort of guinea fowl? I'm not an expert on domesticated birds, I'll admit. Anyway, they sang to me while I peed.

I hurried back to the pew because again, I didn't want to interrupt the mass. Everything seemed the same as when I had left. Tere was hot and asked me to turn on these fans that were mounted on the walls, but they didn't work. She became a little irritated and asked the time. Finally, around 1:30, the priest came out and greeted the birthday girl and her family outside. There were about 15 people or so waiting in the pews. They proceeded in while the priest led everyone in a song. This wasn't a regularly scheduled mass so there was no music, until the 2 guitar playing girls arrived in time for the "Hallelujah" before the gospel. Looking around, I didn't see a piano or organ or anything, so maybe they only have the guitars at regular mass?

Even though I don't speak Spanish, I was raised Catholic and have gone to enough masses to know what was happening in general. I guess that's a cool thing about Catholicism, it's basically the same everywhere. The homily (sermon) seemed super long. During the mass, more people kept coming in. There were no windows to open for air flow so the doors were left open. I could hear the street noise but the birthday girl was very focused on the mass. When it ended I was surprised to see the back 5 or 6 rows of pews, 2 in each row, were filled up.

We got a taxi to go to the place where the reception was. We were one of the first because the family had to stay at the church and take a million pictures. We sat down and waited. It was a familiar-feeling reception place. Food prep in the back, tables around the edges of a dance floor, cake table and "head table" for the birthday girl and her family. Here are the cakes! That stand has 3 above and 1 below, plus one on the table. Later they brought out this HUGE cake that was like 3ftx2ft probably.

After we waited like an hour, we got food. Here it is:

 The waiters put soda on every table: Coke, this fresca, orange fresca, sprite, or this apple soda. There was no water available. In fact, I've never seen anyone drinking water in public. This grapefruit soda was good. I imagine it's what Squirt tastes like, but I don't remember what Squirt tastes like.

 This was beans and rice and pork. The pork was ok. Some of it was really fatty or grisly, and I'm pretty sure I had a tongue in mine. Don't get me wrong, I've heard that tacos de lengua, beef tongue, are really good. But it was kind of hot outside and I was not feeling it.

 This salsa wasn't too spicy for me. It tasted like it was avocado based. Of course there are tortillas in that fabric pocket next to it with the pink crocheted trim. I was totally going to try the black stuff too, until Tere told me it was...something about pig's blood.

Speaking of pig, here is a plate of fresh chicharrones. Pork rinds. That's right folks, it's fried pork skins. I secretly (not anymore I guess!) love the pork rinds from the grocery store, so the authentic fresh ones must be better, right? I was already not in love with pork at this point. But I'm going for an authentic-ish Mexican experience, right? It was crunchy and still hot. Fried pork juice/oil filled my mouth when I bit just half. I put it down and didn't finish it. I almost gagged, but I'm not rude! Ate more tortillas. Drank more grapefruit soda.
There was a vendor selling these little ice cream bags, Tere ordered peanut flavor for us. Don't try to untie the top, just chew off the corner and suck it out. I was really grateful for this since I didn't eat much dinner. It wasn't like ice cream so much as sort of sweet milk with peanut butter flavor and chunks of peanuts. Amazing.

More people kept coming in, one family at a time. The birthday girl got up and greeted each one. We sat, and waited, and sat and waited. It kept looking like something was going to happen. The birthday girl's "escorts" (the 3 boys from school that danced with her) would gather near the dance floor, her parents would stand up, she would come back to the head table...but then nothing would happen.  Around 5 (we got there about 2:30) a family came and joined us our table. They got fresh food, the same that we had but hot. With the newcomers came a new batch of hot chicharrones. I thought I was going to have to leave "to get some aire."

At this point, Tere was getting annoyed again. She said, "What are they waiting for? Just start the dance!" Anyway, eventually the dance started. The girl and her 3 amigos did this choreographed line dance type thing to Uptown Funk by Bruno Mars. Then another to Maroon 5's "Sugar". Then she danced with her dad and every male family member that was there. They looped Christina Perri's "A Thousand Years". All of her tios and primos danced with her for about 30 seconds. Then her dad again. This probably lasted at least 7 minutes.

I'll admit, I was in a bad mood on this day. I don't know why; it was just one of those days where everything is the worst. This song with the daddy-daughter dance made me cry. I have no idea why. And even if I did. I wouldn't have been able to explain it to Tere in Spanish.

I couldn't stop crying. I wanted to leave but I didn't know how to explain it and I didn't want to disrupt the dancing. So I watched.

There was another dance where her friend put a crown on her and she received her last doll to represent her entrance into womanhood. She seemed really happy.

Then there was the "dance of glasses" where we all got sparkling apple juice and they put 4 glasses on the dance floor. They picked up the glasses and danced a little more and then she drank with hooked arms with each of her amigos. That was the last dance.

I was still crying. I think not knowing and not being able to express myself made it worse. I felt very isolated, confined by the language barrier.

Then it was time for cake. The birthday girl took pictures with her family while swiping frosting off with her finger. Then she bit into the big pretty cake face first, hands behind her back. Everyone was distracted so I decided to leave. When I went to ask Tere if I could go home, I was choked up and could barely get it out. I said I have crowd anxiety. While this is true, I didn't feel any crowd anxiety at this party. I haven't in a few years thanks to my daily anxiety pill.

The reception place was a block away from home so I walked pretty quickly back. Tere followed me soon after so I apologized for making her leave. She said it was the dance part which she doesn't like anyway. She asked me if I was sad. I said no, and I can't explain it. I went to bed and I guess she did too. I talked to Scott and my mom and they said sleeping would help. They were right. I couldn't sleep though because I was hungry, so I got up and made a ham and mayo sandwich that I've been eating here.

I've noticed some interesting differences between the use of private and public space here. I saw 2 different street vendors come into the reception and sell cotton candy and those ice cream baggies. I think it is the strong feeling of community here that allows people to come in. I would have considered the reception a private party. Also, people are exposed to the outside all the time. I don't just mean open windows. The front doors are open on most houses in a way that the passerby can see into your house, since the front doors are on the sidewalk here. There is definitely a strong feeling of being part of the community that way.

Day 2: Probar, verb; to taste, test, or try

May 12 is Teacher Appreciation Day, or something like it. Tere's niece lives in Xalapa but works in a school here, right down the street. She teaches high school history and geography. Since it was teacher's day, she had the day off and had, as I understood it, breakfast with her teacher friends at a cafe in Coatepec. A lot of the time I'm wondering if a plan has changed or if I just don't understand what is happening, so it didn't change and I misunderstood to begin with. That was basically the whole day.

Here's what I had for breakfast: Cantaloupe (melon), this little flaky slightly-sweet pastry (oreja, ear), and milk (leche).

I though we were waiting for Yuxi (spelling?!?), the niece, to come to the house and pick us up. Again, this is all as I understood it, so maybe the plan changed, but equally likely I didn't understand to begin with. Tere said ready at 11! Yuxi will come and honk the horn and we have to go! I went for a little jog, at a little breakfast, reassured her that I would be ready on time. And I was! At 10:50, sitting in the sala, the living room, waiting for the ride. Around 11:30, shes tells me that Yuxi said it would be 11 at the earliest. So we sit around some more. Her sister, Yuxi's mother, comes over. I meet Chepe for the first time. I'm very confused because she came by taxi, and I expected Yuxi to pick up only Tere and me. I tell Tere I'm going to rest and she says ok.

I accidentally fell asleep until 1! It was one of those naps that is very disorienting. I woke up kinda sweaty too. I get up and find Tere and Chepe just chilling in the sala. Once I come out, they're ready to go. I get the feeling they were waiting on me, but again, I have no idea what's happened. We go out to get a taxi, but two pull up. Apparently they had called for one while I was sleeping, but the first taxi was not the one we called. They say sorry, this is the one we called, and close the door on the first taxi. We get in the second. Again, I'm very confused. Not only do I understand only about 30% of an conversation I'm not a part of, I have been awake for like 3 minutes at the point. I'm still sleep-drunk.

We take the taxi to a restaurant where Yuxi is eating with 2 ladies she works with. We sit down and I pick up the menu and Tere is like, "NO we're not eating here." I was pretty hungry but said ok. I was going to just get water to drink, because the waiter listed off a bunch of flavors of...something--juice? infused water? soda?--and I totally missed it. Tere orders a zarzaparilla and I get that too--whatever it is.

The drinks come. Zarzaparilla is dark, the color of Coke, but not carbonated. It tastes like...root beer? OH! It's sarsaparilla! But it's overly sweet, like I'm drinking a glass of root beer extract. I think if it had been cut with water it would have been better to me. Tere drinks hers super fast. I sip mine and of course finish all of it because I'm polite. I did mention that I thought it was a little too sweet, so hopefully she won't order it for me again.

They ladies are all eating but Tere said I couldn't. As part of the Work Away arrangement, she provides food and housing for me, so if she says "we're not eating here", I don't eat. Yuxi has an order of something that looks like an empanada, I think. Or a taco perhaps. There is something inside a folded tortilla which is sort of stapled shut with tooth picks. It seems like the whole thing was fried, or maybe just baked like this. She shares them with us.

I'm waiting to see how I should eat it, when Tere insists I start. I told her I don't know the proper way to eat it. She says, "take out the toothpicks first do they don't poke you." Well, that bit was obvious. Inside, it's stuff with shredded fish that sort of looks like a tuna salad, but white and served hot. They ask if I'm allergic to fish. I'm not...at least not that I know of. You see, growing up we didn't eat a lot of fish. It's expensive in Omaha and we weren't a fancy family like that (I always though of fish as fancy since I only saw it at nice restaurants). Anyway, I explained how far away I live from the ocean ("I have to drive for 2 full days!") and they say in that case, I definitely have to try it! I have to put mayo and salsa on it though. Whenever I'm offered salsa, I always clarify the heat level...which is pretty useless because everyone has their own tolerance to spicy. Turns out this was hot as hell. I put one little dot in probably a tablespoon of mayo and it was still spicy. Don't worry, I didn't eat a whole tablespoon of mayo. I only dipped.

They told me the type of fish that I was eating. I didn't know what it was. Something about a shark though. It was good, what can I say?

This restaurant is famous apparently. There were pictures from the history of the place. It was square, with a an open area in the middle and the tables at the edges. In the open area there was a huge bird cage. It reminded me of the budgie exhibit they had at the zoo. It had macaws in it. There were also small cages hanging around the edge of the open area with smaller birds that were cockatiel size. There we some that looked like cardinals. It was funny to think that cardinals might be "exotic" here.

Anyway, we sat there for a long time. The waiter came and took away the plates, Yuxi had a card out to pay, but still the waiter didn't bring the check. I asked Tere and she said, "Because she hasn't asked for yet it." What a concept! I'm glad I learned this, or else I might have sat for hours waiting for the check.

Yuxi's car is parked at the restaurant. Sort of a valet situation. We get in but we can't go out of the parking area because a truck is parked in the drive way. Parked with no driver. This seems very disorganized to me but no one was alarmed. After about 3 minutes a guy moves the truck and off we go! I put on my seatbelt out of habit and Yuxi comments on that. Hopefully it's not seen as a reflection of my confidence in her driving.

(Side note about the taxis not having seat belts: I think they are installed in the car, but the backseat has a cover over it which makes them inaccessible.)

So, what the heck is happening right now? I'm not really sure. We are going to Yuxi's house? Which is also Chepe's house, I learned once we got there. We drive to Xalapa which is the capitol of the state, Vera Cruz. It's much bigger than Coatepec. I was surprised to see a man riding a horse in the street in such a big city. He looked like a cowboy and was riding in the opposite direction of traffic, in the implied lane between the parked cars and the moving cars. All lanes are implied here, there are few lines. I did see a double solid yellow line which separated two lanes moving the same direction. I'm never going to drive here.

We make a pitstop to pick up Yuxi's daughter from school. Chepe gets out of the passenger seat. Then Yuxi gets out too. I'm confused, of course. Chepe and Valentina (The daughter of Tere's neice Yuxi, so Tere's great-neice) come to the car with ice cream. Huh. Valentina is 8 and tiny, so she comes in the back seat with Tere and me. We leave for somewhere.

Turns out we are going to their house. 5 people live there: Chepe (Tere's sister); her husband Miguelito, so called because he is 5 feet tall at maximu (Tere's brother-in-law); Yuxi, the teacher who drove us (Tere's niece); her husband Jorge, who left as soon as we got there to go to his 2nd job (Tere's newphew-in-law?); and their daughter Valentina, who we picked up from school (Tere's great-neice). They also have a mini-schnauzer named Luna who barked at me every time  I moved. There was a thunderstorm too, which scared the dog.

When we get there, 2 additional women are in the house. A person who seems to work as their cook, and a person who introduces herself as the nana of Valentina which I think is a nanny. It Latin America, it's super common to have help in the house, and is not a reflection of  person's wealth. I told Yuxi that only rich people in the U.S. can hire help and she was so tickled by that.

Dinner was also confusing, because the cook kept getting up and taking someone's plate, then returning with more food on it. But each person got something different. Anyway, the first course was spaghetti. It was slightly orange as though a tablespoon of sauce had been used on the whole pot. Fine by me, red sauce give me heartburn. After the spaghetti, I was offered pozole and took it. It was left over from Mother's day. Yuxi told the native people of Mexico (Mixtec in this area I think, I'm not sure) used to cook it with their enemies, cannibal style. This had chicken in it. I was also offered mole, which I have been dying to try since I heard of it back in high school Spanish class. Mole is the famous Mexican "chocolate BBQ sauce." It was smoky and a little spicy, and the chocolate flavor was subtle. It was amazing. I dipped a tortilla in it, but it's usually put on chicken I think.

After dinner, Valentina showed me her room and we colored mandalas. Her coloring book was Day of the Dead themed so that was cute. Yuxi pulled out some coffee flavored wine. I told her I don't drink but apparently I didn't say it right because there was a shot in front of me. I drank it in two sips. It had the taste of coffee but the burning in my mouth, throat, esophagus, and stomach of something stronger than wine. 

Vale had to go to gymnastics practice at 6:30. She does rhythmic gymnastics. We sat around the house for a little bit until it was time to go. I almost left without saying goodbye to Miguelito but Tere reminded me and I went back. I'm learning to never leave without saying goodbye to everyone. I didn't say goodbye to Luna though, she was hiding from the storm.

We had to park the car about a block away because the street they lived on was under construction. Not a huge deal but there was a downpour when we left. I hopped in the backseat with Vale and Tere and off we went.

After we dropped Vale off, it was time to go shopping. Now, I thought the whole point of the day was to go shopping, that Yuxi was going to pick us up (at 11, remember?) and we were going shopping. It's now about 7. We go to a mall. Yuxi apologizes for how small it is, but it honestly might have been bigger than Westroads. There was only Sears as the anchor store. I bought a shirt. I guess the whole thing was so that Yuxi could buy Tere and Chepe  gift for Mother's day, back on the 10th. Tere and Chepe are pretty different for sisters. Tere picked one thing pretty quickly and tried it on. Chepe kept noticing new things, going back and forth to the fitting room. We were there for waaay too long,  probably like an hour just in that one section of one store. We finally left Seas to go to stores for with FASHION. I do not understand la moda, the fashion. Obviously. I just took things in, trying to understand what was happening around me.

I saw a store called "Bear and Pull" which looked sort of like Hollister-type clothes. We finally left the mall a bit after 9:00. Then we drove around Xalapa, I think Yuxi was giving me a tour. She dropped us off at a bus stop. This was confusing because I thought she was taking us home. The bus didn't come until about 10:00 so we stood around. On the buss, this girl in front of us turned around and asked Tere, "Where is she from?" And they were talking about me like I wasn't there. She looked at me finally and I said, "You can ask me." and she apologized and said she didn't realize I spoke Spanish. (Even though she started talking to Tere to ask if I was from Germany because of my accent.) We spoke with her most of the bus ride so that was cool. It's nice to talk to someone else too. We didn't get home until 10:30 which was late for me, but we didn't have to go anywhere the next day until noon so we could sleep in.

Day 1: Learning

This beautiful casa has high ceilings and pillars and big windows and all tiled floors. I set my alarm for about 8:30 this morning, and I heard Tere in her room next door too. So I got up and she followed shortly. First, we had breakfast, but we had to go to the tienda down the street for fruit. This was a little shop about 100 yards away. We bought a cantaloupe even though Tere wanted papaya, because the papayas look bad, they were over-ripe. Then this moment happened, which is seared forever in my brain.

Tere: I'd like to buy some chicken
Girl at the counter, who was like 15: Ok, what part?

She goes to the front of the store, now this whole places is like 8x8ft big, and on the sidewalk under her awning is a table with two towels spread out on it. She pulls the towels back and BAM there are chicken halves. There is also a chicken head (eyes open, yellow) and some feet and hearts/livers/kidneys/I'm not familiar with inner-chicken anatomy. The girl picks up a knife from the table and cuts the legs of the thighs.

Girl: Do you want the skin?
Tere: Not a lot.

Then she slices off the extra skin. She puts the chicken in a little bag and puts it on a scale. She uses a little calculator to add up the cantaloupe, chicken legs, and 4 tomatoes. I don't know how much it costs because I was too horrified by what I had just witnessed. At no point in this transaction, from the moment we entered to when we left, did the girl wash her hands.

I step back and consider if my privilege is upset about this, my city-dwelling American part. Maybe chicken isn't as dirty germ-y as we worry about, maybe only American chickens have salmonella? I ponder this as we walk back to the house. I guess this is learning.

Now it is time for breakfast: Cantaloupe, some little cookies that go with coffee, and milk. She doesn't drink milk, she has coffee. I'm afraid that I represented myself at some point, because I'm not a HUGE fan of milk but I also don't turn down food when I'm being a polite guest.

After breakfast, we wash the dishes. Now the real business begins. TO SWEEP! We sweep in front of her house, and the street too, along the curb. Apparently when it rains a lot the leaves clog up the gutter and it's bad new for everyone, so I take the dustpan, recogedora, and get all the leaves and sand and dust an take it back to the median where it came from. The median has a sidewalk on each side, then a row of trees and some viney stuff, where it slopes down to a sandy middle section where people go with horses. We saw these guys walking with and training a horse today.

Now, sweeping the sidewalk gets some dust in the house. She says that since her house is so big, I only need to do half per day. She was a hairdresser, but a back injury had her retire 15 years ago. The windows at the back of the house, looking into the garden, are open all day so this lets in dust. So, first I sweep, really well. Then, the cloth to dust all the furniture. Finally, the mopping. Now, at my house we have a Swifer, none of this wringing-mop-with-hands business. The ironic thing about selecting the movie Joy on the plane is that I had to mop the old-fashioned way today. I had to go re-dust a few things because she has an eagle eye for dust, but in a couple hours I had it all done. It will be faster later because I'll know where things are and how to do it. Tomorrow is the back half of the house, where the bedrooms are.

While I was finishing up, her granddaughter stopped by. She teaches geography at the school on this block. They talked and I took a nap. I stood on the sidewalk for a bit and watched the kids going home from school. There were a couple street dogs, ones trotted right past me on the sidewalk as though I were just another light post or chair. The other ran around the teenagers walking home. Some people do have pet dogs. Tere had a boxer.

About 2 we ate lunch. The dreaded chicken legs in tomato rice, and black beans. Plus a corn tortilla. The fact that Tere didn't eat the chicken with me made me very nervous. That was two hours ago and I'm still here. There were also a few cucumber slices that had been siting on the counter in a container since yesterday. I tried one and it was very bitter! I decided not to have another...until she offered, then insisted, that I take another so we can wash the container. I mentioned how bitter it was and she said "OH! I put lemon juice on it." Phew. Learning.

There are certain towels for certain things. I was using the dish drying towel for drying my hands, so she got me a different one for that. There are kitchen towels, furniture towels, and outside towels.  I also learned that I have to drink milk out of a mug, because it makes glasses smell bad. When I was in Costa Rica, they also had these certain ways to do things but I didn't care. Now, I am making it my mission to use the right cup, the right broom, the right towel. It's funny though because certain things that I think matter, she tells me not to worry about. For example, closing the door between the house and the garage isn't a big deal--no A/C. And I SHOULD wear shoes in the house. These are two habits I have to change for sure. Learning.

We're going to mass this evening I think. Then dinner (Ham, mayo, wheat bread sandwich). We don't have to was dinner dishes until after breakfast though. Tomorrow I'm going with her to go shopping in Xalapa with her sister. She said I don't have to go because it will be boring, but I said I want to learn and see everything.

Two birds flew in one door and out another this morning. I was startled and she just laughed. Learning.

More about the house and garden later.

Comment if I'm writing about stuff you don't care about, if you want to read more or less about something. 

Travel and arrival

This morning, Scott graciously took me to Eppley at about 4:30. I checked in and he walked me to security. I know all the rules for the TSA so that was easy.
I got to the gate about 20 minutes early, no problem. Flight was scheduled to leave at 6. My flight to Mexico from Dallas was scheduled to leave at 8:50, with the doors closing at 8:40 and no one in entering after that. (Pay attention to the timing, it's important.) They say it's 2 hours from gate to gate between Omaha and Dallas.
Due to lightning yesterday (5/10/2017) morning in Omaha,  I didn't leave Omaha until about 6:25. Now our flight got to Dallas a little bit early, but I didn't get off the plane until 8 20--And this was after saying "excuse me, excuse me, my flight is boarding, excuse me" and pushing past a whole bunch of people and being super rude. Then I saw I only had to go from gate C28 to gate C11, this seemed so reasonable. The thing about DFW is that it's kind of round so the distance between them was actually a lot. When I was at C20 I heard them make the last call for all passengers leaving to Mexico City. This is when I began to run. Yes, I was one of those people running through the airport. I got to the gate with my lungs burning and a little embarrassed but how hard it was for me. My bag was pretty heavy though, so I'm not too hard on myself about it.

The flight from DFW to Mexico City was less than 3 hours. I watched the movie "Joy" with Jennifer Lawrence and Rober De Niro, and I've been on 5 and 10 hour flights before so it was fine. It was pretty cloudy and I was sitting on the wing, but here are a few shots I got out the plane window, arguably one of the worst ways to take photos.

 

 

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Once I got of the plane, I had to walk like half a mile through this hallway to get to immigration/customs. First is customs where declare if you have anything with you. I didn't have to get my bag checked because there was this sort of randomizer button that everyone pushed at the front of the line. I got green, so I walked right past the luggage x-ray. Then, more hallway an immigration, where a lady asked if I was staying with friends or family or a hotel, and If I planned on traveling inside Mexico. I said "friends"and "yes", then I got my passport stamp and went on through. It was all very orderly and short, but there weren't many people since I picked an early flight. 

I stepped into the airport and had to compose myself for a moment. "Don't be a tourist!" A trip to the bathroom reminded me of some rules--don't flush toilet paper! I went in the stall just after a janitor had left, so I saw the cleanest bathroom ever. Actually, the whole airport was super clean! The floors gleamed like glass. There were janitors everywhere, and they were very polite. There seemed to be a union disagreement between airport workers and some airlines. There were big vinyl signs about how the airlines stole and spent their pensions. Some workers had "I support the union" on their vests. I wonder how that would go over in the U.S.? 

Next I had to buy a ticket for the bus to take me to Xalapa (also spelled Jalapa, pronounced Halapa). I just followed the signs for "Ground Transportation" for a while. The hall was lined with kiosks for every car/taxi/bus company in Mexico I think, very crowded. I found ADO and got my bus ticket. About $33.00 for 4 hour and 40 minutes. Now, I saw bus, but it was really a 12 passenger van. I went where I thought I was supposed to be and walked around a whole bunch being lost, and I finally asked a guy. He said I had to go across the street to the bus terminal...this was a terrifying prospect since it was like 6 lanes of airport traffic to cross...which is why there was a skywalk. Duh. The only scary thing about the skywalk is that the ADA doesn't exist here (obviously) so the slopes of some ramps were insane. Startling lack of handrails as well. Anyway, I made it. A guy put my bags in and I gave in a dollar, that's what the internet said to do. 

There were 6 of us on the van. 
 
The bit of Mexico city I saw was pretty consistent with other big Latin American cities I've been too. Houses with peeling paint or bright colors, sedans and small pickup trucks everywhere. People, bikes, motorcycles and scooters, and dogs all on the streets, very busy. There's great variety in the vegetation. Flowering trees, cactus, aloe, evergreen shrubs. Once we got out a bit farther, it honestly looked like a hillier version of Western Nebraska. Brown grass, short shrubby things, there were a few cactus but not like you might imagine. Some parts looked like the places in Oklahoma where the highway was cut through a hill, leaving red and striated cliffs on each side. I kept falling asleep in startling awake, with pressure in my ears telling me we had changed elevation. Bad afternoon for my neck. 

There were two movies shown on a screen attached to the ceiling at the front of the van. I had to look up the first one: The Might Macs. It was in English with Spanish subtitles. Then we stopped for a bathroom break. I had asked earlier if anyone had some Dramamine, and a nice lady bought some for me at the stop! The, we watched Garfield's Pet Force which was in Spanish and really bad...from what I could hear and understand.

When we got the bus terminal I felt like, "What, here already?" I hopped out and grabbed my bags and found my way to the official taxi ticket stand. He only took pesos at the window, so I had to go out to an ATM to take out pesos. The ATM was after a turnstile, so then I couldn't get back in! I had to go back around an though a metal detector to get back to the taxi ticket window. Finally with my taxi ticket, I went back out the turnstile and out to the taxi line, where a guy took my ticket and told me to get in taxi  940. I rode for about 25 minutes. There were no seatbelts in the back of the taxi, only the front seat. I looked for one, I prefer to wear it! Anyway, we pulled up and I knocked on the door and had to wait 30 seconds or so--I got nervous that I didn't have the right place, or she wasn't home. She did answer though, and I did this weird handshake/hug/air kiss that I really must practice.



When I got here, Maria Theresa was about to leave for mass, May 10 is Mother's Day in Mexico. I got here about 6. She offered to let me stay home and rest and unpack and so I went with that, although I am interested to attend a Mexican Mass sometime while I'm here. After she left, I did a classic "Emily move." I planned on going out to photograph the garden, and the door closed behind me and locked. So much for my rest and unpacking time. She said she would be home a bit after 9. I had over 2 hours to wait. Luckily she had shown me where the switches to the outside lights were. 

Her neighbor Panchito comes over a lot to pick up Tere's food scraps to feed to her chickens. Luckily, she came over around 8:30. Double luckily, Tere had told her about me. She didn't know how to unlock the door and I certainly couldn't explain it to her in Spanish, so she tried a few different doors. I got in! I did have some time to unpack, and here are the fruits of my locked-out labors:

 Polilla grande

 There are these birds all over, it seems that 2 of these guys live here and a dove also, plus some others types that I can hear but not see.

 Giant aloe plant!

 
Tere said she would bring ham and bread and milk home for me to have for dinner. It was nice. The man on the milk box is guapo

She gave me some towels, we talked about what we would do the next day, and I talked to Scott for a few. Around 10:30 I went to sleep and I slept the hardest I ever have in my life!

Eve of my departure to Mexico

Here it is, the beginning of a new blog for the beginning of a new international adventure. I'll leave Omaha tomorrow, May 10th, at 6 a.m. Then on to Dallas, where I only have an hour to get to my next flight, which goes to Mexico City, D.F. (The D.F. stands for Districto Federal, sort of like our Washington, D.C.). From D.F., I will take a bus to Xalapa, Veracruz for about 5 hours. Then to taxi to where I'm staying, Coatepec, a small town just outside of Xalapa.

I've never spoken to my hostess before, but I've messaged her daughters with WhatsApp and emailed them. I have her address and phone number. I should be there by 8 p.m. tomorrow.

Today I did all the last minute things--shopping, mailing, printing, picking up and dropping off, and I got all my hair chopped off.
BEFORE:

AFTER

I got an undercut because I'm so edgy...and also because it's the summer and it's hot and I have a lot of hair! 

That's basically the most exciting thing from today. Next post will be from MEXICO!