Finally Here
I woke up this morning around 7:00 with a slight disorientation of where I was. After a minute or two of recalling what happened yesterday, I proceeded to jump in the shower and get ready for my first day in Mexico. I awoke before everyone in the house, besides Ale who had to be at work at 8:00. She works for the TEC as a prima. In Spanish the word, primo/a, means cousin. As Carla explained to me later in the day, they refer to these people as cousins because they are a group of people around the ages of 19-23 that help the host kids with adjusting to their new home in Mexico and answer any questions that the host kids have. After Brett and Hugo woke up, Hugo decided to cook Brett, Hugo, and myself a Mexican breakfast. For breakfast this morning, we had scrambled eggs, refried beans, and a salsa with potatoes, chilies, and onions. After breakfast, Hugo took Brett and I to the TEC. Experiencing the driving in the day was different than at night, because during the day, it was like Chicago rush hour with no rules. There were motorcycles weaving in and out of lanes, staggered cars making their own lanes and driving on the shoulders of the road, countless amounts of topes (Topes are the name for Mexican speed bumps), and constantly being cut off and cutting people off from entering a lane. What surprised me the most about all of this is that everyone was so tranquil about everything. There was no road rage or excessive honking; this is just the way it was. Hugo went on to tell us that this was nothing compared to Mexico City. He told us that he has been driving for thirty some years and he never drives in Mexico City. I can’t even imagine the traffic there. I am hoping to make a trip there sometime before I leave. Once we arrived at the TEC, we met up with Ale and some of the other primos (Katrina and Loni). After a couple hours of chilling and talking, Katrina and Loni took Brett and me to Sorianos(A local store equivalent to Wal-Mart). Here I bought my new Mexican phone for $200 pesos. It is a very basic phone but it only cost $20 USD with only $.04 USD per minute. After we left Sorianos, we headed back to the TEC to meet up with everyone, but when we arrived all of the primos had to work so Brett and I decided to walk to the telephone store (TELCEL) in order to activate my phone. No luck getting the phone activated though because I needed to bring my passport in order for them to process it. After that, Brett and I walked back to the TEC and gave ourselves a tour of the campus. The campus is huge compared to Bradley’s campus. I will give more details about what all is on the TEC’s campus once I explore the campus a little more! Hugo came and picked Brett and I up from the campus a little after our tour and we headed back to the house for a siestacita (Spanish for short nap). Around 4:00, Brett, Carla, Hugo and I gathered around the table for lunch. Lunch consisted of rice and corn, pork, some vegetables, and of course some tortillas. I have to learn how to cook authentic Mexican food before I leave; if not that then I am definitely buying some local cookbooks to bring back to the States. After dinner was over, everyone relaxed until around 6:30. This is when we left for the Centro! The Centro is the historic (sort of downtown) of Queretaro. The Centro is absolutely beautiful and incredible. I wish I could stay in the Centro for weeks. I will definitely go back there once I have my camera and get a whole album of it. Hugo, Carla, and Ale told us the history of different parts of the city and explained how it developed into how it is today. The Centro is a very religious place and it used to be a center for monks and other holy people. (There are over a dozen catholic churches and convents located in the Centro.) It is also a city of shopping and the arts. There were countless stores lining the narrow streets of the Centro. While we were passing by an outdoor band performance, we ran into Hugo’s uncle. Hugo’s uncle lived a couple blocks away in the Centro and after talking with him for about 20 minutes, he invited Brett and I to come stay with him and his daughter some night where we could really experience the night life. After a while of walking around the city, we decided to stop for dinner; we found this Irish bar/restaurant called Wicklow. This bar reminded me of a typical Irish bar in the States. There were sports on all the tvs and the walls were lined with different signs and other memorabilia. We found a table that had couches lining it and decided to have a relaxed dinner. Hugo and Carla ordered two large pizzas and a round of huge 32 ounce Indios. Indio is a dark beer that originated in Mexico and is made by the brewing company Cervecería Cuauhtémoc-Moctezuma. It was a very smooth and delicious dark lager. The alcohol in Mexico is moderately cheap, especially the tequila. After we finished the pizzas and Indios, we started to head back to the car to return home. On the way home we passed by a group of dancers who were doing a coordinated dance in a circle around a drummer. We returned home and after a bit of talking, we first full day in Mexico was over with. 43 more days left.
JardÃn Zenea
Topes
Indio
Wicklow
