Hola todos,
I´ve arrived in Cuernava, where I´ll be for the next four weeks. The bus trip here took about 3 hours. Mayte helped me catch my bus and insisted the extra 45 pesos for first class wasn´t necessary. She was right as usual! The bus was very nice, just like a regular charter bus or coach bus. They showed The Queen en español and then some movie that must have been set in Pakistan or Afganistan. It was really difficult to watch - all sorts of badly injured and malformed children, rape, trauma, etc. Ug. I tried to avoid watching it, but it was difficult with the screen right in front of my face! When i arrived in Cuernava, it was pouring down rain and many of the streets were flooded. I finally found a taxi driver who was a little crazy and made all sorts of weird noises. I was sure he was driving me in circles, but I eventually arrived at the home of Victor & Isabel. I think feeling like I was being driven in circles was due to the fact that Cuernavaca consists of a lot of small, bricked, maze-like streets. And LOTS of hills. Puebla is very easy to navigate because it´s on a grid and is very flat. Cuernavaca? Not so much! My Mexican family seems very very nice. Isabel speaks really slowly to me which makes my life so much easier! It´s nice that most of the time I actually understand what she´s saying. From what I can tell, there is more money in Cuernava than in Puebla. Victor and Isabel´s house is quite large and very nice. Most of the homes you see in Mexico that aren´t right in the city are cinderblock and very simple. Many wealthy people from Mexico City spend weekends in Cuernava, so you see very nice homes. Even walking through the mercado this morning is different. People seem to live more comfortably here.
I´m convinced I will gain weight here in Cuernava because I will have three meals a day with my family. Typically, lunch is the largest meal and occurs between 2 or 3 (that´s the same in puebla too). After breakfast this morning I can tell that Isabel is a very good cook and I know I will be enjoying her food! We had some sort of egg dish with chorizo for breakfast. One thing I´m surprised at in Mexico is the popularity of instant coffee! At the bodega (supermarket) in Puebla, they sell very little ground coffee. Most of it is Nescafe instant and already contains sugar or cinnamon or something else. p.s. the bodega is owned by wal-mart...another ugg. they sell lots of wal-mart brand Great Value products. there is a wal-mart in puebla, and we passed another wal-mart and sam´s club somewhere in the middle of mexico. strange. however, travis (at Juconi) did say that wal-mart just made quite a large donation to juconi, so maybe i shouldn´t feel totally guilty shopping there. anyway, wal-mart is everywhere. apparently, the not only own the bodega in puebla, but also another nicer supermarket in puebla, and then also the actual wal-mart.
ok - that´s enough for now! hope everyone is well!
