Out of the Country for the First Time (Mexico!)

NOTE: I have found the wonders of an app (for my iPod) called 360 Panorama. I have embedded a few panoramas that I made into this post. You may already have seen something like this before but if you don't know how it works, all you have to do is drag the picture back and forth to see a 360 view of the places I've been.

I've been on plenty of airplane rides & car trips traveling all over the U.S., but never out of the country. My chance to change that came when my uncle Jeff and aunt Jolyn offered some frequent flier miles to come visit them in Mexico where they live. The fact that I'd never traveled on an airplane by myself, let alone out of the country, scared me slightly. Lucky for me, there were enough miles for both my mom and I, although she would have to leave after a week while I was staying for a total of two and a half weeks. The excitement way outshined the fear so I agreed to this arrangement.

  (Yoga area in the DFW airport. If only we had enough time to stop...)

 (Napkin roses I made for my mom on the airplane.)

I found myself at the KC airport on the afternoon of Tuesday September 11th, which initially weirded me out, but when we were flying over Mexico City later the night after just 3 hours in flight, it didn't bother me anymore. All I could think was "It's so huge! Am I really here? Is this really another a country? ". We made it safe and without complications. I was surprised at how much English there was everywhere but my mom reminded me that we were still in the international flights area of the airport, I'd be seeing plenty of Spanish soon. Uncle Jeff was waiting right outside of customs for us which basically exited into a food court where we went and ate dinner. The drive to where they live was about an hour away. Welcome to Mexico traffic! Doesn't matter what time it is, the traffic is always, well, traffic. Driving in general was entertaining. (See poem I wrote. *next post*) When we got to the apartment, Jolyn and Jeff gave us a quick tour but we were a bit exhausted, so I was glad to go to bed.

(The restaurant we stopped at in the food court after getting off the plane.) 

In the morning we didn't do much but laze around and recover from traveling. This is what the apartment complex looked like.

Views from the apartment.

You can see the Mexico City temple in the distance (like this picture) sometimes when the smog isn't too thick.

JoLyn took us to the grocery store where we saw a whole lot pig heads. There are plenty of strange "foods" but pig heads are mostly sold around holidays like Independence day, which was in a few days.

I also found out that Pandora doesn't work in Mexico.

Thursday morning I met JoLyns friend, Heather, and went running with her for an hour. When she brought me home I had enough time to take a shower before she came back and took us, along with a boy named Josh who was visiting Mexico for a few months, to the Soumaya Museum of Art which is owned by Carlos Slim, the richest man in the world.

The restroom was interesting enough to take a picture.

The architecture was much more exciting than the actual art.

After making our way through the museum we went to the restaurant on the main floor.

In the evening, a family from the English ward picked me up and took me to youth activity night where I met the U.S. youth living in the area and played dodge ball with them.

Friday, mom and I went with Jeff to Chapultepec Park where the Museo Nacional de Antropología is located. There were lots of artifacts from the many places and eras of Mexican history.

As we were already in the park, we walk down a colorful street lined with vendors and then into the zoo to see the pandas. The Chapultepec zoo is one of 16 zoos in the world that house Giant Pandas so Jeff really wanted us to see them.

As we walked back to the car, we walked passed this bookstore that caught my eye. You don't see a tree growing out of a building everyday.

For dinner that night we went over the the new mall next door and chose Olive Garden, the first and currently only Olive Garden in Mexico.

The next morning, we got up and went to the Desierto de los Leones Convent, built in the 1600's. Although it was a little chilly, I didn't want to leave because everything there was so photogenic.

We took a break from exploring the grounds to warm up in the little restaurant with hot chocolate and tamales.

For lunch/early dinner, we went over to Jeff and JoLyns neighbors, the Martieaus. It was a gathering with missionary couples, a mission president, President Johnson of the seventy and their wives. It was amazing to be in a room full of people who dedicate their daily lives to the church. After eating, there was a little lesson given about the history of the church in Mexico.

The last activity of the day was a ward activity celebrating Mexican Independence day which was the following day (September 16th). There was a talent show and a potluck of Mexican food. Unfortunately the four of us were very tired, so we went home early.

Before going to bed, we had a little sombrero photo shoot. Don't forget the mustache!

Sunday we went to church. It was just the same as church at home only in Spanish. Sacrament meeting was fine even though I didn't understand basically anything. But when it was time for Sunday School I got a little nervous. Thankfully there was a girl that could speak English and by the time I got to Young Womens I was feeling quite comfortable. There was one girl that was determined to be my friend and I was perfectly OK with that. Although we couldn't speak very well in each others languages, I found that it was actually pretty easy to communicate even if it took a little longer, which made it fun. It was like a puzzle for us to figure out together.

And now a little bit about seminary. Lest you think this was a vacation, it certainly wasn't just that. I still went to seminary. Sister Martineau is the amazing English ward seminary teacher and was perfectly located in the neighboring apartment. Every morning before the sun rose, I would hop (or maybe roll) out of bed, go down the elevator, out the back door, over to the next apartment, up the elevator and into her living room/dinning room. Since I already knew sister Martineau fairly well by then and had met all the other kids at activity night a few days before, I felt quite comfortable. After the lesson and a yummy breakfast snack (sister M's oatmeal cookies were to die for) we would all somehow crowd into the elevator.

But seminary wasn't finished for me. When I got back, I would go into the office and Skype my seminary class back at home. Although I didn't get as much out of it because the sound quality wasn't the best, it was still fun to see everyone.

In the morning (Monday the 17th), the four of us, along with the Martineaus which made six, all crowded into the car and set off towards Puebla.

Along the way we passed the volcano Popocatépetl which was smoking a little.

While stopped at a tollbooth, we saw two trucks from the U.S. One being from Oklahoma and the other from Missouri.

We stopped in Cholula, located just outside of Puebla, where we met up with the Christensens. Brother Christensen was our Stake President when I was little and is now a Mission President in Puebla. We were so excited to see them! They have only been in Mexico for a few months so they spent the day site seeing with the rest of us.

The big attraction was the Great Pyramid of Cholula also know as Tlachihualtepetl, the translating meaning "artificial mountain". Initially it just looks like a large hill, which where its name Tlachihualtepetl comes from, but it has been excavated so that you can walk inside it. A cathedral was build on top in 1575 after the Spanish Conquest.

After touring the inside, we stopped to admire the straw paintings being sold by a man who was sitting there making one.

But the tour wasn't over yet. We walked around the outside where some of the pyramid is exposed.

There is one flight of stairs exposed that you can run up and down, which I did twice because it was so fun.

As we headed to the path up the pyramid to get to the cathedral, we passed a woman with a bucket of roasted peanuts and another full of fried grasshopper. She held out a spoon with peanuts on it, offering a sample. I gladly obliged. Then she held out a spoon of grasshoppers. We all looked at each other, silently daring each other to try one. Then everyone looked at me. I was about to walk away when I realized this was something that I shouldn't just walk passed without thinking. It was a nice story in the making if anything. Yes, after a little pressure from everyone, I did it.

With grasshopper legs stuck in my teeth, we headed up the steep hill to the cathedral. Uncle Jeff challenged me to a race to the top. I rolled my eyes, let him have a head start and then sped passed him.

After exploring the church and looking out across Cholula, we headed over to Puebla.

While we walked around downtown on the way to lunch, we compared the picture of a cathedral on the back of the 500 peso to actual building and also met some of President Christensens missionaries.

As we walked into the restaurant, this box caught my eye. Basically anything from the U.S. seemed to do that. I think I had some arrachera (super yummy beef) and my mom had a traditional Mexican Independence day dish, Chiles en nogada. A poblano chile stuffed with fruits, vegetables & shredded meat, covered in a white cream sauce, green parsley and red pomegranate seeds, the colors of the Mexican flag.

Puebla is famous for its handmade, hand painted pottery so, after eating, we went pottery shopping. Store after store, full of pottery. When we came to the little factory that makes a large amount of the pottery, we asked for a tour. The guide led us through each room, explaining the long process of making, baking, painting and finishing each and every little piece. This was all in Spanish of course so mom translated the bullet points for me.

We also visited a few more cathedrals including this one that was covered in gold.

 My two purchases from the day: a straw painting and a Puebla dish.

On Tuesday aunt Jolyn took us to La Ciudadela, a market place downtown, where we bought a few souvenirs. I made my favorite purchase out of the whole trip there. It was a Mexican mochila, or backpack, which I have used almost daily ever since. I'll be really sad if/when it wears out. After stocking up on souvenirs (including one of those cool chess boards) we took my mom to the airport and said goodbye. It was official. In just over a week, I would be going home by myself.

Let me mention that Mexico has plenty of Costcos. As soon as I had found this out I had been asking if we could go pretty consistently. So finally that night Jeff and JoLyn took me. I don't know why but I consider Costco one of my happy places so I was very excited to be there.

Wednesday, Heather took JoLyn, Josh and I to the Torre Latinoamericana. Most of it is an office building except for the top few floors where visitors can go up to look out across the city.

We then went to find the shoe museum. Yes, a museum dedicated to shoes. It was a small, literally hole-in-the-wall, room filled with shoes from ancient times to the very latest styles.

And there was a random fun house mirror.

For a light lunch, we tried tacos al pastor. They literally shave meat off that huge spike of meat onto a tortilla and hand it to you. I thought it was pretty delicious.

We walked around for a little longer and went to yet another cathedral after which we got a ride back to the parking garage by bike taxi. I had no idea those even existed.

Late that night JoLyns niece, Bethany, came into town. Thursday was a day for Bethany to recover but a little down time didn't bother me.

Friday morning, as soon as seminary was over, the four of us got in the car and drove for a good portion of the day to Acapulco. We checked into a beautiful oceanfront hotel, got settled and spent a few hours by the pool.

We drove to downtown Acapulco look for a place to eat. While searching, we stopped at this beautiful outlook over a bay.

We finally decided to try Rubens Hamburgers. Maybe I was just extremely hungry or maybe I was tired of Mexican food but I'm pretty sure that was one of the best burgers I've ever tasted. Those Mexicans can cook some exceptional American food!

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at the supermarket for some water (because you don't drink out of the tap there of course), some breakfast bars and some other snacks for the morning. Of course those aren't interesting enough to photograph so I took pictures of the electrical plug hanging from the ceiling and packages of chicken legs.

The next day consisted of swimming in both the pools and ocean, sunbathing by the pool and chilling on the beach. Hard life, I know.

Jolyn insisted that I needed a hammock so she bought one from a vendor that wouldn't leave us alone.

Bethany and I thought this little guy, whatever he is, was pretty awesome.

I'm sure you're just dieing to find out what we had for dinner. Well, it was only appropriate to be next to a large body of water and eat fish. Jolyn asked what type of fish they had so they brought out a plate to show her, which we found pretty hysterical. After our nice fish dinner, we went to the famous cliff diver show. The youngest diver was about 9. Probably one of the scariest looking things I've seen.

For church the next day, we visited a local ward for sacrament meeting.

On the way out of town, we stopped at the bay lookout again.

From that lookout, you can see Señor Frogs. But can you see something wrong the smaller sign?

About half way back to the city, we stopped at the Zoofari. Why wouldn't you want to drive through an animal haven and feed wild creatures out of your window?

At the end of the drive, there is a little zoo. Javelinas and cassowaries aren't animals you see everyday, at least not in the U.S.

And then there was the python. I may be in the minority but holding a snake around my shoulders doesn't even phase me.

And, call me crazy, neither does holding a jaguar. JoLyn and Bethany weren't too sure but Jeff and I were all for it! No I'm not joking, that's a real, live, awake jaguar.

While we were at it, a camel ride sounded nice.

For some reason tollbooths seem to be a good place to see funny things. Pushing your van, why not?

After all the sun that weekend, I had some pretty burnt skin. It left a nice tan for a few weeks though.

Monday we went with Heather and Josh to Xochimilco and went on a canal boat ride while eating pizza and listening to mariachi music.

We spent a few minutes at a market, much like La Ciudadela, where Bethany bought a mochila and a few full sized sombreros. I wanted a sombrero but I knew taking it on a plane would be a slight pain so I got mini one.  

 We of course needed another photoshoot.

Wednesday evening we, along with sister Martineau, met Jeff and brother Martineau at the church office building where they work and walked across the street for dinner. After dinner Jeff and JoLyn put Bethany and I in taxi to go to the Ballet Folklórico at the Palacio de Bellas Artes...by our selves. Yeah just the two of us chillin in the back of a taxi for an hour going to down town Mexico City to watch a show. As you can see, I was quite enthused by this idea.

Thankfully I had seen the Palace of Fine Arts from atop the Torre Latinoamericana a few days before so I knew when we were there. Earlier, we had been joking together about when we'd ever really need to use on of the most famous phrases "Donde esta el baño". We found out as soon as we got into the building and we couldn't find the restroom. We would ask someone, they would point and say something but about all I understood was "izquierda" & "derecha" (left and right). It still took us asking a few people before we actually found it, conveniently located at the end of a long hallway that no one ever walks down. Unless they need to use the restroom of course.

After that adventure, we found our seat a lot easier, although it took a couple attempts to go through the correct door. While we waited for the show to start, we admired the beautiful room with a stain glass ceiling. The show was very enjoyably with lots of colorful outfits and fun dancing. The good thing was that Jeff and JoLyn came to pick us up afterwards. It might have been a little too much adventure for one day if we would have had to get a taxi home.

The next day, we went to an orphanage to play with a whole bunch of adorable children. This was probably my favorite part of the trip. A language barrier was basically non-existent. The few Spanish words that I'm comfortable with was sufficient to communicate with them.

The bubbles were a big hit.

Our second stop of the day was to the Castillo de Chapultepec, a historical museum that was originally a giant mansion for Bernardo de Gálvez, a Spanish military leader.

The view from the balcony was beautiful. I even saw a Tiger Swallowtail butterfly.

For some reason, until this day, I had missed that Chapultepec means "grasshopper hill". That's when I was convinced that the grasshopper world was ganging up on me for eating their brother when I was in Cholula.

A view down Paseo de la Reforma with the statue El Ángel de la Independencia at the end.

The murals in one room were very impressive but until you see someone standing by the wall, its hard to understand how very big they are.

We then strolled through the park and saw some very interesting things. A man fed the tame squirrels of the park, even putting a chip on his head to see if one of the curious creatures would dare to go that far for a snack. We met another man painting in the peace of the park.

When we were almost home, we stopped at Krispy Kreame. 

Teotihuacán was our last outing before Bethany and I left. Uncle Jeff took us two early Friday morning. We got there as the sun was coming up behind the Pyramid of the Sun and many hot air balloons were being launched.

I ran up the first pyramid but that wore me out pretty fast.

I was so beautiful! After the orphanage, this was probably my second favorite place I went.

There were some very well preserved paintings that are a few thousand years old.

Why would someone be walking through an archeology site wearing high heals anyway?

In the room where people we were kept before they were sacrificed, I couldn't help but play dead and stand in the doorway saying I was both dead and alive.

We saw a herd of sheep that included a lamb that looked a bit like a calf.

Jeff showed me where to find pottery shards which I started collecting. There was one area that we found that some shards and lots of fire ants. The ants had worn away a path through the grass.

When we got home, Bethany and I started feeling pretty sick to our stomachs and spent the rest of the day in bed. This kind of scared us since we would be flying home the next day but we felt mostly better by the time we got on the airplane.

We had to be at the airport at 4:30 Saturday (the 29th) morning. For some reason I found this man sleeping under a sombrero amusing. Bethany flew with me to Dallas after which we parted ways. JoLyn spent a long time on the phone on multiple occasions with the airport to get that little arrangement work which I will forever be grateful to her for. Once I was back in the U.S. I felt totally comfortable flying by myself and made it home safely, 10 minutes ahead of time even.

As for the culture shock, it was surprisingly a lot worse coming back to the U.S. Americans are so weird!