Much overdue travel log

Well I am back in Tuxtla, safe and sound after an amazing week of traveling and relaxing.
Katy and I began our journey on Monday evening when we boarded a 10 hour night bus to Oaxaca city. A few days earlier when we went to buy our tickets we decided to splurge on the platinum bus which was a little bit pricier but definitely worth every peso. Upon our initial arrival we were given complementary beverages and eye masks to make for sleeping ease. As I sat down in my seat all my nerves about being on a bus for that long were wiped away in the cloud-like feeling of these super reclining chair/beds. As soon as the bus took off we were swept away in to the darkness and comfort of one of the most delightful traveling experiences I have ever known. (note: there may be a slight tone of exaggeration in this description but just know this journey far surpassed any of my expectations of a 10 hour mexican bus ride).

We arrived in Oaxaca City and quickly caught a cab to our hostel. We were a little nervous when the cab driver took us far up in to the hills of the Oaxaca but were very pleased when we arrived at our hillside hide-away. The whole set up was so peaceful and lovely, nestled in the hills surrounding the city, filled with hammocks, lush trees, a pool, and even a trampoline.









We took a quick rest and then headed out to explore the city. Our first stop was for food, we found a delightful little french bakery/restaurant where I had ginger-pear pancakes which were mouth watering, to say the least.

Then we continued on our venture and saw many lovely churches, historic buildings, a nice little center and also did some serious shopping. Some of my best purchases included a hammock and lots of little artisan trinkets, definitely money well spent. After we burned big enough holes in our pockets we ate a delicious authentic Oaxacan dinner and then went home to relax. The next day we got up and did a bit more exploring before we caught a bus at 2:00 for Puerto Escondido.

It would be the understatement of the century to say that this bus ride was nothing like our first bus experience. This bus ride was a few hours shorter however the bus was significantly smaller and the roads were hilly, windy, and filed with potholes. The whole trip was supposed to take 8 hours but because of the condition of the roads (due to all the rain) it ended up taking almost ten hours. While many of the views were spectacular (being that we were so high up in the mountains) many of the views were also quite depressing (being that we were in one of the poorest and most rural parts of Mexico. Overall it was quite a journey and we were extremely relieved to make it to our destination- the quaint oceanside surfer town of Puerto Escondido.
Our time in Puerto was mainly spent lounging on the beach, paying in the ocean and eating delicious food. I honestly cannot say enough good things about this little town. It felt like the kind of place you would go to on vacation in your twenties and end up falling in love and raising little surfer babies and staying trapped in this paradise for the rest of your life (I say trapped like its a bad thing). Anyways, it was a beautiful town and an overall amazing vacation!
Here are some more pics from Puerto:

My first Quinceañera and Mexican style hot chocolate

ahhh yes it's time for another post and I am just brimming with things to say about this crazy Mexican culture I am living in...

I went to my first Quinceañera last weekend (for those of you who don't know this is, it is a Mexican celebration for a girls fifteenth birthday which according to them means they have come of age) and what a Quinceañera it was. Katy tutors the children of the mayor of Tuxtla and this was for one of his children so to say that it was posh would be the understatement of the century. We were told the festivities began at 8:30 and were running pretty late so we didn't end up getting there until a little after 9:30. In America this might be considered rude and unacceptable to show up to a party over an hour late but in Mexico we were right on time and one of the first party guests to arrive. The venue was located at the highest point in Tuxtla so it was quite a beautiful view of all the city lights and the inside was decorated to the nines, resembling a celebrity wedding straight from the pages of us weekly. It was quite a sight to watch the hoards of Tuxtla's finest fifteen year-olds parade through in there fanciest attire. We frequently found ourselves saying things like "I cant believe there mother let them out of the house in that!" and trust me you would too, lets just say I have never seen dresses so short and heels so high. Katy and I sat and took it all in for a bit and it wasn't until 11:00 that the guest of honor even arrived. At this point we joined the adults for some delicious food and beverages. Luckily there was a table open so we didn't have to do any spanish hob nob-ing but got to just enjoy each others company at our fanciest Mexican adventure yet, so fun!

I have also recently started tutoring for one of the families at my school. There are three girls and they are all really sweet so it is a very easy job. Last night I was over at there house for our bi-weekly session and it was a particularly hot evening here in Tuxtla. Were just going along reading a book when the families "muchacha" (the mexican hybrid of a cleaning lady, cook, and nanny, most semi-wealthy families have them) came in the kitchen. She started making something on the stove that suspiciously resembled Hot Chocolate but I couldn't believe my eyes considering the 90 degree weather. A las it was true and she cooked up some gourmet hot chocolate for two girls and one melting american. I took a sip of the hot beverage and somehow was able to overlook the extreme temperature confusion because of the incredible taste. it was a crazy experience that would definitely only happen here in Mexico.

School is going pretty well, although everyday is exhausting in a brand new way there are always silver linings to get me through the day. I have a little chuckle whenever I look back at the time when I interviewed and they told me that my minimal spanish skills would be no problem. While it is not the end of the world it definitely makes things much more challenging considering that the majority of the staff at the school speaks only super speedy spanish and not a lick of english. So whenever someone comes to my classroom to deliver a message or get a student or something it usually turns in to a pretty funny guessing game where my first guess is usually lice checks (we have those ones a week). This happened last week where someone came in my room and asked to tell the students something so they came in and were rambling on to the students about something I couldn't understand which then caused the students to start messing with their hair so I assumed it was the weekly lice check but then as he took the kids out of the classroom and we started walking across the school I realized maybe this was something different. To my surprise it was picture day and the students were fixing there hair for there pictures, it's moments like these when I wish i could fast forward my brain and become fluent tomorrow, we'll see about that. Until then I will just keep pretending I know what's going on in this crazy country.

Speaking of this country, Mexican Independence Day is next week and we have tuesday, wednesday, thursday, and friday off of school because it is the bi-centenial celebration. Katy and I are planning a trip to Oaxaca and Puerto Escondido so I am so so so excited about, should be pretty amazing!

on the eighth day God created the nutella calzone...or something like that

As you can guess from my lack of blog posts, the past two weeks have been completely nuts!!
I cant believe that we are already two weeks in to school and I officially know all of my 37 students names (a task that seemed impossible on the first day). I mean it's hard enough learning student's names ever but learning students names in Mexico is three times as heard because every student's name is about three times as long. Anyways, it feels like quite an accomplishment to finally have them down, not to mention it makes classroom management that much easier. Overall school is going pretty well. I am sure I am not the first person to say this, but I had no idea how exhausting being a full time teacher could be.

I was talking to some veteran teachers about how by the end of the day lately I have just been feeling like I want to sit at my desk in complete silence and stare at nothing for approximately two hours. They said this is completely normal and if you can make it at our school, apparently you can make it anywhere. There just something about teaching a full english curriculum to two different groups of students who all speak limited english with very few breaks that simply sucks the life out of you. Let's just say it is going to be a very challenging first year of teaching. However some of the kids are pretty great and I am already starting to see that they are what makes all the stress and exhaustion worth it.

In other news, I had the wonderful opportunity to take a little trip this past weekend with Katy and our other friend Nikki up to San Cristobal, which is a little city up in the mountains, about an hour away. We were all feeling quite exhausted after our first week of teaching and decided we needed a little time away. So we left Saturday around noon and after an hour long bus ride where I was only mildly fearful for my life we ended up in one of the most beautiful little cities I have ever been in. It was crazy that it was only an hour away because it felt like we were in a different country. San Cristobal is much more picturesque then our city, Tuxtla and is filled with historic buildings and European-esque pedestrian streets. The restaurants are incredible and there are a few amazing french bakeries. It is very touristy and has many more white people so it was nice to not feel like the minority for a little while. The shopping is amazing and I definitely know where I will be buying all of my christmas presents. It also was sort of crawling with hippies (Especially American ones) and seems to be where you would venture to if you wanted to spend your life walking barefoot with dreads and speaking spanish. We spent all day saturday just strolling around and then ate a delightful little Italian restaurant where I indulged in a pizza, wine and (get this) a nutella calzone...basically top five best meals of my life! Overall it was a wonderful little getaway and I am already looking forward to going back.

That's about all the blog-worthy things that have been going on over the past two weeks. Sorry it took so long and I am going to try to be more regular with my posts. Also I am still trying to figure out a way to post my pictures that doesn't take an hour so until then I will be just put them on the facebook, hope thats not too inconvenient.
Hasta Luego!