The Big Catch-up Part 3

Days in México: 294

After the eventful week of partying to finish October and start November.

For my host mum's birthday, we went to Mount Marlintzi which is the mountain that sits between Tlaxcala and Puebla. The date also corresponded to exactly 9 months in Mexico for me! The peak is the sixth highest in Mexico and I reached the 4000 metres above sea level mark before having to turn back because of difficulties with the pressure. We took two horses with us up the mountain and I rode one most of the way up because I had troubles breathing in the thin air but I walked almost the whole way back down. I had to wear 10 layers of clothing because it was freezing cold. The view was amazing and we were looking down at the clouds, it was breathtaking! We went with the grandparents and some family friends so Papá continued up the mountain with the friends and brought us back a mountain rose, a special type of flower that only be found growing above the altitude of 4000 metres!

4000m above sea level

Jazmín on a horse

The peak from the camp. The top isn't visible because it is covered in clouds

Keeping warm

The mountain rose

The weekend after was the beginning of the Central American and Caribbean games. All the schools in Veracruz were given the afternoon of Friday off to avoid the traffic of the opening ceremony. I didn’t go to the opening ceremony but friends who went to the event said it was really good.

On the Saturday I caught up with Carla. I met Carla when she went on exchange to Australia last year and I haven’t seen her since she arrived back in Mexico four months ago. Since coming back, her family has moved to Veracruz (the same city as me!) We went to her family’s restaurant which serves traditional food from Oaxaca (the state to the south of Veracruz.) I ate grasshoppers which are commonly found in Oaxaca and taste kind of like salted cashews with a bit of chili. It wasn't a bad experience and I would happily eat them again.

Grasshoppers

Carla and I

The Central American and Caribbean games finished last night and Mexico ended in second place behind Cuba. In the past two weeks I have been to the swimming, synchronised swimming, artistic gymnastics, woman’s basketball, men’s basketball and water polo. Most of the events I went to with my family except for the men’s basketball which I went to with my exchange friends. I was able to go to a lot of events because the Governor of Veracruz cancelled school for everyone in the state for a week because of the weather and because of the games. It has been a great opportunity to see live sports and meet people from all over the world. When I went to the movies to watch the latest Hunger Games, I talked to the people sitting behind me who were participating in judo and were from the Bahamas. And last week I went out with some friends for dinner at the same restaurant as the men's basketball team from Puerto Rico, so I got a photo with them. 

Mexico vs Panama in basketball

With the exchange students at the basketball

With the team from Puerto Rico

Because I had time off school, I was able to cook for my family. I cooked a spaghetti bolognese which is a recipe my biological mum has been cooking for almost two decades. It has lots of vegetables in it and is really filling. At first Roberto said he didn't like it because he could see some vegetables but then I said 'how can you say that you don't like it when you haven't even tried it yet!' So after about 5 minutes of staring at the food, he ate a bit and then didn't stop until it was finished. I then asked him if he like it and he said 'no, I love it!' So I was really happy that a seven year old boy who hates vegetables loved the vegetable packed meal that I made.

Lots of vegetables

Roberto loved it

On the 19th of November I had my presentation for my Rotary club. It was a combined meeting with the Veracruz South Club. It was really important because they haven't hosted or sponsored any exchange students before. My presentation was about my life in Australia and my experience on exchange. It went really well I received lots of compliments. It was my last Rotary meeting that I will have in Mexico because I will be travelling a lot in my last month and a half.  

My last Rotary meeting in Mexico

Tacometre (taco count): 261!! 

I’m aiming to reach at least 300 by the time I leave Mexico. I went to a taco buffet the other day. I have been there before in May and ate 7 tacos the first time I went but this time I managed to eat 14! They were small and I didn't eat anything else for the rest of the day.

The Big Catch-up Part 2

Days in México: 275

Friday the 24th of October was an interesting day. I went with my school year group to the Tecnológico de Monterrey campus in Cordoba, a city about an hour and a half south of Veracruz. The university is new compared to most of the universities in Australia. We listened to talks from past students and talked to the tutors about the courses we want to study. It is a beautiful university and I had fun with my friends and catching up with some of the other exchange students who live in Cordoba and go to the school that shares some of the facilities. I want to study international or public relations and would like to do another exchange in university to a Spanish speaking country.

The university

On the bus with school friends

The next day I caught up with my first host family. We had lunch and saw the movie 'The Judge' which is a movie that I really enjoyed. It was so nice to spend time Mamá, Papá and Diego again. I do miss them but at the same time I am comfortable living with my current family. It felt a bit strange not having Dany with us to complete the family but she is now on her exchange in France.

Lunch with my first family

The last week of October was really busy! Día de los muertos is the Mexican traditional day to celebrate the dead. It is a really big event and I had parties on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights to celebrate it.
On Thursday night I went to a costume party hosted my the Villa Rica Rotary club. I had traditional Catrina makeup and a bright orange flor de muerto (flower of the dead) in my hair. It was the most popular costume idea and over half of the people at the party were Catrinas.
   

Lots of Catrinas

Another tradition is preparing an alter for the dead. They are decorated with flowers, skulls, food, drinks (normally with alcohol), candles and pictures. An alter was prepared at school and everyone was asked to submit a name of a family member who has passed away, to create a memorial.

The alter at school

All the names of the relatives

The name of my Oupa (Dad's dad)

Luckily classes were cancelled for Friday because that night I had 2 parties; a prefiesta with my school year group and a Halloween party afterwards.
The prefiesta was a pool party and arrived at the same time on a tram. It was a lot of fun and hopefully there will be another prefiesta before I leave in 2 months.

The tram

With friends at the prefiesta

The Halloween party was a costume party so I wore my costume my Hawaiian girl costume from the Colonial Night back in March. Most of the other exchange students from the city were there as well so we had a good time.

With friends from Brazil, Turkey and Japan

On the Saturday night my family had friends over and we had a little party. I was in charge of decorating the alter for the dead with some help from Jazmín. We had flowers, colourful paper cut-outs, candles and sugar skulls. One of the foods that was served was manzana con chamoy which is basically a Mexican version of a taffee apple but it isn't as sweet and is covered in chilli. The first bite was probably the worst because I didn't get any apple, only chilli but it wasn't too spicy.

The alter

Sugar skulls

Manzana con chamoy 

The Big Catch-up Part 1

Days in México: 267

The past couple of week ends have been crazily busy with Rotary commitments and travel so this week I am in Veracruz and am having a catch-up week for my blog and paperwork for Rotary. This will be the first of two or three catch-up posts.

On Saturday the 11th of October all the exchange students in the city went to a conference for the Centeral American Games and Rotary. We were presented one by one with our country's flag. There were so many people taking photos that we didn't know where to look! After the conference we had a group photo with the mascots of the games and then we ate breakfast.

In the conference

Photos with the mascots

Sunday the 12th, all the exchange students were invited to a pool party hosted by the Rotary club Liberdad (Liberty.) We had a great time and it was good to meet some other people that were involved in Rotary in the city.

The weekend after I went to Puebla for a trip with Rotex. Ten exchange students from my city went by bus on Friday, stayed overnight in Puebla then traveled with 90 other exchange students to Cuetzalan (about 4 hours by bus) in the morning. I Puebla I stayed in a house with four other exchange students and one Rotex (an exchange student who went on exchange last year.) The weather in Veracruz (my host city) is warmer than the other states close because it is a sea level and lots of the other cities have a higher altitude. So it was nice to have some cooler weather for a change.

Cuetzalan is in the clouds. On the way up the mountain we could see a waterfall 

The first activity for the weekend was going to a waterfall. The water was freezing so not many people went in to the water but I did because I knew that I might not the get the chance to do it again. I even swam across and climbed on the rocks behind the waterfall. It was a really great experience.

Everyone at the waterfall

I made it to the other side of the waterfall! I'm at the top in the pink bikini

In the afternoon it was raining a lot so we had free time. When the rain eased a bit I went out exploring Cuetzalan with some of my friends. It then started to rain even heavier while we out and we returned to the hotel saturated!

The exchange students walking the streets of Cuetzalan with their suitcases

The church in the centre of the city

It started raining so heavily while we were out that rivers formed in the streets

The street that the hotel was on

At night we went to the Lienzo del Charro el Potrillo which is a restaurant that puts on a show while you are eating. The performers in the show did some dancers and some other bits in traditional clothing.

On the Sunday we woke up late then went to Yohualichan, an archaeological site that has pyramids. We spent about an hour taking photos and walking around before heading back to Puebla at night. We stayed in the same houses as Friday night which made me feel comfortable.

Rotex

Flags: USA, Australia, Ecuador, Brazil, Finland, Germany, France, Taiwan, Turkey, Denmark, India and Hungary

For dinner we went out and ate tacos árabes which is a food typically eaten in Puebla. The tacos were really delicious and reminded me of Turkish kebabs but unfortunately a couple of hours later mine didn't stay in my stomach. No one else had problems with the tacos, just me.

The exchange students in the house in Puebla

Tacos arabes

The next day I caught the bus back home with the other exchange students from my city and caught up on sleep.

On the bus back to Veracruz