Steve's Visit to Mexico and an Adventurous Spring Break

What a couple of weeks! Steve arrived in Mexico City on March 20th for a week-long visit, which of course flew by, but we managed to make the most of our time! We spent Sunday in the city visiting the historic district and meeting up with some of the Fulbrighters for drinks in the Torre Latinoamericana, which boasts incredible panoramic views of the sprawling city.


We then headed to the Ballet Folklórico, which Steve was initially less than excited about, until he realized that it's much more of a Mexican version of Lord of the Dance than a traditional ballet. The next three days were spent in Toluca, where Steve accompanied me to work and taught my students about the proper medical terminology for different limbs while discussing an article about racism (he's a natural). Though Toluca isn't exactly a hot-spot tourist destination, we still managed to enjoy the beautiful botanical gardens and some delicious food (and let's not forget a memorable trip to Wal-Mart).



On Wednesday afternoon we left for Puebla to experience firsthand the birthplace of mole and the Mexican revolution. Can you guess which of the two Steve was most taken with? We spent Wednesday evening and Thursday strolling around the beautiful colonial city and visited Cholula, a nearby city that claims the world's largest pyramid by volume on Friday morning. On Friday we bused back to Mexico City to visit Coyoacán, Chapultepec park, and eat the most delicious tacos Mexico has to offer. Not to mention an amazing house party at Cammie's house on Friday night and Steve's birthday on Saturday! For his 24th we went for round 2 of Mexico's most delicious tacos, and I'm not exaggerating. Despite my wishes, there was no grand mariachi band to properly mortify Steve on his big day, but I think we managed to have a great time celebrating nonetheless.



After a sad goodbye on Sunday morning, it was time to begin Phase II of Spring Break: turn Renée into a cow-shit lovin' hippie. The transformation began with a bus ride to Guadalajara on Monday night and a 3 hour dirt-ridden drive to a pueblitititititititio (with roughly 10 people) where we'd be helping to build an adobe house. The contractor we worked for, Levi, grew up on a nearby commune and was beginning to build 100% biodegradable houses that invoke the Mayan spirit and are ALL NATURAL (phrase of the week).

On Tuesday morning we drove to the job site where we began what would be our task for the next few days:

STEP 1: Grab a handful of the cow shit mixture.


STEP 2: Smack it against the chicken-wire enforced straw wall and smear.



STEP 3: Continue and repeat as needed.

That's right, my friends. I barehanded cow dung. Toto, I don't think we're on Long Island anymore. It was actually a pretty cool experience, despite the pungent fragrance. Levi liked to refer to it as a spa experience. I was on board until I literally was pouring blood and swear into the project and began to wonder what sort of cow-dung born blood diseases I might be extracting. Having grown up around construction workers, electricians and plumbers, it was definitely an eye-opening experience to see such an alternative, natural approach to building a home.



One of our highlights of the trip was getting to know the workers on the job (who went by Chewy, Kilin and El Negro...amazing) and learning more about the little town we were staying in. It was pretty empty and there wasn't a young man to be found, as most of them work in the States half the year. Since we were technically WWOOFing (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms), our work was exchanged for housing and meals, and our gracious host Cheli made us some incredible home cooked Mexican deliciousness. Mornings that begin with café de olla, homemade tortillas and beans can never go bad.



On our last morning, we went to one of Kilin's farms, where he grows garbanzo beans. When we arrived at 6am to what seemed like an endless field overrun with bushels of garbanzo, it looked like we were in for a day of pain, but just 2 hours later we looked up to realize that the sun had risen over a newly barren landscape (although we can't take too much credit, 3 of the guys with us were MACHINES). With that, I had spent my first half of Spring Break rubbin' some dirt in it and actually enjoying it! (Much to Cammie's surprise).






Our last few days of our break were spent camping in Sayulita, a small beach town about 30 minutes from Puerto Vallarta. Sadly enough Andy and I had to say goodbye to Cammie (who headed back to Mexico City), while we met up with our friends Nico, Jairus, Ale and her friends from San Luis. Our days were spent lounging on the beach, drinking beers from 12-12 and eating the original Chocobanana (kind of a highlight). It was a pretty magical place and not a shabby way to end my weeks of adventure.

Once again Mexico, you never cease to amaze me.

Abrazos!