Bienvenidos a Mexico!

I recently returned from a fun trip to Mexico and thought I would make this a hodge-podge post of some of the things I wanted to share from my trip. 

I left the U.S.A. on Monday morning and enjoyed my stay in Mexico until Sunday evening.  It was a long trip, longer than I usually take for a full-on vacation, but a lot of fun and a wonderful cultural experience!

 I felt a little bit like a foreign exchange student while there because I was staying with a Spanish-speaking friend, Oli, and her family.  I have a minor in Spanish, and I studied it for several years on top of that, but I haven't used my Spanish in so long that I was a bit out of it.  It was a tough transition at first but I got better as the week went on.  I can't say I ever got to a point of speaking freely in Spanish while there, but I did get much faster at thinking in Spanish, listening in Spanish, and trying to respond in Spanish!

I was able to see so many things while in Mexico due to the generosity of my friend and her family and I had a rich cultural exposure to many good foods, cities, historical sites, and "normal" parts of the Mexican lifestyle.  I wish I had taken pictures of the food (which I almost always do, but totally forgot to do on this trip!!!) because it was fabulous! 

I ate some yummy dishes including tlacoyos hidalguenses (a new one for me), pastes, tostadas, barbacoa, enchiladas (several different kinds), tacos pechuga, toratas, rice and beans (one of my favorites), lots and lots of corn tortillas, nopales, crepes, and some of my all-time favorite Mexican treats like manzanita del sol, conchas, cajeta, dulce de leche, and jicama with chile.  Yeah, I probably gained like 100 pounds on this trip.

I was staying in Pachuca but we traveled all around the place all week.  We were in Pachuca, Mexico City, Queretaro, Teotihuacan, Monte Real, and some other small towns I don't remember.  We did a lot of traveling, both by car and bus!  I never have figured out why we don't use public transportation like other countries...

We went to a few museums such as the Museo de Arte and the Museo de Cocina which were both interesting.  Oli and I both like to cook so the cooking museum was really fun and I love modern art so it was really fun to see both a mixture of modern and historic art.

We saw a castle, convents, lots of cathedrals, some statues of importance, a monastery, more cathedrals, historical monuments, and beautiful parks and plazas.  One of my favorite buildings was the LDS temple in Mexico City; massive, beautiful, and so calm and peaceful.

We rode a tour bus, hiked a mountain, and climbed to the sun and the moon on pyramids at Teotihuacan. 

I went to a ward party where I got to eat homemade Mormon-Mom Mexican food (it doesn't get better!) and listened as the members sang karaoke!  I hardly knew most of the songs, although I did know the Selena ones, but didn't have the guts to sing when the people asked me to.  Over and over again.  They really wanted me to "canta en ingles" but I couldn't get up the courage to oblige them, kind as they were. 

All in all, it was a fun, fast, and fabulous trip!  I am so glad I got to take a big trip (the first one I've had all school year) since I have been dying for one!  It was perfect to see an old friend, experience a beautiful culture, and practice a dusty skill.