Back to Mexico

Dear Blog,

Well, vacation is officially over, as of tomorrow. We got back to Mexico City on Friday and were greeted by smog and traffic...ahhh. It is nice to be able to check e-mail and everything, but it sure was nice to be on vacation.

Let me tell you about some of the highlights of our trip:

1. Watching Monty encounter new (and usually much bigger) animals. I would like to note that before we left, Monty was deathly afraid of a fake cow in the lobby of our building. I don't know why this cow was there, but he wouldn't go anywhere near it and nearly refused to come in the entrance. Well, in Colombia he didn't seem afraid to go near live animals. His first encounter was with a horse, and I think he thought it was an oversized dog cause he tried to play with it. Of course, as son as the horse neighed, Monty took off. He also came face to face with a bull--we all did. As we were driving up the ridiculously windy roads around Aranzazu, we were confronted by a bull (directly in front of our car). Now, there was a man that had a rope around the bull, but it looked like the bull was pulling the man. We were in the car, but Monty decided to bark. I tell you, Blog, I looked into the eyes of the bull and thought he was going to jump on the car or something. And Monty didn't help with his barking. Luckily, the man got control of his animal. Finally, while we were at Juan's family's farm, Monty came eye to eye with a donkey. The donkey was behind a wire fence on a steep hill and Monty was standing higher on the hill and started sniffing the donkey's head. Monty looked so small.

2. Spending time with Juan's family. I really enjoyed getting to know Juan's grandma and aunts and uncles. We stayed with Juan's grandmother, his aunt Rubiela, and his uncle Tomas. His grandmother is almost 87, but I am pretty sure she is in better shape than me. His aunt Rubiela is really sweet and took quite a liking to Monty--she even let him sleep in her bed. His uncle Tomas, who was in a car accident 20-some years ago and suffered brain damage, was highly amused by Monty. He walked around the house talking about "el perro" and really got a kick out of blowing in Monty's face. At one point Monty and Tomas both got out of the house, and Juan's grandmother just screamed, "Se fueron (They left)!" We found Monty down the street and Tomas in a bar drinking coffee and smoking a cigarrette. After everyone returned, we got quite a laugh out of it. Juan's Aunt Mayola also stayed with us for Semana Santa, and she was quite funny too. She walked around in the morning with round hair brushes in her hair so that her hair would dry curled. We also spent a lot of time with Juan's cousins. It was fun to just hang out with them and get to know them better.

(From left to right: Juan's cousin Jorge, his cousin Angela, his uncle Tomas, and his grandma)

3. Experiencing Semana Santa in a small Colombian town. We went to several processions for Semana Santa, and I really enjoyed the experience. On Good Friday, we followed a statue of Jesus with the cross as the priest read scripture. Everyone sang and walked and sang and walked. It was quite moving. We also went to a procession that night. This was after Jesus died, so he was lying down and followed by statues of Mary and Mary Magdelene and some disciples. It's really cool how they sort of re-enact the whole story.

4. Taking naps and eating. It seemed like all we did some days was take naps and eat. For breakfast, we ate arepa and cheese. Arepa is basically grits in the form of bread--that's what I think. The cheese was so good too. We also drank coffee or hot chocolate...yum. Lunch and dinner always included a soup, rice, some sort of meet, a salad and dessert. Plus, they loved to bring us snacks throughout the day. With all that food, who wouldn't want to take a nap the entire afternoon?


Well, it's good to back, Blog. I'll write to you again this week.

Take care,
Jenny en la ciudad (once again)