Yesterday, Jacque and I went with Jacque's brother and friend to San Juan Raya, which is an archeological site up in the mountains. Her brother's friend drove us there in his nice car, and on the smooth roads, we both felt like we could've been in Arizona, except that the mountains here were green instead of brown. We listened to the song "Angels" about five times, and since it was the only one we sort of knew (thanks to David Archuleta's cover), we tried to sing along. Once we got there and failed at negotiating our entrance fee, we got our tour guide and headed off. The first thing we came to was a really shady bridge that reminded me of Indiana Jones. Jacque's brother made sure to rock it so that we had a really difficult time walking across.
The tour guide showed us a lot of cactus and told us about the fruits that it produced, medicinal uses, and other interesting facts that I tried to pick up. This tree is called una pata de elefante, or an elephants foot. They were all over the place, but this one was just the right size to allow us to express our inner tree-huggers.
A lot of the tour was also looking at fossils, but the coolest part was the dinosaur footprint at the end of the tour, preserved in the riverbed. Why I forgot to take a picture, I don't know. It was huge though--three big toes in the dried mud. Supposedly there were more, but that was a different tour and we would have to pay more.
On our way back, we stopped in the city of Zapotitlan and walked up to this strange park. It was up at the top of a hill, and there was a dirty, green pool and "gardens". It was weird because no one was there, except the tadpoles in the pool and a gardener. What we didn't understand was what he was gardening. There were trees, but that was about it as far as plants went. The trees were pretty cool though, all twisted and growing crooked.
By now we were pretty hungry, so we went to this really nice looking restaurant that Jacque's brother's friend knew of. Again, it was deserted, and it looked like they weren't even expecting people. They had to set that table after we sat at it, and they didn't bring us a menu. The hostess was really nice, and I think the restaurant is famous for one thing, so that's what they gave us. There was one plate of palmitas, which are a cactus flower that we learned about on our tour earlier, and another plate of some bigger looking plantish things, but I forget what they were called. We ate them on yummy homemade tortillas like tacos. But, before they brought any of that, they brought us a plate of toasted, roasted, crispy caterpillars.
Anything's good with some salt and lime juice, right?
Standing at the top of a huge set of stairs, looking out over the whole ruin site just made me want to leave the real world, grab a flowly skirt and sandals, and live in the jungle.
Last Thursday, the Discovery Primary and Kinder had a Carnival to celebrate the end of their school year. Our kids performed a Peter Pan skit that we have been trying to practice for a few weeks. Some of them knew their lines really well, but some needed a little bit of help.
We got a bigger, better one a little later one, but this was what we started with. As we all were bashing this mockery of a grill, Teo pointed out that even this tiny thing was an American product. It was a fun party though. Hot dogs with cheese,"spicy" cheetoes, fruit, popcorn with salsa, soda, and most importantly, cheesecake.
A lot of the tour was also looking at fossils, but the coolest part was the dinosaur footprint at the end of the tour, preserved in the riverbed. Why I forgot to take a picture, I don't know. It was huge though--three big toes in the dried mud. Supposedly there were more, but that was a different tour and we would have to pay more.
By now we were pretty hungry, so we went to this really nice looking restaurant that Jacque's brother's friend knew of. Again, it was deserted, and it looked like they weren't even expecting people. They had to set that table after we sat at it, and they didn't bring us a menu. The hostess was really nice, and I think the restaurant is famous for one thing, so that's what they gave us. There was one plate of palmitas, which are a cactus flower that we learned about on our tour earlier, and another plate of some bigger looking plantish things, but I forget what they were called. We ate them on yummy homemade tortillas like tacos. But, before they brought any of that, they brought us a plate of toasted, roasted, crispy caterpillars.
