March 27th (MY 27TH BIRTHDAY!!!)
I find it ironic that this AB trip actually started with the last one. Instead of packing for Mexico I had an hour discussion with Kaleigh who was on my AB trip to DC last year. We talked about her life, her AB trip to Guatemala and threw in a couple games of Jenga for good measure. We were talking about ABDC and how we both knew that these trips wouldn't be the same. Out of nowhere she says that there have been a few times in her life that she could pinpoint as a turning point, but that the day we sold newspapers on the street was one of them. She said she had a conversation with one of the men who was homeless and it made her rethink her decade long dream of going to law school and instead start looking for post-grad service or socially conscious jobs after LMU. This conversation was one of those turning points for me, but more on that later!
I rushed around, overpacked for Mexico (but severely underpacked for any other trip!) and then was off to Jamba Juice to meet my group. Things went fairly well except one of the students (Stephanie) thought that we were leaving Saturday night instead of Friday night! Yikes! Luckily, she made it to LAX with time to spare. We checked in and found ourselves faced with the Mexican equivalent of Adam Lambert at the gate and after nearly an hour wait, we were off! The flight was pretty turbulent and, as always, I couldn't sleep so I arrived to Mexico City pretty blurry-eyed. The Customs process was fine and I got another stamp in my passport that is dated ON MY BIRTHDAY! SO COOL!
AB Familia on the way to the airport
We met up with Sarah the intern from Casa Hoy which was both the hostel we were staying at for the night and the organization that organized our trip. We loaded up onto the bus which was interesting. It was sort of full service so there was a drink service as well as what I could only describe as a bus equivalent to a flight attendant. She had a cute little uniform, did rounds of the cabin and brought me a quite refreshing orange juice mid-way through the trip. The trip from the airport to Cuernavaca was interesting because we had to traverse through all of Mexico City on the weekend which made LA traffic look like child's play. I tried to stay awake as long as possible to see the city and I must say I was pretty impressed. There was a lot of graffiti, but not too much trash and there was literally one park after another.
We got to Casa Hoy, met Gerardo who would be our guide for the week as well as his wife Katy and his daughter who was quite possibly the cutest little girl ever! We all took a nap, grabbed lunch, hung out a little bit and my Res. Life training really kicked in. We had about two hours to kill before heading off to the city so we filled it with get-to-know-you-games, logic puzzles and general awesomeness.
After that much-needed break we were off to the center of Cuernavaca on a completely insane bus ride. It took about 45 minutes, but anywhere else it would have taken about two hours to cover that much ground! There weren't speed limits, but just giant speed bumps about every 1/4 mile. You would think that this could regulate the speed, but you would be mistaken. The bus driver simply sped up to 50-60mph in between the speed bumps, slammed on the breaks, catapulted over the bumps (God help the people in the back!) and then started the process all over again! I'm happy to say that we made it safely to Cuernavaca and our cultural immersion really began!
According to Wikipedia, Cuernavaca was nicknamed the "City of Eternal Spring" by Alexander von Humboldt in the 19th century. It has long been a favorite escape for Mexico City and foreign visitors because of this warm, stable climate and abundant vegetation. Aztec emperors had summer residences there, and even today many famous people as well as Mexico City residents maintain homes there. Cuernavaca is also host to a large foreign resident population, including large numbers of students who come to study the Spanish language.
I would have to say that this was an accurate description of Cuernavaca. The streets are incredibly curvy and windy because they were all build around the rivers and streams of the area. The main center of town had a variety of squares as well as a castle that was erected by Cortez when he conquered the area. It...was...gorgeous! One of the best parts was when we went into a local courtyard and not one but TWO weddings were going on!
Castle de Cortez
One of the weddings and brides we saw. All of the women on the trip were gushing about her gown. The men were immediately bored of the whole thing.
After the tour of the city we spent a little bit of time in the local craft market where we all picked up handmade bags for about $2.00!! We all meandered over to a local restaurant which turned into my birthday dinner, complete with a Mexican birthday song! The group even got the restaurant to bring out a piece of cake and ice cream with a candle and I have to say that I was very happy to be celebrating with students in a foreign country. The dinner was fabulous and we fed 12 people for $65!
Birthday celebration: Mexico style!
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