So today has been pretty great. I forgot how much I love it here..it is going to be hard going back. I had myself convinced that America was great and that I liked it but now I can see that was just a lie.
I got on my flight to phoenix easily but then we had an extra long delay and I was late to my next flight. They held the flight for me and I ran on just as they were closing the doors. I sat next to this boy who is in my internship.
There is this guy who is a security person from byu who will be with us for our first two weeks here. He has lived in mexico for a couple years. Once we got to the hotel he took us to this taco shack. You just walk in a say how many you want and they slam them on your plate. Then there are just these long tables in the back and like lettuce and gaucamole dispersed randomly throughout the place. I got 6 tacos and a coke for $1.50!!
I sat in this dirty little corner with my plate that is covered in plastic (they cover plates with plastic bags and put the food on top so when you are done you just throw away the bag and give the clean plate back). I started eating these tacos and oh my goodness I wanted to cry! They were amazing!! out of this world!! I ate all six quickly and couldnt believe what I have been missing out on my whole life!! Seriously so good! It was worth this whole thing just to eat those tacos!!
The wimpy boys i am with were only able to eat like 4. By the way there are four girls and 3 boys in this. They will put two of us in each town.
After the amazing tacos we walked around the historic part of the city for a bit. It is so pretty here and the weather is perfect! We went to mass for a bit in this huge gorgeous cathedral. There is so much energy here and so much diversity. I love the atmosphere and had forgotten how much I miss it. We watched some dancers in the street. Now I am back in my room and we are watching princess diaries in spanish. I'm really exhausted.
Tomorrow morning we are waking up early to get fruit platter for breakfast and then we are going to take busses to some anciant ruins and pyramids. We will be there most the day and then we are going to some ballet folklorico at night.
Anyways, I'm super excited to be here! All the food looks amazing and I'm excited to eat all of it. I will probably gain a lot of weight but its for a worthy cause. Those tacos were so amazing!! I think this is going to be a lot more fun than I thought. This city is amazing! and i love being surrounded by latinos again! I feel so at home here!
Also my roommate already got pickpocketed so I will just have to be extra diligent!
Hello all,
After we went to this plaza where they had a massacre in 1968 I think. It was right before the olympics were held in mexico and a lot of the people were upset. They didnt want to hold the olympics because it was expensive and it was the people who would be in debt and working to pay it off the rest of their life. Anyways, they were protesting and causing a scene. So the mexican president was told that if he didnt get a handle on the situation they would hold the olympics somewhere else. It was a week before the olympics were supposed to start and the president devised this plan. He took a bunch of soldiers and police and had them dress as civilians. He then gave them all a white glove. Then they went out into this plaza where the protesters were and they joined them. Then when a airplane flew past (the sign) all of the police or soldiers put on their one white glove so they could identify one another. Then they just started shooting. They estimate that about 400 people died that day. And the next day the plaza was cleaned of blood and no newspaper or radio said anything about it. It was like it never happened. It wasnt until recently that they have been allowed to talk about it. I thought that was an interesting story.
After we saw all these ruins we got home in the evening and I had some enchiladas for dinner. They were kind of weird and I wasnt totally in love. At night we went to this dance show thing. It was at this really awesome opera house that was super pretty. I was a little suspicious of it though since in reminded me of the opera houses in phantom of the opera, mission impossible 5 and Abe Lincolns opera house. Good things did not happen there so I was a little worried. But it was fine. The dancing was cool but I was pretty sleepy and having trouble concentrating. After I had to walk the streets for a bit looking for a pharmacy that was still open (i got a pretty bad sunburn and wanted aloe vera..didnt find any though).
Anyways, I'm pretty exhausted. Tomorrow we are going to some more musuems and famous parks or something. My goal is to find a good tamale tomorrow. That sounds nice. I will try and send like 50 pictures tonight so that I can make more space on my phone. Good night!
Hello all,
So Landes is the guy in charge of all BYU international security and he is here with us in mexico city for these 2 weeks. He reminds me a lot of that dad in Taken so I am in good hands. While he is here there is no need to worry! He doesnt normally come with students to their study abroads and internships but he said he was looking for an excuse to come eat tacos in mexico. He has some pretty fun crazy stories about BYU students in trouble so its been a good time!
Yesterday we woke up bright and early to bus to some pyramids outside of the city. It was this whole aztec city that they uncovered. There were like 30 pyramids in circles and rows and then 2 huge ones! They were as tall as skyscrapers! We walked up and down some of them but it was kind of scary because there was no railing and they were super steep and high up. I had the sensation of falling the whole time. The sun was also pretty strong out there. But it was cool seeing the ruins of this whole city and then the pyramids too! Apparently they have found some treasures in the walls of the pyramid. There is another wall they know there is treasure in but they are not allowed to "discover it" until the president is there to "discover it" and form a nice distraction for some political mishap. I thought that was pretty funny.
This morning we woke up early to watch the soldiers put up this huge mexican flag in front of the national palace. They had a huge marching band and like 100 soldiers participating to put it up. That was nice. I felt very patriotic.
I went to a little panaderia for breakfast in search of bread. I was kind of dissapointed. I was spoiled with the bread in chile (which was straight from heaven) and the bread here is pretty dry and flaky. So I will probably stay away from that.
After we went to a musuem about sur juana. Then we went to this big market place. One part of it they call "prostitute street" because there is a prostitute like every 5 feet. It was kind of strange because its not a bad part of the city at all. There were also families everywhere and it just seemed very out of place. A lot of the girls looked like they were only 13! Its sad.
I love all the colors everywhere. The hills are just covered in cololful houses. We were talking about how first world and third world countries grow. First world countries grow when someone arrives with a new skill. Sqauter communities here in third world countries start in different ways. Mexicos rural areas are shrinking and people are forced to move into the city. But they have no money and no where to go once they get here. So they meet with a member of a sqauter community and get on a list to build a house. They wait a couple years and pay some money and then are told to meet in a certain spot. So like 500 families all meet in an open place at night and are told to build a house before dawn. They all scramble and build something and in the morning a whole new community is there. No one owns the land but there are so many houses and people that the police dont get involved. So thats how mexico is growing.
The politics and goverment here are really interesting.
We went on the metro today. That was an experience I didnt enjoy. I thought the busses in chile were bad. We basically fell onto the metro and it was so packed! Our security hero, Landes, was yelling at us to keep our hands in our pockets to protect our possessions. The moment I got in there I could feel hands going down all my pockets. Luckily my phone was in my purse that I had covered with my hands. It was impossible to see who was doing what as it was so crowded. Everything was sweaty and gross and I felt faint. But even if I did faint i wouldnt have fell down because i was so slammed against other people that i would have stayed up straight. It was unpleasent.
We also went to different art museums today. Art is great and all but I get my fill in a few minutes. We probably spent like 6 hours in art museums. People were ohhing and aweing over different pieces but i thought some of them looked like they had been painted by a pack of preschoolers.
We were supposed to go around 6 to watch them take down the flag but they were late in doing it. I can hear them doing it now (its 11:00 haha).
