Confessions of a Mapaholic

I don't know what it is about maps, but somehow they bring my dreams to life. Ever since I was a little girl I have had a world map on my wall, and I can still just sit and stare at them for hours, transporting myself to those far off places through those little black dots on the page. I never quite feel right without one within my sight, and that's why I had to go out and buy a wall map of Mexico this week. I tried not too, telling myself that the little maps in my guidebook should be enough, but- they just aren't. Then for the past couple days I've tried to just keep it folded up, just bringing it out to look at from time to time when my curiosity strikes- but that just wasn't the fix I was looking for either. This morning I gave in, and now it is mounted on my wall and all is right with the world. Well... I really wish I had my little red tacks, but I gotta draw the line somewhere.

I'm pretty sure this renewed vigor for travel planning started when my art professor (finally) gave us our itineraries for our upcoming field trip to the states of Tabasco, Oaxaca, Chiapas and Veracruz. It's going to be from 4/30-5/10, and since there are several holidays in there, I'm only going to miss two days of class! I was so excited that I went and bought my map the very next day and within three hours had the whole route marked out. After an overnight bus ride we'll hit our first ruins- El Tajín, then spent the night on the Gulf Coast on the way to the city of Jalapa. After that we'll be off to Oaxaca City, Monte Alban, and a few other ruins in Oaxaca before we go to San Cristobal de las Casas and the jungles of Chiapas. On the way home we'll stop at La Venta, famous for its giant Olmec heads, and then another overnight bus ride back to Guanajuato. I'm not sure how that all will fit into 10 days, but I'm excited for the adventure!

This weekend was full of many random adventures... I'll try to be brief.

Friday: Los Entremeses Cervantinos- a FREE, outdoor performance of a sampling of skits by Miguel Cervantes. (Guanajuato is known for their International Cervantino Festival, and this is like a mid-year taster...). Absolutely worth the money, and absolutely hilarious!


Saturday: ISA trip to Querétaro, the capital city of the nearby state of Querétaro. Our bus got stopped on the way into town by a parade, so we just jumped off and followed them downtown. It was great. Then we spent the rest of the day just meandering, and I entertained myself by taking pictures. :) Here are some of my favorites from the day...







Sunday: Some homework, then Andrea's (host niece) first birthday party- carnitas and cheesecake, yum! (In the pic, Andrea is the crying one... the other two are Jorge Alex and Sofia-the cousins.) Afterward I finally got to go see a show at the film festival that's been on for the last few weeks. The film I saw was a German-Turkish film called The Edge of Heaven. Really good. (This pic is outside the theater where the film was being played.)



And speaking of movies... I also watched two other good ones this week. My host brother Alex downloaded Slumdog Millionaire and Ghost Town for me right after I got here... at the time I'd never heard of either. I finally got around to watching them this week, conveniently just before I started hearing all the Oscar buzz about S.M. Let me tell you, it deserves all the awards it got tonight. One of my favorites ever. Ghost Town was really good too- really funny.