Back in the States

Well, here I am, back at my parents house. I'm glad to be home and see my family, but I still feel like I'd prefer to be in Mexico. Not that I didn't miss my family here in the states, but I just wasn't ready to come home yet. But it's cool, I'm sure I'll get used to it again. I spent my last 2 days of the trip in Mexico City with my family. I'd say that was the highlight of my entire trip. I can't believe I hardly knew this part of my family before cuz we're so close in relation, and I clicked with them right away! They like to joke and have a good time and are all very close. I admire that and I hope that we'll keep in touch often. I hope this next year goes by fast, because I am anxious to get back to Mexico. Here are a couple pictures of my family...yes, I know...our family breeds good lookers :-)


(Fernando, me, Ana Maria, Ana, Cesar, Alfonzito)


("The Handsome" & me)

Final Weekend in Queretaro

(Queretaro)


(The Aqueducts that run across the entire center of Queretaro)

Well, the ultimo days are here. I have my final exam tomorrow, then gonna go buy my bus ticket to Mexico City. I'm going to spend Tuesday night with my family in Mexico City, then they're taking me to the airport on Wednesday. I'm really looking forward to it because I didn't get to spend much time with 'em since I'd been here.
As for the last few days...Friday, I had an absolute blast! Despite coming home much later than I expected, and having a helacious hang-over Saturday morning before San Miguel de Allende...I have to admit, it was all worth it. Misty, Mariela, Steph, and I went downtown around 10:00 Friday night and found this really cool bar on the second story of a historical building, with an amazing few of the plaza and gorgeous fountain in the vecinity. Good music, good beer, tasty pina colada, and a shot of some green apple stuff started off the night. After about 30 min., Misty & Steph's local friend, Josue (Joshua in english), met up with us at the bar.


(Josue)

He is an absolute sweetheart and great company. He just returned to Queretaro from living in Canada for 6 months, learning english, studying, and working. We went to his house, where his sister and some of his friends were having a small party. Who woulda thought that I'd learn the line-dance for "Akey Brakey Heart" in Mexico!? *LOL* It was fun :-). I met some cool people there. It was nice to chat with people who had patience for my lack of speech. All in all, the people I met were absolutely worth the hangover the next day.


(I look entirely too happy in the pic, LOL)

Today, Jess and I went downtown to do a little walking around and shopping. We had a decent breakfast and some yummy coffee (well, chai tea for me). It was nice, we were back at the dorms by 2:30 and hit the books. We studied most of the day until we finally were so burnt out that we had to put it off for tomorrow. Anyhow, those are my "final days in Queretaro" thus far. See you guys soon!
Love,
Sara

Last week of classes

Well, it's finally almost here...I'm heading home in 6 days...no offense to everyone, of course I miss you guys...but I don't know that I'm really all that excited about returning home. I'm excited to see my family, friends, and excited about my trip w/ Kat to Phoenix & Prescott, AZ...but I guess I'm just not ready to leave Mexico yet. I haven't accomplished all that I hoped while being here and I love Queretaro. It's a beautiful city. Funny, how when I left NM to come here in May, I wasn't sure what I'd gotten myself into and was completely opposite of being excited about the experience. However, now I'm extremely appreciative of it, and have fallen in love with the place. If I had the money, the time from school, and was more familiar with class options here...I would [without a doubt] stay here until December.

So about my week...been ok, kinda flying by. On Tuesday Mariela, me, Erin, and Jess went downtown to do some shopping...little did we know 95% of the merchants actually do not work on Tuesdays, haha! Did I mention it was pouring rain the entire time?? *LOL* We had fun splashing through puddles and watching the streets get flooded....all to come back to our rooms (where we'd left our windows open) to find puddles on our floors and a welcoming 'moldy smell'.





Yesterday we attempted Al Centro again, and the weather was great! We got some cool shopping done; lots of little knick-knacks and jewelry, tshirts, etc. However, the best part of yesterday was class...we had a piñata contest with the other exchange-classes. It was interesting, LOL. It was cool, because the intent of the exercise was for us to make these piñatas for charity...they are all delivered to local less-fortunate children, which I think is amazingly cool. Also, we learned some breif history on piñatas...did you know they actually originated in CHINA? Anyhow, we made Alebrijes, which are a mixture of animals in one body....for example: our alebrije was a rainbow colored seahorse w/ turkey feathers, a monkey face, and elephant ears :-). His name was Arcoiris = "rainbow". We actually won 3rd place in the competition and our prizes were these pretty, little hand-made mexican bags. I really like mine :-).




(Ours is the rainbow colored "thing" with big green ears and turkey feathers; next to the frog/ turtle looking thing)



As for today...just class, then went to Soriana with Jess to get bread....funny, we came back with everything else in the store BUT bread, hehe.
Welp, I guess that's it for my excited week...love you, miss you, see you next week.
~Sara

Bernal & Tequisquiapan

Yo fui a Bernal y Tequisquiapan este mañana. Llegamos a Bernal a las 9:30 am. Algunos estudiantes caminaron al volcán (volcano) para sacar fotos, y el resto de nosotros quedamos en el Plaza de Bernal. El pueblo está muy lindo. Yo saqué unas fotos mientras esperando para las tiendas abrir. Había algunos niños (probablamente, tienen 5-6 años) en un viaje en Bernal, y ellos fueron excitado, gritaban "Hello! Hello!" a nosotros; como, fuimos animales de un zoo. Haha, estaba cute (no se la palabra correcta en español) :-D.
Después de Bernal, fuimos a Tequisquiapan. La ciudad es más grande de Bernal, pero quedamos en el Plaza para almorzar y comprar souvenirs. Nada especial hoy, pero tuve un viaje bueno. Me gusta ver lugares nuevos. El próximo fin, vaya a San Miguel de Allende.

Con amor,
~Sara

Quick Post 3

Hey guys, just wanted to let you know to check out both the "Huasteca Potosina" & "Mexico City" slideshows...I added some new pics to Huasteca that you GOTTA check out.

Love ya!
~Me

Ciudad de México (D.F.)

Photos from Mexico City, Teotihuacan, y Xochimilco (By Sara Del Curto & Mariela Cox)


Hola gente! Yo volví a Querétaro anoche. Tuve un viaje muy bueno este fin pasado. Nosotros visitamos las pirámides de Teotihuacan (son muy interesante...hay muchas cosas para ver y aprender, y tuvimos un guía muy inteligente). Después de Teotihuacan, fuimos a la Ciudad de México para almorzar y luego fuimos en un TOUR. Empecó en el Zócalo (una plaza famosa para eventos especiales como, celebraciones de festivos, bailando nativo, protestas, etc.)...fuimos al Palacio Nacional, Palacio de Bellas Artes, el Museo Nacional de Arte, y una catedral famosa (no recuerdo el nombre, pero es muy hermosa con muchas cosas hecho de oro). Nosotros caminamos en la calle "La Paseo de la Reforma" (es la mayor punto de turismo en D.F.). Quedamos en un hotel de cinco estrellas (muy rico...extraño las camas...mi cama en el dormitorio feels como una piedra). En domingo, fuimos a Xochimilco. Xochimilco es un lugar de islas artificiales, donde cabalgamos un bote en el río que fluye por las islas. Mientras en el bote, escuchamos a mariachis y otros músicos talentosos...fue muy tranquila. Después de Xochimilco, fuimos a el Museo de Antropología e Historia (un museo de prehispano... i.e. sobre de Mayas, Aztecas, etc.). El alimiento...todas las comidas fueron buffets con platos mexicanos tradicionales...muy muy rico! Pero no fue bien para mi dieta :-).

OK...el mejor parte de mi viaje fue conociendo mi familia de D.F. No conozco mucha parientes de mi padre, porque la mayor parte de la familia vive en Italia o México...pues, fue buenisimo para conocer ellos. Conocí la primero prima de mi padre, Ana Maria, y la familia de su hija, Ana Maria tambien. El esposo de Ana Maria (la hija) entendió y habló mucho inglés...pues, estuvo más fácil para conversar. Sus hijos habló inglés tambien, pero ellos fueron tímidos :-). Nosotros hablamos casi dos horas! Debo decir, la familia es muy atractiva :-). Deseo que podré ir a la quinciñera este fin de semana en Toluca con mi familia, pero ya pagué $400 por los viajes con el Tec, pues necesito ir con la programa. Pero, está bien porque mi familia estará teniendo una reunión en octubre en Meoqui, Chihuahua. Estoy muy emocionado sobre del ocasión :-).

La última cosa...hay fotos ariba en un exposición.

And for those that don't know what this blog says, just copy and paste it to http://www.freetranslation.com/ . Make sure you select "Spanish to English" in the drop-down menu above the box where you paste the words.

Love,
Sara

Quick Post 2

Hey guys...so here's what's new: I'm leaving for Mexico City (aka "D.F.") at 5:45 am. It should be an eventful weekend. More importantly...I just got off the phone with a cousin I haven't seen in 20 years! I'm sooo excited to see some of my family (that I've never met before) tomorrow. My cousin Alfonzo came to the states when I was ~5 years old. He was in his twenties and used to play soccer for Mexico. That's mostly what I remember of him...I also remember that I adored him! So I'm really excited to get together with him, his mom, and one of his sisters. We're meeting for dinner tomorrow night at my hotel. Next weekend my family is having a quinciñeta in Toluca, Mexico. I doubt I'll be able to make it because one of our group trips is the same day, and I believe we're going to San Miguel de Allende. But if we get back at a reasonable hour, I'm gonna try to go to the party :-). However, if I can't make it, Alfonzo is gonna come out to Queretaro to hang out. I've only got a little over 2 weeks, so I hope there will be time to hang out. Also, my dad mentioned to me last night that my family is having a huge reunion in Chihuahuah in October and our family is planning on going. I'm way excited about that!
Anyhow, I'm gonna finish packing for the weekend and hit the hay early tonight. I miss everyone back home and can't wait to see ya'll...especially the kiddos :-). I heard Jackey's voice today, and I swear...I just know he's gonna look soooo different by the time I return. Darn kids grow up way too fast! LOL. Love ya!

~Sara

PS. For those of you that keep arguing on Facebook that Mexico is not part of North America...and I know it is :-)...here's some links to reference :-D

http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/na.htm
*Central America IS part of North America (there's only 7 continents, Central America isn't one of 'em)
*Mexico is NOT part of Central America (Central America = countries south of Mexico, and north of South America)
*North America = Canada, US, Mexico, and Central America
*Guatemala is NOT part of Mexico
*Now, if you're talking about AGES ago when Central America was under water...then North America ended at the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Mexico...however, in "real-life" it ends at the Isthmus of Panama
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_Mexico_part_of_the_North_America_or_South_America