Cafe Culture

On of my favorite things to do in Guanajuato is to hang out in one of the various cafes sprinkled throughout the city. It's so wonderful to be able to relax with a cup of hot chocolate or coffee and read a book or simply people watch. My friend Jessica and I are regulars at several cafes, but we also like trying out a new one every so often. Our favorites all have a unique atmosphere, wireless internet, a free bathroom and, most importantly, delicious hot chocolate.

Each cafe has a different personality and different types of patrons. Cafe Carcamanes is a favorite with the university students, probably because they offer wireless internet. The place is decorated with large photos and paintings of Guanajuato and there is a bookshelf full of the classics in Spanish. The Pasteleria La Calle del Sol has a unique idea for tables. They use old trunks and have put a clear glass top over the trunk. Under the glass there are photos and tickets and memorabilia from Guanajuato. This cafe is frequented by more business people than students. Their chocolate chip cookies are incredible and enormous. There is Bagel Cafetin, which serves actual bagels with cream cheese. It is a great break from quesadillas for breakfast, plus they have wireless internet and couches. Every time I've been in the cafetin, there have been a large number of tourists. I guess bagels are everyone's comfort food.

The one complaint I have with the cafes in Guanajuato is their failure to make a normal cup of brewed coffee. They make the coffee in an espresso machine and it usually ends up tasting slightly burnt. To top this off, they never give you milk or creamer, so the coffee is bitter like nobody's business. However, never fear. We have a Starbucks in the Jardin, and they know how to make coffee right.


So while my cafe experience began at Starbucks, it has been wonderful to spend time in the non-chain cafes. I've had the opportunity to chat with the employees and some of the other patrons. I've given advice to tourists about what to see and where to eat during their stay in Guanajuato. It's gotten me out of the house and provided me with a great place to do homework or just chat with a friend. I'm going to miss the convenience and the whole environment a lot when I get back to the States.

El Idioma

As I've been more and more exposed to the Spanish languages and all it's nuances, I've come to see not only how interesting and colorful a language it is, but also how humorous it is. Between conversations with people, listening to my homestay family, and reading for class or for pleasure, I have compiled a short list of some phrases and words that strike me as funny. Many of them do not translate literally, but I will do my best to explain them.

Phrases:
1. "el de los calzones" - this literally translates as "he of the long underwear," but is used to refer to the man of the house
2. "hacer la vista gorda" - literally "make/do a fat face," this phrase is used when someone is looking favorably on someone else
3. "manos de pulpo" - "hands of an octopus," used to refer to someone who touchy-feely
4. "pan comido" - "eaten bread," when something is set in stone
5. "que padre!" - doesn't translate literally but means "that's cool!"
6. "no son enchiladas" - is used when someone requests something with an unreasonable time limit; basically you are telling them that you can't finish whatever in time (enchiladas don't take long to make)

Spanish also has a lot of compound words which are fun:
1. rompecabeza: puzzle
2. parabrisas: windshield
3. trabalengua: tongue-twister
4. sobresaltar: to startle, make someone jump

These are just a few of the phrases and words I've learned here in Guanajuato. I've really enjoyed learning more Spanish and I've come to appreciate just how beautiful a language it is. I know that I still have a long way to go, but I'm proud of how much I've learned in the last few months. It's so wonderful to be able to give a presentation without stressing about verb tenses or vocabulary or carry on an actual dialogue with someone. I hope that over the next month, I am able to see even more improvements.

Cervantino: The Epitome of Diversity

The Annual Guanajuato International Cervantino Arts Festival started this week. It's been crazy. Guanajuato's population has increased significantly over the past few days, and it's noticeable. By about 2 o'clock in the afternoon, the streets are filled with performers and tourists. Walking anywhere has become an incredible task that requires a lot of strategy. Guanajuato has been preparing for this for a long time and it shows. There are new restaurants all over the place, and the ones that already existed have gotten face lifts. There were artisan shops in the city, but now they are displaying their wares in the street and the amount of goods has increased dramatically. The street food vendors are out in full force selling tacos, gorditas, tamales, fruit, ice cream. The city is embracing this opportunity wholeheartedly.

The most impressive part of this whole festival has been the incredible diversity that it brings to the city. As I walk down the street or pause in the midst of a crowd, I hear people speaking Spanish, English, French, German, Chinese, you name it. There are artists, singers, musicians, dancers, and actors from all over the world that have come to Guanajuato for the next three weeks.

So far, I love Cervantino. I spent this afternoon walking around the Centro trying to take it all in. In one afternoon, I watched part of a opera/puppet show by performers from the Czech Republic, a clown who had the crowd roaring, a group of musicians who played music that was mostly about revolution and drugs but had the younger crowd dancing along to their music, several teenagers break-dancing, and a group of living statues. I also discovered a new market that had so many different types of people selling things that it blew my mind. I guess I've always grouped Mexican people into the categories of "indigenous" and "not indigenous," but this market had the potheads, the goths, the indigenous, the artisans, the families...you get the idea. There was so much to look at, buy or have pierced or tattooed.

I'm so excited about the next few weeks! I'm planning on spending the majority of my free time walking around, going back to the market, listening to the street performers and just watching the world come to me. What an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!

Heads Were Flying

This weekend I went to San Miguel de Allende for the third and probably last time. The original plan was to watch the Running of the Bulls that is part of the Festival de San Miguel. Unfortunately, it was not until after we arrived that we learned that this particular event has been canceled for the last three years due to people getting completely out of control. Apparently, several years ago some kids got really drunk and ended up killing each other in the heat of the moment. So, we didn't see the bulls, but the trip wasn't a total bust - there were several events in the Jardin featuring traditional indigenous dances and exploding dolls as well as a parade.
The most interesting indigenous performance involved five men climbing to a platform at the top of a metal pole where they tied ropes around their waists. These ropes were long enough to reach the ground and they were wound around the top of the pole. As one man played a flute from the top of the pole, the other men let themselves fall off the platform and as the platform rotated, they were slowly lowered to the ground. Of course, all this was head-first. It was really neat, but terrifying because the pole swayed in the wind and it was really high.

We also watched one of the strangest rituals I have ever seen. People had been making these paper mache dolls that were mounted on metal frames. They then put the frames on long sticks and lit the dolls on fire. They must have had firecrackers or something in them because after spinning the dolls around in the air, they exploded. The most entertaining part was that the dolls' heads went flying and all the children raced to see who could catch the head. At first I thought maybe this was a good luck thing, but after asking around, it's basically just so the kids get to run around and take part in the ritual. It was hilarious!

On our way out of San Miguel the bus was prevented from going to the bus station by a huge parade. We had to walk the rest of the way which turned out to be one of the best parts of our day. This parade knocked the socks off the Guanajuato parade from last week. Every indigenous group from the area was represented and the people were dressed in traditional clothes and everyone was dancing to the pounding of drums. I've never seen such a wide variety of crazy headdresses - including feathers, beads, pompoms, and so much more. There were people carrying huge wooden sets that were decorated with flowers and grass. They looked extremely heavy and were very elaborate. It was loud and colorful and completely worth having to walk to the bus station.

The parade and all the other events combined to make an impressive display of culture, history and pride for their city and heritage. It would be so neat if we could have festivals like this in the States. I suppose that our fairs and parades show our own traditions, but it would be so much fun to have something like this be a part of our culture.

Word Pictures

This morning I went with CIEE to San Miguel de Allende to get some migration paperwork out of the way. I spent the entire bus ride looking out the window at the countryside. Guanajuato state has a lot to offer, but unfortunately I have no pictures. I'll have to do my best to describe it with words.

The early morning sun glows through the mist shrouding the mountains. The peaks are invisible giving them an eerie appearance. As the light increases, some mountains are revealed to be covered in short trees while others are bare and have rock-face peeking through. Some are rolling and safe while others are sharp and foreboding.

In the valleys, the trees and bushes are slowly revealed by the morning light. Everything is very green - the grass, the trees, the nopales (cactus). Random patches of wildflowers show pink and yellow and white, waving in the slight breeze. Cornstalks mingle with sunflowers. Herds of cattle meander throughout the valley grazing and mocking the horses limited to a single spot of grass. Dirt roads, hardly plentiful than the shallow rivers, lead off into the distance ending in homes, haciendas, rancheros.

There is an occasional pueblo with small, run-down homes and the typical large church, but many homes are isolated on the edges of the corn fields. As we drive past, we see people washing clothes, repairing walls, walking to the fields. Do they still see and love the beauty that surrounds them? Or are they so accustomed to it that they no longer notice? Maybe that beauty makes their day just a little better when the hardships get to be too much to handle. Maybe they take comfort that those mountains will remain long past their human existence.

The Day I Stood Within 5 ft of the President & Almost Blew Up the Kitchen

It turns out that holidays in Mexico can be some of the most exciting days of all. Today Guanajuato celebrated the Toma de la Alhondiga. Two weeks after the Grito of Hidalgo, the fight for Mexican independence moved to Guanajuato. The Alhondiga was a granary that the Spaniards holed up in but were defeated by the Mexicans because of the bravery of El Pipila, our local hero. It is a storming of the Bastille story, just in Mexico. Every year there is a huge parade through the streets of the city and everyone turns out to watch. Schools and businesses are closed and everyone participates.

I went to the parade. I love parades, but my real motivation was to see the president of Mexico, Felipe Calderon, who attends every year. Sure enough, he was there and I was able to stand within 5 feet of him. It was pretty neat. I did find it interesting how little security there was. There was a helicopter that flew in circles around the city and there were security guards on the roofs of the buildings around the Plaza de la Paz, but that was about it. He walked right through the streets and there was very little fuss. No one tried to talk to him or bother him. Still, it was a neat experience.

The parade lasted for three hours. It was eternal! Every school in Guanajuato sent a marching band to participate, all the government offices had people marching, and every organization in Guanajuato was represented. Just when I thought we might be getting to the end, all the cities in Guanajuato state marched through with their representatives and then the policemen, firemen, red cross volunteers, and every type of rescue people had to march through.

I joked that today would be the best day to commit a crime in Guanajuato and the worst day to have an emergency because all the policemen and emergency response crews were in downtown Guanajuato. It was an impressive display for sure.

After the parade, my friend Jessica and I decided that we were going to bake cookies since we didn't have class and we were craving chocolate chip cookies. This turned out to be a bigger challenge than we had originally thought. We went to the Mega which is like a Mexican version of Wal-Mart supercenter. They have everything, you just have to know what it is called in Spanish. We finally found all the ingredients we needed and headed back to my house to make the cookies.

When we arrived, my host family was out so we had to figure out how to light the gas stove all by ourselves. We looked up on youtube "how to light a gas stove" and then proceeded to follow the instructions. The lighters that my host family had in the kitchen were almost out of fuel, so keeping them lit while we waved them in front of the pilot light was extremely difficult. We couldn't find any matches, so we settled with a candle that we found in the kitchen. All this time I had been turning off the gas while we were in between flames so that we wouldn't blow the whole kitchen to kingdom come. We did finally get the oven lit; however, it was with a huge whoosh of flame that blew out of the oven. I don't think Jessica or I had ever moved so quickly in our lives. Nothing caught on fire and we were ok, but it was a moment before our hearts stopped pounding. We now know to ask someone before we try something like that again.

The oven knob had no temperature markers, so we just had to guess how long to cook the cookies. We must have had it on 700 degrees because they only took 4 minutes to bake. The cookies were delicious despite all the excitement and some substitutions with the ingredients. I personally think that if a person can bake yummy cookies in a foreign country with foreign ingredients and no standardized measuring utensils, they are all set in the cookie-baking category.

Cuan Grande Es El

Señor mi Dios
al contemplar los cielos
el firmamento y las estrellas mil
al oír tu voz en los potentes truenos
y ver brillar el sol en su cenit

Mi corazón entona la canción
Cuan grande es El, cuan grande es El
mi corazón entona la canción
cuan grande es El ,cuan grande es El

Cuando recuerdo del amor divino
Que desde el cielo al salvador envió
aquel Jesús que por salvarme vino
y en una cruz sufrió por mí, murió,

Cuando el Señor me llame a Su presencia
Al dulce hogar al cielo de esplendor,
le adoraré cantando la grandeza
de Su poder y su infinito amor