Inspired by a juicy tangerine (and the trouble I have packing)

One thing that never gets old for me is the freshness of everything here.  Despite the fact that valley of Mexico (the state) is dry and desertlike, I have nearly unlimited access to fresh fruits, meat, and flowers.  


At least once a week I like to try doing something nice for my abuelita to make up for the fact that I can't guarantee my room will ever be up to par with my family's standards of cleanliness on any given day.  So, going to the market on Thursday and picking up anything we may want or need for the next few days of cooking has become one of my favorite activities.  (Keeping my room clean would be the obvious, less interesting solution to this.) The market always has really beautiful flowers for extremely affordable prices, about 1 or 2 US dollars for nice bouquets. 


On my pesero ride home today I saw these very unique velvety looking flowers that were the same color as a scarf I just knit and as the mess of yarn that I am currently working on.  Here is a high quality photograph of these "velvet flowers", courtesy of flickr.  I decided to get off the bus (luckily this was only a block away from my actual stop) and buy them for abue since I won't be in town for the mercado on Thursday.  

Those are in fact my calcium tablets on the ledge and a bag full of bread on the table.

Nothing in Mexico is without a long history, tradition, or interesting background story.  As it turns out, after lots of inquiries about whether I was preparing something for the upcoming holiday, these are the flowers traditionally purchased in Mexico City for offerings to the dead on Dia de los Muertos.  In Mexico, the dead are not feared or an unspeakable topic.  Instead, they are honored in a light hearted yet profound way on this holiday.  Families prepare the favorite foods and drinks of their deceased and offer them as a way of commemorating the deceased.  Observing and learning about the traditions associated with this holiday has been extremely enlightening and inspirational.  I am really looking forward to seeing the various ofrendas, offerings, that will be on display throughout the city next Tuesday.

Speaking of traditions, here is a bonus photo of abue's 100+ year old sewing machine:

Please note the foot pedal!

Peace, love, and it's time to work on my tan.

Little J 

Back by popular demand, I don't know how to say that in español

Hi world, 


I have done a horrible job of keeping up to date with blogging posts and an e-mail notification of a comment calling me out on this fact has inspired me to give the pueblo what it wants.  So in the past couple of months I've been keeping extremely busy.  After a bout with Moctezuma's revenge (that lasted like 2 weeks, dear god) I went out to make up for lost time.  


Here is a list of some of the things I've been up to

• First Annual Taco and Mariachi Festival.  Here I ate delicious tacos of "bistec ingles" - British Steak.  While the idea of British meat was highly unsettling, I found out that it's called this because of the marinating. This is the bomb poster they used to advertise it:

• Visits to fellow Fulbrighters in Cuernavaca (highlights include clubbing til 5 am and waterpark Temixco, and making a new friend who took us to awesome village called Chalma, and also buying myself a pair of hot pink espadrilles) and Puebla (highlights include: a really cool library because I'm a huge nerd, meeting Sarah's awesome theater friends and watching a great movie called "Temporada de Patos, and CANDY AVENUE where EVERY STORE SELLS A TON OF CANDY aka where I spent all of my money that weekend)

Here I am being very ritualistic (shocking!) at Chalma, the first time you visit this village you must wear a wreath of roses and flowers on your head, dance as an offering to the willow tree, and then take a dip in the water to cure your ills.

Biblioteca Palofoxiana, very illegal photograph

Day of the Dead Candy in Puebla

• Family weekend in Cuautla, Morelos with a guest appearance by Maddie!

Maybe 1% of my family

• Releasing my teenage self at an Interpol concert at the Corona Capital Festival in Mexico City

• Pic-nic or Dia de Campo in Chapultepec Park with a southerner, a cali girl, a colombian and my cousin Beto.  I have embarked on a mission to become really good at hackey sack FYI. 
• Costume party on Saturday night to which I went dressed as Batman (pictures to come soon)
• Also, this may shock anyone who's known me for longer than 2 years, but I am extremely athletic now.  No, really.  I am taking swimming lessons twice a week and may or may not start figure skating classes soon - don't ask.  

So this is just a snippet of what I've been up to in addition to the usual (worshipping my abuelita and sleeping a lot).  

Peace! I will write back next week after I go scuba diving in Las Islas Marietas.  

Besos,

Quesadilla