Mexican Mondays Make Me Miss You More.

Yesss, its true, I miss my missionary. A lot. He sent me a quick email this week, and did mention that he is baptizing people soon....so whoever these people are, I am super happy for them. I know they have many blessings to come! Unfortunately, he didn't say much more other than he needs to send a letter he wrote to me, so that sounds exciting, right?? Hooray for mail to come!

The good news is, there are only 10 more months until he hops the border and heads back to Kentucky, which makes everything seem so close and real. Yes! God Bless America.

41% to Go! XOXOO

-Sara Jacqueline

Wuh-Hock-Uhh A.K.A. Oaxaca

This past weekend we took off to Oaxaca, a huge city about three hours south of Tehuacán. On Saturday we left at 6 a.m. with other members from our church to go to the temple. The closest temple to Tehuacán is in Oaxaca, so everyone was very excited to go, because they only have the opportunity to go about once every other month. We were so excited to do temple work and also to be able to visit a different temple. It was so beautiful, and so picture perfect. Here I am with one of my favorite students, Chucho (Chew-Cho), or Hiram (E-raam) is his real name. He goes to my church, and is the Bishop's son, he just turned eight and is hilarious! I love him soo.

After the temple, we decided to head to the Zoccalo, or el centro de Oaxaca. This is where all the fun is happening most often in any city. The centro was huge compared to any other city we have visited, and there was a lot to see, and shop for and eat.

We walked all around the town, and visited a Cathedral that was built with gold. The little ornate details inside and some on the outside were very shiny, but since the sun wasn't out, it was a little hard to see. We just took a picture with these crazy statues instead.. Can you find us?

There was a lot of shopping to do around the city, and we all agreed that we spent too much money, but I am glad I finally bought something to take home with me. For dinner, we were told that we HAD to eat the famous Oaxacan food. One of the best things we heard about were these Tlayudas; pronounced (Tlai-yu-dahs). They are basically like tostadas, but giant and super yummy. To make one, they use a huge tortilla about the size of a pizza, and top it with frijoles (beans) lettuce, tomato, onions, crema (sour cream), salsa and quesillo (YUMMY cheese). There probably is some other Mexican Magic that goes on when they make them, cause they were delicious. I wish I could have eaten six more. We have also heard there are tlayudas with meat, which are also good. Me and Ashley split one, and it was heaven.

While we ate street food for dinner, we watched lots of dancers, clowns and musical groups in the centro and then headed back to our hostel for the night, because we were honestly pooped. Our hostel was super cheap, and organized, but totally a place for hippies and backpackers. Everyone was so nice, but we still laughed about it all. We got snacks to take back and then watched a movie on our laptop and talked until we fell asleep. One of the best snacks we found was elote flavored fritos. They have all sorts of crazy flavored chips, so when they had something elote flavored, we HAD to try them!! Yummmm! Elotes are like one of my favorite foods here, so these were awesome.

This morning, we got up super early and drove out to el arbol de tule, which is a GIANT tree. It is over 2,000 years old and you can wrap about 30-40 people around it holding hands. It is so beautiful, and we enjoyed the morning weather before we went to church.

After church, we headed out to Monte Albán to see all of the pyramids. We have seen some ruins before in the other places we have visited, but nothing compared to this. It was completely worth the five bucks to get in. We really got to see a lot, and it was fun to imagine the people who built all of the pyramids so long ago. It's crazy to think that they built these super huge pyramids, on top of an enormous mountain. They must have had some awesome thigh muscles. Seriously, these people like everything steep! We spent two hours at the pyramids, and the views were Amaz-o. Check it out...

Afterwards, we had a small treat, Nieve. It is basically like ice cream, but it isn't made with milk...it's kind of like a snow cone, but better....hard to explain, but yummy. Nieve is special to Oaxaca, and we got the best flavor, Beso Oaxacaqueño, which sort of means a kiss from someone who lives in Oaxaca. Yeah, it was super sweet and delicious. So glad we ate that.

After our long long weekend trip, we had to bust our buns back to the bus station so we didn't miss the three o'clock bus, because we already bought our tickets and the next one didn't leave until midnight! Yikes. We watched 'Shes the Man' in spanish on the way home, and talked for three hours straight. I LOVE these girls, we always have so much fun. I cannot wait for our next adventure because we are always doing something ridiculous. I never want to leave Mexico, Oaxaca was awesome.

-Sara Jacqueline

TGIF: Rain and Brownies. Enough said..

Fridays always seem to drag on and on, almost as if they are laughing at you and torturing you while you wait for Friday night, or even Saturday. This morning after going to my usual Zumba class, we met up with Irma, our awesome culture teacher to talk about Oaxaca. We are going to Oaxaca this weekend to visit the temple and also to enjoy some more adventures. After we chatted about out trip and planned out every waking moment, she took us out for a ride.

I love hanging out with Irma, because she usually takes us somewhere in her car. This may not seem like a big deal, but for us it is. Why??? Well for this one day a week, whenever we are with her, we don't have to stress over how long it is going to take us to walk there, or if we will get lost, or anything else, all we have to do is sit in her warm car with the windows down listening to Adele. There really is nothing better than being taken care of by a Mexican Momma, and driven around in her car..haha...snobby much?? Yeah, probably. I just enjoy car rides too much these days.

Anyways, back on topic. She took us to this huge place called MineraliA, where they produce a ton of different beads out of natural stones and minerals found here. We also went to a onyx factory...or something like that, basically where they made the onyx into everything you could imagine for your house, or to wear, it was really kind of neat.

In the afternoon, a few of us walked down to the corner to get our 50 cent homemade ice cream cone and then hung outside until it got too cloudy and cold. The clouds rolled in, and then a miraculous thing happened. IT RAINED!!! Yes, it rained in Tehuacán for the first time since I have been here...which has been like five weeks. Wow. Thats crazy compared to home, where it rains all the time. We were so excited we ran around a little bit, and stared at it and screamed about it, and basically we loved all thirty minutes of it.

After class, I came home to my family and decided to make brownies with them since they have been begging for more cooking lessons and American treats. I haven't been feeling well for the past few weekends, so I never wanted to make them, but I figured I could make something sugary before I left for the weekend..haha.

We had to make the simplest brownies ever becuase these grocery stores are seriously lacking in ingredients for ANYTHING. I never realized how lucky I am to be able to bake at home all the time. Its so hard to bake here because planning is such a pain in the butt, and shopping is even worse.

My sister, Viviana was super excited and wanted to stir her little arms off, she wasn't quite sure what we were making, but she really wanted some. haha. Cute.

The whole oven thing was also complicated, because of course its in celsius and even more difficult it is a gas oven..I don't even know what to do with that. Does that make me an unfit baker?? Is my badge of domestication going to be taken away?? I don't know, but I was completely dumbfounded.

When my mom got the oven going, she realized we didn't even have enough gas left for the oven to work today, which really stinks. The gas always runs out at the most inconvenient times, like when I need to take a shower, or when I want to make brownies... Mmmm, oh well.

Time for Improvisation!!

Brownies in a mug. Yummmy, yes it wasn't quite the same, but they were still gooey, chocolatey and sweet, which is just what we wanted. We saved the other half of the batter for tomorrow, when the gas could be refilled.

We also made some hot chocolate with the cocoa powder. My family didn't know you had to add sugar to cocoa powder, so they took big licks of it, and realized how bitter and gross it was. That was hilarious for me. I love hot chocolate. It's actually one of the things I miss the most about home, because Swiss Miss is so easy to make.

Tomorrow we are going to Oaxaca, which is about a 3 hours bus ride, so we are ultra excited. We have been told that Oaxaca is very colonial and beautiful and warm!! We have to be up at like 4 a.m. so it better be worth it! I can't wait to tell you all about it! Peace

P.S. We have the most epic Valentine's Day plans, and I cannot wait to tell you about them!!

-Sara Jacqueline

Edwin...What would you order to eat??

These past few days have been crazy busy between our four day vacation and our mid-semester visit. A director from ILP came to visit our teaching group on Tuesday to check up on us, interview us and just spend some American time together.

After teaching, we all got to go out to dinner with the director Jared and his wife. What a blast, we got to eat out and didn't have to pay, that was a good deal. We went to this place between the park and the school, it is known as Teo's Tacos because it is his favorite place to go, so we were all really excited. By now, we have become pretty good at ordering food from a menu, but we still love to call our BFF Edwin. Edwin, our mexican friend, speaks Amazing english, loves to hang out with us, and of course be our body guard/tour guide/translator. We always like to know what he is eating first so we can decide for ourselves. Of course, we had to call him and find out what was best to eat...hahah...little did we know his selection was meant for a mexican man, not six puny white girls.

Bonnie, the bravest of us all managed to order whatever Edwin suggested, and we were a little afraid looking at the price tag. We have come to learn, that in Mexico the amount of food correlates to the amount of money you pay directly. The less you pay the less you get, so you can pretty much gage your plate size before you even get your food. This is nice because we aren't always starved for twenty tacos. Bonnie should have known that 95 pesos, or about $9 is quite a wad of money for a meal in Mexico.

Yes this mountain of meat and cheese came with four forks and twelve tortillas! Yikes. I am glad I didn't listen to Edwin this time, my three tacos were enough.

We had a wonderful time visiting with the ILP director, and all day today, we still felt those tacos from last night. I actually had quite an eventful morning, wanna hear??

I felt so awful from the night before, that I decided to go running for an hour today and then go to my Zumba class for another hour. Afterwards, I came home and all of my family was gone at school, church and work.

All alone, I decided to go hang up the laundry on the roof so that it could be dry when my mom returned later that day. Since the family dog lives on the roof, I was sure to close the door behind me, so Croqueta couldn't get loose inside..yuck. I hung up all the wet clothes, and then it hit me... I LOCKED MYSELF ON THE ROOF!!!!!!

Yes, it can happen. The door just shuts, and there is no getting in. I locked myself on top of my three story house. Awesome. I must be gifted or something. Not panicking yet, I decided I could probably repel down the side of the house to the next floor down, into a window or something. I even considered roof hopping to another house, but all that tin looked so shady, I would surely land in someone's living room.

Now in a more serious panic, I decided to yell for help...but I am in Mexico...so of course shouting "Ayuda Me" is the best option. Screaming HELP ME, in spanish wasn't working because I must have sounded more ridiculous that believable. I seriously yelled for help for a good ten minutes. No one came.

Even more afraid, I was SO glad to see my cousin walking down the alley, that I flagged him down with the best 'Necesito ayuda' I could give. For some reason, whenever I am in a sticky situation, ALL of my spanish language flies WAY out the window. Crap. I am pretty sure my cousin thought I was joking, because the white girl was shouting for help from the roof. I begged him to break into my house and come save me from this predicament like I was in a Disney movie.

Luckily he is smarter than I am, and climbed up to the third floor of his house, out on the roof, and then helped me jump over to his house so I could get down through their door. I must have thanked him a thousand times, and I also told him he was my best friend, and that I would bring him cookies or something...I don't think he knew what I was yapping about, but he said 'No pasa nada' a hundred times telling me it was not big deal, so I felt better.

Did I really get stuck on my roof today? Yes.

Am I still feeling taco pains? Yes.

Do I love Mexico? Yes.

-Sara Jacqueline

Mexican Monday: Finally February!

So Justen is basically the stinkin cutest thing ever, but he is also way crazy. I wasn't able to email him on Monday because I was in Cuetzalan, so I had to email him ahead of time and missed being able to email chat back and forth with him while I was out being adventurous. However, he emailed me back, but said practically nothing about himself.! I mean, I am glad he thinks the world of me, and wants to ask me stuff and tell me mushy secrets about love and hugs and clouds, but come on dude... tell me about your life!!

He said this week, he got a ton of snail mail from me, which made his week! What a blessing that the mail shows up at the perfect time, when he is struggling a little. Cool huh? I know he probably got a TON of cards and letters, because the mail was extremellllllly backed from the holidays. Mexico is ninety seven times slower than mail in Antarctica. The best thing he said in my letter that is sharable with the entire world was:

"One day we will go to tons of places to visit. But I would be completely happy sitting with you and just eating a bowl of cereal"

Yes that is true love right there! haha!

I borrowed the email he sent to his family from one of his sisters, so I would know what he was really up to this last week. First of all, he moved into a new house, and the missionaries have been busy fixing it up and making it much prettier. Jehu, a recent convert is going to get to go to the temple soon, so that is very exciting for everyone! The funniest part is what he told his family NOT to tell me:

"I have a Mexican Mom now, and she feeds us all the time, so I am probably gaining weight"

Yes, he is crazy I know. I love it.

Anyways, here is another picture of Cuetzalan as I sat and watched the sunrise this Monday morning from our indigenous village hostel. 44 Weeks to Go!! Happy Mexican Monday to my chicas!!

-Sara Jacqueline

Soaked on Sunday.

I didn't believe anyone who said Cuetzalan was cold until Sunday. It rained from the time we woke up until the time we went to bed. Non-stop rain. No rain = No Sun, which means wearing a scarf and seeing your own breath in Mexico is possible.

After sleeping in our cozy hostel, we had breakfast with the indigenous women. The made us eggs, mexican style, freshly squeezed juice and tons of hot tortillas straight off the fire. We ate tortillas till we wanted to roll out of there. Hot tortillas are addicting. Caution.

Dressed in our rain gear, we hit up the market, where tons of vendors fill the street with everythin they could possibly sell. Every single person of Cuetzalan was out today. One of the best things is the cheap produce, you can get a banana for like 6 cents. It's fantastic.

We also tried some candy which is made in Cuetzalan. The fried roll thing, was like a sweet egg roll with foamy milk inside, just okay. The squiggle is like the candy from Puebla, sweet and carmel tasting, somewhat like fudge, very good. The other bar of soap looking thing, was beyond nasty. The texture, the taste, everything about it was gross.

Since we were freezing our butts off, we decided to go inside for a bit in hopes of warming up. We visited the cathedral in el centro de Cuetzalan, which was GORGEOUS inside. I was totally expecting it to be less nice, because the outside didn't seem well kept, but the details inside were incredible.

Once we were way over shopping, and swimming through the rain, we decided to grab some snacks, fill our backpacks, and head back to our cozy hostel. Our hostel was really nice, warm, clean and we just enjoyed time together. We got in our pajamas, listened to the rain and played cards all evening. Story telling, snakcing and then bedtime made for a perfect Sunday night. These beds were the comfiest I have been in since I left home in Kentucky. Gotta Love that indigenous village!

-Sara Jacqueline

Super Saturday: Como se dice..Longhorn Bull?!?

For Saturday, the weather in Cuetzalan was perfect, it was hot, sunny and humid. We signed up for an all day tour of the best views in Cuetzalan, and we definitely got our money's worth.

We started the day off super excited, and drove out to our first stop. We were dropped off with our 25 year old guide, in the middle of the road leading to a pasture...bizarre. Our guide, Jesus was hilarious and begged us to speak english to him. We decided he looked like Adam Sandler, so we called him Adam and spoke spanish instead. haha!

With our walking sticks in hand, we made our way down the mountain into this hole in the ground...which was a GIANT cave. We couldn't go as far back in it as they used to, because there was an avalanche of rock that blocked it off. However, it was believed to be the cave of the devil and when you left you needed to call your spirit back to you, so that the devil wouldn't keep it.

After hiking some more, we stopped to enjoy the view. Cuetzalan was a lot like The Road to Hana in Hawaii, which my family visited several years back. Crazy heights, but beatiful views!

When we made it to the second cave, we had to put on helmets and carry in our flashlights. This cave was much bigger, and went on for over 5 kilometers. We actually got to go pretty far into the cave, walking, wading and crawling through holes, tunnels and more. So much for trying to stay clean.

Next we hit up the waterfalls, the first one was huge, but the water was freezing. No worrieds, we just deicded to take a swim...

The second waterfall we climbed to was even bigger, and more people were swimming there too despite the fact that the sun was beginning to hide. At this waterfall, we watched our guide repel down the rocks right next to the waterfall about 80 feet high...and then...get ready...we did it too!! Thats right, all six of us repelled down a waterfall. Bam! It was awesome, and I will never regret it or forget how hilarious it was.

Yes I was soaked from head to toe, and yes I was ice cold. After our super long day filled with fun and adventure, we were all starved. Even Dora needs some tacos after her adventures. We found this fabulous restaurant where we all got dinner for 10 pesos, or less than $1. We ate motoles, tacos, tostadas, and more. SUPER delicious.

After dinner, we were pretty wiped out, so we headed out to our hostel for the night, which was near the pyramids, so again we had to take a 25 minute combi ride. We stank so bad from being wet and dirty..hope we didn't offend anyone. We were so grateful for showers.....too bad they were ICE cold. haha! Oh well, we slept cozy and warm in our lovely bunk beds at the indigenous hostel. What an AMAZING Saturday in Cuetzalan!

-Sara Jacqueline