“Am I in a flowerbed?”

we started the day off nice and early at 9 am this morning…ok, so not terribly early, but we were tired. We got up and headed straight for the touribuses in the south part of Mexico City, in a little place not far, called Coyocan. That is where our rather uninteresting touribus tour started. Although, I must say that we did rather enjoy the translations into English, explaining the different places. As soon as we boarded, a lovely femail voice began and said, “To the left is the house of Cortez, where he uttered the famous phrase, ‘Am I in a flowerbed?’” I don’t know if there was a context to this or if this was a wrong translation, but we did find it rather comical when it later called an organization an organism instead. Lauren and I laughed hysterically at every mistaken translation. We also found that the touribus did not go to the primarily place we had wanted to go to, Xochimilco. We were very disturbed by this, but we found that we could to down to Tlalpan and take a taxi to Xochimilco from there. So, we took a little stop right near Tlalpan. By the time we stopped, we were starving. Come to find out, that yogurt and granola doesn’t last you so long on a hot day. So, we climbed down from the top of our lovely red, double-decker touribus and took our detour to wallyworld (walmart).
As I stood in a far-too-long line with my corndogs and Lauren with her fake chicken nuggets (undercover as real, crispy chicken nuggets), the man in front of us tried his very hardest to get the attention of these two lovely American tourists. When he realized that glancing constantly in our direction was not working, he decided to try out his tap dancing skills. Still unsuccessful, he tried his singing AND dancing. He finally got to the front of the line, and must have decided that he REALLY wanted our attention, so in the very crowded, long-lined walmart, he decided he didn’t like the 3 ketchup bottles he had and went back for different ones, causing us to wait (quite annoyed at this point) for his return. The manager saw and decided to let the rest of the poor walmart shoppers continue without the tap-dancing man’s presence and ketchup bottles. From there, we proceeded to eat our lovely goods outsides on the steps of walmart like poor starving Americans in need of food. Everyone stared to say the least. Taxi time. We caught our taxi and finally headed for xochimilco.
The driver had no clue where to take us and we couldn’t seem to remember the Spanish word for “boats.” Not good. He ended up taking us to the center of Xochimilco. We found out that was wrong, then proceeded to another market in Xochimilco…only, this one had horses. For 45 clue where to take us and we couldn’t seem to remember the Spanish word for “boats.” Not good. He ended up taking us to the center of Xochimilco. We found out that was wrong, then proceeded to another market in Xochimilco…only, this one had horses. For 45 pesos for half an hour, we decided to have an adventure, and what an adventure we had! Let’s just say…there is a first for everything.
Warning:
1) if it looks painful at all, don’t try it.
2) If you “guides” ask you if you want to go faster and they are not riding horses of their own, say no. they just might jump on with you…
3) Don’t be offended if your guide and all his friends stand around and laugh at you afterwards because you’re American…
With sore legs and hurt pride, Lauren and I continued on our hike to xochimilco. We finally got there and could see the beauty of Mexico. We asked to share one of the boats with a Mexican family. They were very obliging and kind. By the end of the boat ride, there had been much laughter, much ice cream, and email addresses going around. Who woulda thought we would be friends with the people we shared a boat with for an hour and a half?!?!
Since we had only an hour to get to our bus stop, we ran to find a taxi. Thankfully he was the kind of taxi driver I like, fast and furious. He got us there in 15 minutes and half the cost of our first taxi. We got to Tlalpan, and realized this is where Café La Selva is and where Fab and Ana live. Where our bus stop was was very dark and desolate. So of course, Lauren went up to the closest, kind-looking policeman and asked him if he would like some coffee. We were happy to do so for him. we got him his coffee nad he became our loyal friend and protector. When our touribus finally came at 9:02, they wanted to refuse to let us on because it was after 9 (because THEY were late, I might add). Our friendly policeman stood up for us and practically demanded that we be on that bus. We had waited and waited. They allowed us on finally and we were able to enjoy a bus ride to coyocan. From there, we walked home, tired, exhausted, sore, and unexcited about doing laundry. Laundry time it is and sleep time as well. Looking forward to another long and busy day tomorrow!

LOST...

Lost- and no, I don’t meant the tv show! Taxi Church, lost, taxi, bus, coyocan taxi
I woke up this morning with great anticipation. When I think of Mexico City, I always think of my beloved friends, the members of the church, Faro de Gracia. I remember their loving embraces and words. They were always so kind to me. Today was no different. As we sneaked into one of the back rows (late of course), I looked around me. Some faces I knew and remembered with great fondness. Others were new faces I had never seen before. As I listened to the Spanish service (understanding the majority of it), I was encouraged reading the scriptures about Christ’s resurrection. Most of the service consisted of the reading of Scriptures and I was reminded how important the Scriptures were. How many people go through this day, not even reading the Easter story? After the service, I was finally able to greet the members of the church. First of course, were Ezekiel and Cloudia Lopez. Whenever I am in Mexico, this is the family I most long to see. Three of their children were not there, but their son Daniel, was. It was so encouraging to see him, even if he is taller than me now. He’s a little bigger than he was 5 years ago, when he was only 10! As I spoke with these brothers and sisters of mine, it felt like I had come back home. We were embraced and welcomed warmly. Even if there were members I did not know, I would tell them that I was the niece of Wayne Andersen, their pastor, and they would hug and kiss me, and welcome me. If I could have stayed there all day long, I would have. It was a beautiful reunion. We talked to the Lopez family for about an hour after church, just catching up, enjoying each other’s friendship. I believe that is how church is supposed to be. It’s not about a building, group, translation or rules. Going to church should feel like coming home, where you are loved, accepted, and encouraged.

WHY i love Mexico

Today started off with the doorbell ringing exactly at 11 AM. Lauren and I had no idea exactly what lay in store for us, all we knew was that my friends, Ana and Fab, had a whole day planned just for us. This was especially exciting for me since I had not seen Ana or Fab in 5 years. Ana was my incredible Spanish teacher in Mexico City. She would find my learning style and do everything in her power (in a fun way) and would teach me about culture AND Spanish. All that to say, I was quite excited about the day. They picked us up and we headed straight for the centro. In the centro, we visited the Palacio de arte, basically an art museum. It was huge and beautiful. Inside were paintings by Diego Rivera (one of my favorites, even if he WAS Marxist), and others who used a lot of symbolism and tried to portray freedom through their paintings. It was incredible. We had a special tour guide to explained things (in English!!!) about the paintings. I enjoyed every moment. From there, we continued to the wonderfully delicious candy shop…can I tell you, there was a lot of eating going on, so don’t be surprised when I tell you all the other places! Anyway, this candy place was amazing. I finally decided on Orange and Lime flavored coconut balls. Let me tell you-DELICIOUS. After the candy factory, we went to the cathedral. This is the cathedral that I have been to before, but every time, my heart aches for the people here. This cathedral has sunk more than a meter because of the gold inside. People are all kneeling in front of gold statues and you can’t help but feel the hopelessness. I long for them to know the truth about my wonderful Father. After the cathedral, we were all starving, so taco time it was! We all headed for tacos and met some of Ana and Fab’s friends at the little restaurant. As we were waiting, we saw many people dressed as statues. One man was even dressed like Michael Jackson and dancing, My favorite is and always will be Tacos de pastor. I doubt I will ever be tired of them.
Once we were all satisfied, we hopped in the car and headed for another candy store (I told you there was a lot of eating going on!). This little candy shop, called QueBo, is run by an internationally-known chef who makes chocolate without sugar and as healthy and delicious as possible, if those two words can be used in the same sentence. After that, helado- ice cream (I warned you!). I had an ice cream that was made with different kinds of red fruits and berries in a waffle bowl. Lauren was hungry since she had not eaten much for lunch, so we continued to a little town where Ana and Fab live and we went to café la selva. Funny as it is, this is a little café that my family has taken me to many times. I had been there before and remembered their incredible chocolate-covered coffee beans. Of course, I had to get some of those! I also had a mango drink-incredible! It’s such a beautiful town. There is a little gazebo in the plaza with beautiful plants and markets. It’s hard not to fall in love with little towns like that. It was a wonderful escape from the crowds and largeness of Mexico City. We were all a bit tired and exhausted when we finally headed home. It was 9 o’clock. As I said goodbye to my beloved friends, I thought about how wonderful of a day it had been. I love seeing Mexico from the perspective of someone who is Mexican and has lived there for a long time. It’s so incredible. On our trip home, we were also able to talk to Ana about Christianity. This was an incredible opportunity since I knew that she is not very open to the gospel. Her brother and his family are Christians, but she claims no part of it. It was an amazing ending of an amazing day. The Lord has blessed me incredibly with incredible friends.

Hopeful

Friday, we were thankful for the opportunity to sleep in a bit before we headed over to church for the black Friday service. As we drove up to the church, memories flooded my mind. About 7 years ago, I had gone to this church and then again 5 years ago. Things looked a little different, but there was no mistaking it. Good memories and friendships came back to me as I remembered the different times I had been here. We went into the auditorium and the first thing Lauren said to me was, “WOW, I haven’t heard this much English since we were in the States! There are so many Americans!” She was right. This was an English church. Although I have enjoyed the Spanish churches and translations, there was something about coming here and worshipping in my language. I had never been to a black Friday service, but it was incredible. I was reminded of the time when Christ had died. It seemed like all hope was gone for the world. The one man who was able to save the human race was now dead. But at the end of the service, the pastor said one thing, “But there is still hope, Sunday is coming!” What hope we have. Christ came, died, and rose again. There remains hope that He will come again. This hope is not a fading hope or a hope that He “might” come again. It is a sure hope. He WILL come again.
April 2, 2010

The Big City

Well, Ladies and Gents, it has been rather difficult to blog these last few days, so here we will have a summary of the latest events. On Wednesday, we woke up, ready to head out to the zoo. We made a quick, but necessary stop at starbucks to start the day off right. At the largest zoo in Mexico, we enjoyed exploring and finding all the different kinds of animals. Of course, whenever I am at the zoo, I am reminded of Madagascar and constantly sing the songs to Lauren, especially when we get to the hippos. We enjoyed a bird/reptile show with a young man who was the Mexican version of our friend, Evan. Although I must say that my appetite was lessened by seeing a large hawk eat a rat. There are just some things that I don’t handle so well. On our little trip to the zoo, we got to explore the safari ride. As we climbed into the truck, the person at the closest end was given a handful of carrots. Lauren and I felt a little bit cheated since we ended up with 2 pitiful pieces of carrot, while the man at the end had hands full of carrots. It was neat to see all of the animals up close, drinking from the watering hole, and feeding the giraffes. This was probably our favorite part of our whole zoo adventure. We were beat after going to the zoo, went home, and Vick talked us into watching a movie. I never grow tired of watching Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. After much packing, we were finally ready. We woke up early on that beautiful Thursday morning. We were filled with sadness because of having to leave our friends, students, and families, but also filled with excitement for the next week. As we drove to the airport, I was reminded of the beauty of God’s creation. The beautiful, shining, bright sun came up over the dark mountains, filling the sky with radiant color and wisped clouds. We easily got through the airport and boarded our plane. When we got to DF (Mexico City), we were exhausted from the early morning, adrenalin, and the mixed emotions. Thankfully, our family, the Waguespacks, had not planned anything immediate and we were able to take a much-needed nap. After our nap, we went exploring with Marianne and her friend, also an MK. Within walking distance is a little town called Coyocan. Coyocan is the kind of place that makes you forget all about the “big city” and relax. We did lauren’s favorite thing and did a little bit of shopping, then proceeded onto the coffee shop. When I first went to Mexico City, I thought their hot chocolate was just weird, but now I have grown accustomed to it and would choose it over the American hot chocolate any day. Well, here in Coyocan, they had cold chocolate (icy) and boy was it delicious! From there, we introduced Lauren to churros, which were out of this world. This day was just a start to our big adventure in Mexico City.

Continental breakfast

Well we got up bright and early, at the break of dawn. We woke up nice and early at 6:30 and started the day with showers and breakfast. We had been lured into the continental breakfast by looking at the enticing pictures on the website for our hostal. As we excitedly (and tiredly) ran downstairs, we were surprised to find two kinds of flake cereal, 1 tub of yogurt, bread, fake orange juice, powdered milk, and not-so-great coffee. Anyway, as Lauren ate her “fish” flakes, I determined to make things better by asking her how her scrambled eggs and ham were with her freshly ground coffee, accompanied by freshly squeezed orange juice. We carried on in this fashion until we were laughing quite hysterically at our rather pitiful breakfast. Let’s just say that Lauren was none to happy with me for making her wake up at 6:30 in the morning for “fish” flakes.
On we went with our tour guide of the day, Juan Manuel, who I believe was previously a body guard. How exciting. First thing on our list for the day was Barranca Oblatos. We took 2 buses and walked a while till we stood on the very top of this mountain. From there, we could see a beautiful view of all the mountains around and the plants, flowers, and rocks below. At the top, there were a couple of small stands with people selling things. Naturally, Lauren and I wanted to see what they were. When we saw the sign: “Coconuts: 30 pesos,” naturally, we (being Americans) did not realize that this meant the WHOLE coconut. So basically, we ended up with far more coconut and coconut juice than we really wanted. But can I just say, coconut with chile y limon is absolutely totally and completely out of this world. Delicious!
From there, we went down the mountain and after an hour of traveling down the mountain, we decided to hike back up it. Needless to say it was a little bit harder and took just a little bit longer than the way down. Beautiful scenery though. It was absolutely gorgeous! After our 3 hour hike, we were exhausted and ready to go back.
Once we got to our hotel room, we decided to go on a little adventure to find lunch and go to the center (shopping of course!). By the end of the day, we were totally and completely exhausted from our long wonderful day.
3/30/10

Surprise!

Monday morning as I continued packing my things, it was impossible not to feel a little bit of sadness. Tita, my dear friend was leaving for camp and I would be leaving the house and going to a hostal. We had made memories last night by getting Bionicos for the last time together and took pictures. She packed her things and I packed mine. We said our sad goodbyes and we both left. She left for camp, Vicktor and I both left to pick up Lauren and her teacher, Tammi. Off to Chapala we went. After picking up Lauren at her house, we stopped for a little treat. For a week, Vicktor had been telling me, “Before you leave, you HAVE to have tortas ahogadas!” Vicktor ordered for me and Lauren and we had our tortas. It’s like a bread and meat soaked in a sauce. It was good, just like all the food in Mexico! It was so filling though, neither of us could finish. As we were getting ready to leave, Lauren grabbed her pepsi bottle and asked, “can I take this?” I had no idea, so I said, “I’m sure you can.” Well, as we drove in the car, we handed Vick his pain meds for his headache and Lauren offered her pepsi bottle. If only you could see the look on Vick’s face. Lauren had obviously stolen the pepsi bottle. Who knew you were supposed to leave the bottles!? Lauren asked, “should we go back and return it?” Vicktor’s only response was, “You’d better pray and ask forgiveness for that stolen pepsi bottle!” After the adventure of the stolen pepsi bottle, we continued on to pick up Tammi and headed for Chapala. Vicktor let us off by the water, and Lauren, Tammi and I proceeded to shop till we were ready to drop. We sat for a while and enjoyed the beauty of the lake. It was such a gorgeous day. At the end, it was beautiful to see the sun going down over the mountains and the lake.

We headed back for Guadalajara and Vick took us to our hostal near the centro. As we pulled up to where the hostal was, we all looked around and thought the same thing, Tammi was the only one who voiced it as she said, “are you serious?” and we all thought one word, “SKETCH!” We lugged all of our belongings to the hostal, signed in, found out it was far more than we expected, and dragged all of our things past the creepy man in the dining area to our room upstairs. Little did we know what surprise would wait for us. Vicktor, Tammi, Lauren, and I could hardly fit in the room together with all of our luggage. We all looked at each other and laughed a nervous laugh. We opened all the windows to our hot little room and continued to bring all of our things in and get settled. As Vicktor and Tammi started out, we stood at the door and watched, sadly longing for them not to leave us. We eventually left the doorway and headed back up. I will say that it was quite a relief to do our laundry, to have a nice, clean room, and some privacy. Let’s just say that Lauren and I drowned our sorrows in laughter…
March 29, 2010