March 30th, We walked so much

I was up at 7 this morning, got dressed and went looking for Monse. Although she was not in front of the camp, I did get to experience some joking about my lack of Spanish. I found Monse back in her house. We went with Kilo (short for Kilometers) to the dock where his boat was, rowed across the river to another beach, walked another mile to the main beach, and then walked about 7 miles of beach to the next town. It was important to walk so that if there were any turtle nests, we would be able to see them. It was very long and very hot. We got to the town and walked for almost another mile to a hotel with a restaurant under a cool over hang. Kilo still had another 3 kilometers to walk and back until he reached his destination but that he would return in about 2 hours for us. He joked and said we would never walk with him again (Monse and I look pretty pathetic after the first 3 hours of walking.) Anywho, while he walked, Monse and I ate eggs and she helped me with my Spanish.
After about 2 hours, Kilo returned and we were off! We walked through town, and then back on to the beach for another 2 hours or so. It felt like much longer than that regardless. When we returned back to the house, Monse and I showered and decided to go into town to get pizza. THEN THE CRAZIEST THING HAPPENED. The entire town lost power. COMPLETE DARKNESS. We kept walking though because we were not about to let a power outage get in the way of us eating food. We found a place that would serve us and we got pizza. The sky was absolutely gorgeous so that alone made us want to stay outside. The town was so united. It was funny..the power came on for about a 30 seconds and everyone started cheering and laughing, but it went back off and everyone shouted together. It was great haha. After we ate, we went back to the house and while Monse passed out in her house, I stayed up to work. I went into the bathroom and decided I needed to shake my sandy towel outside. SO I go outside. and then shut the door. I shake the towel out and when I´m all ready to go back inside, I realize, ¨Oh..I can´t do that. My door locks behind me when I close it..there is no handle. Awesome!¨. So I´m stuck outside. I go to Monse´s cabin and she gets up reluctantly and lets me in. SHe´s half asleep as I´m explaining the mess I´ve gotten myself into and she says I can just stay in there. I do go over to the main house to see if Fernando is there but no...he´s not there..and the house is locked. So i passed out in Monse´s bed waiting for Fernando to get home.
I am writing though. which means I got my lap top and work back after a while. I know I won´t be doing that again. So, almighty God, thanks a million for that lesson haha.

March 29th, Hello Tecolutla!

Woke up, had breakfast, said bye to les enfants before they went camping in the haunted woods. Talked to bertilde for a while, packed my stuff up, wrote down a bunch of Spanish verbs/conjugations/phrases. Taxi to bus, had my own row and shortly after spreading my crap out, a 16 year old named Denise came over to sit with me. She noticed I was american and had been learning English herself so she wanted to talk. We exchanged emails and she said if I was ever in posa rica, I needed to come visit. She checked out my Spanish phrase book and told me a couple that were incorrect. My ipod died so I read the Spanish verb book and napped for a bit. Then I stared getting nervous. I don’t know why. I’m thinking it had something to do with my long awaited arrival to my home for the next two months. Last time I was here my Spanish was non-existent but now it is somewhat existent. I felt some pressure to learning which was good but nerve-racking when I finally got here. It still needs a ton of work but I can start following conversations. Go team!
Monse met me at the bus station and helped me put my many bags into the car. Fernando met us at the car and drove us back to the house/campsite. When I was here in feb, there were about 5 people there during the day, not including Fernando and his family. Now there are tents set up on the beach in front of the house, in the parking lot next to the camp site, and in the back of the house before you get to the path that lead you to the three bungalos. I’m staying in the second bungallo by myself. Monse has the first one so I’m not completely alone back here. My room has two full sized beds , a rocking chair, and a lone rack that I can put hangers on. I didn’t bring any hangers but I’m just saying. I feel like I have my own apartment room thing here which is different. No one speaks any English except monse and Fernando. Monse leaves on Wednesday, however, and I’m imagining Fernando will be all over the place everyday. I seriously have no idea what the days are going to look like and who I’ll be spending them with, if anyone at all. I have my phrase book to keep me company and an ipod. We’ll see how it goes. I set up my pictures on a side table in the room and put all of my bathroom things in their respective locations. Oh and when I came back into my room after getting some rice to eat, there was a cookaracha on my cell phone. Took a picture of that house-warming present. Tomorrow, Monse, a fisherman hired by Fernando, and myself will be walking on the beach for the entire morning looking for nests and finishing some of the research she has left for her thesis. It’s going to be 100 degrees at least with a million percent humidity. Whoot!

March 28th, This is why I took French. Je comprende maintenant!

I woke up around 10 30, had breakfast, and played on my lap top for a while. No one was awake/home so I walked around the house and hung out with myself. Bertilde (Lazaro's sister-in-law) came home around 2pm and asked what I had for breakfast and if I was hungry before we went to the Gregory Colbert exhibit. All of my conversation with Bertilde, by the way, is in French. I told her I got myself cereal and hadn't eaten since and in response, she said, "no one gave you food?!!?" So she had Dalia go and get a rotisserie chicken and potatoes while she made a salad with homemade queso and fresh orange juice. It was lovely.

After eating, Bertilde and I took the metro to Zócalo to see Gregory Colbert's photographs which were displayed in the Nomadic Museum. Dalia had made other plans for the evening and Betty was going to the gym, so they did not join us. His pictures were breath taking, regardless of the company. This is the link to see his portfolio: --- http://www.ashesandsnow.org/en/portfolio/ ----. The Nomadic Museum was a piece of artwork as well. It is a 6,000 square metre structure designed by both Gregory Colbert and the Colombian architect, Simón Vélez. It is an incredible Bamboo structure that accommodates two galleries for huge prints, and three theaters. Two of the theaters display "film haiku's" and the largest one displays a 60-minute feature film. It's truly breath-taking. There are so many people and the energy is so intense that it is hard not to follow the fast pace of the crowd through the galleries. Bertilde and I would stop and let people move around us like water moves around rocks, and we would take our time looking at each photo and then talk about our favorite ones and why.

After we left the museum, we looked at a model of a town built on water in Zócalo, and then proceeded to find coffee. I don't like coffee, but the Mexicans know how to do it. It's more like a dessert for me, than a strange tasting beverage many Americans are addicted to. We sat and had little desserts with our coffee and talked. Earlier when we were walking through the museum my brain hurt from having to listen, and quickly define what Bertilde was saying from French to English. I felt 3 seconds behind every word she said. After the coffee, it was easier. I just listened and responded now without dissecting each word.. I finally relaxed. We talked about my home life, divorce, growing up, what I wanted to do with my life and what she did with hers. The woman is brilliant and has her master's in French from a school in Montreal, Canada. She told me about hard times and good times she's had over the past few years, and how her kids have grown up since then. This was probably my favorite part of the evening. Not only had I gotten to sit for about 3 hours, but I had made a new friend as well.

After coffee, we left Zócalo by Metro. We got back to the house around 10pm, just in time to say bye to Mixanto, Dalia, and Betty who were heading off to a party. I am tired from walking around, and my body still doesn't know what time it is because of the back and forth jet lag I've had over the past week. Soon enough, I'll be back to normal. I'm going to Tecolutla tomorrow at 1 30pm though! I'll miss the family here, but I know I'll see them before I go back to the states in May. Maybe I can convince Bertilde to come and visit!

March 27th, Arrival in Mexico City

I'm using motorola's unsecured internet connection so I thought I would send you all a note. I arrived in Mex City at noon Thursday and trucked around the airport looking for a place to get pesos. I ended up exchanging money I took out here for pesos so everything worked out. I was greeted by Marcelo, Bertilde, Betty, and Dalia when I first got to Lazaro's sister-in-law's (Bertilde). The house is lovely and everyone is very sweet and patient with me as I'm attempting to break out of my shell and just speak spanish.

At 3, I napped for three hours, and when I woke I had dinner. I met Mixanto and the three of them and myself went to rent movies. sidenote: Spiderman 3 is too long.
Around 10 30pm, Bertilde remembered that I wanted to get tacos and insisted we go to eat some. I wasn't hungry but why would I turn down tacos. The tacos..were wonderful. Their family goes to the same taco place about 5 minutes from the house.

When we arrived back home around midnight, Bertilde was in the kitchen and I sat down with her. She asked how I liked the food, and in response I told her Mexican tacos are the perfection. She began telling me about eating different food in Canada and practicing French. I forgot she spoke French, so in an attempt to just talk to her in a language we both understood, I told her I spoke French. (This is the language I studied in Middle and High School.) Bertilde and I spoke for another hour, in French, about travelling, Tecolutla, Canada, France, how glorious the ocean is, things I was interested in studying, where I wanted to go to school, and then looking at maps. This was wonderful because for the first time here I felt like I could communicate and bond rather than just get by.

During the first trip to Mexico in February, the people we were surrounded by really radiated kindness so not being able to speak the language wasn't dictating how I felt about the community. Even though there was a mutual understanding that through words, we weren't going to be able to truly understand each other, I felt like I was missing out on the jokes and warmth that language brings. Speaking with Bertilde in French was probably not the best way to learn Spanish, but it is another language and something I had never enjoyed using until this evening. I connected to another person using a language other than English and it was amazing. I was out of my comfort zone, letting the passion to connect often override my nervousness about speaking incorrectly. French today, Spanish tomorrow.

Everyone is so genuinely kind to me, I'm planning another day to stay with them. Betty, Dalia, and I are going to a showing of photography by Gregory Colbert later today (Friday, 28th) in the city. His pictures are incredible. I'll be heading to Tecolutla Saturday afternoon, so I'm predicting an evening arrival-not too late. Other than the bit of frustration at the airport, the day has been wonderful.