Hmmm...what have I been up to the last few days? On Saturday, my study abroad group took an excursion to the town of Tequila. I bet you can't guess what it's famous for! We took a tour of the José Cuervo factory and of course got samples of the different varieties of tequilas. We also stopped by the agave fields (the plant that tequila is made from) and got to see how it is harvested. They let us taste a piece of it raw, but it really didn't have any flavor. If anyone knows what jicama tastes like, it was kind of like that, only drier.

Later that night, I went out with a group of people to a restaurant/bar where they were showing a big "fútbol" game. When it was over, a Mariachi band came out and played some upbeat music. There was no dancing though, so we moved to some club that was playing American hip hop music. It cost about $7 for girls to get in and around $10 for guys. It's like that everywhere here, where the guys pay more. I like it, but of course the guys don't think it's fair.

I met a nice guy at the club and he actually called me the next day and we went out and saw a movie (no, it wasn't a date; my roommate came with us!). We saw "La Isla", er..."The Island" which was in English with Spanish subtitles. That was good because of course I could understand everything, but it also helped my Spanish. The guy, Jeremy, is actually Brasilian, but he grew up in Costa Rica and is now going to medical school here. So he is fluent in Spanish, Portuegese, and English. A very interesting guy indeed.

I went to church with my mamá on Sunday. It's nice because mass doesn't start until 12:30, so I get to sleep in pretty late. She goes to a pretty modern church; it's arranged in a semi-circle, not one of those long, narrow ones that you usually think of, and it was very bright inside. We sang some songs and listened to some scripture and the priest talked for about 10 minutes. Then they took communion. Ime doesn't go every week so I think I'll try to go whenever she does.

Yesterday it was raining (well, more like a downpour, including thunder and lightning) so I decided to take a walk. I ended up going to Wal-Mart. Oh yes, there are Wal-Marts here; they are taking over the world! I had to "check" my umbrella at the door and I was very confused about what they were saying to me. Then I went to a grocery store because Ime wanted me to get some juice that was on sale. We drink a lot of juice at home and all different kinds, too. Among them are mango juice, peach juice, and apple nectar (very different than regular apple juice!). I also picked up this fantastic apple-flavored soda and I think it is my new favorite drink. Yum!

Whenever we American-looking girls walk outside, men honk and say things like "how beautiful" and "hey, chicas." It's kind of flattering I guess, but annoying at the same time. Even the taxis and bus drivers do it, which seems pretty unprofessional to me. We were warned that since this is a "machista" society, it's perfectly normal and they will never follow us or try to touch us.

It's also an adventure when we walk because the drivers here are CRAZY!!! There are sidewalks on all the streets, but that's because we would get run over if we walked on the streets. There's a lot of honking, especially if a car stops or is going too slow. If that happens, they all just go around it and cut other cars off in the process. Stop signs are optional; usually they don't even yield. Cars definitely have the right-of-way in all cases. When we want to cross the street, we have to look in all directions and wait until there are no cars coming. It's even dangerous at red lights, because not all of them stop and there are still some turning right and not yielding. Most of the locals don't cross at the corner because it would take too long to wait for all the cars to stop. They just run across the middle whenever there is a chance. I've started to do this too, but it still feels like they're going to run over my heels if I'm not quick enough.

If you have any questions for me, or something you want me to talk about, please leave a comment--I'd love to answer your questions!