Okay, I won’t keep you all in suspense any longer. I’ll tell you about what I’ve been up to.

Last weekend was my time for nature, I guess. I went to an archaeological/hisorical site that was just recently uncovered called Gauchi-Montones. There were three large round pyramids and a bunch of smaller ones. The number and positioning of them had significance for the indian’s rituals and stuff, but unfortunately, I can’t remember what it was.












The next day three friends and I went hiking in an area outside the city called La Barranca. It’s essentially a huge drop-off into a valley. It was so green and gorgeous! We walked straight down (literally, like a 50-degree incline) a bunch of switch-backs. Then we decided to take a “short cut” down the trolley-car tracks and ran into a swarm of bees. We didn’t want to turn around so we just ran through them all the way down the tracks. At the bottom there’s a river with a bridge you can cross if you pay this guy a peso (10 cents). I guess it was legit because he gave us a ticket saying we had paid the government of Jalisco. The trek back up the hill was definitely demanding and the best exercise I’ve gotten since I’ve been here. We were all sweaty and gross and I got a good picture of us but unfortunately it’s on my film camera (pinche cámara).

































This weekend my friend Mary (also from Washington!) and I decided to be adventurous and hopped a bus to the gorgeous colonial town of Guanajuato, four hours away. There is a huge arts festival going on so we weren’t able to make reservations anywhere before going. During this festival a lot of people just sleep on the street so we figured we could rough it if we couldn’t find a room. Turns out we didn’t have to, though. We were inquiring at a hostel when a guy informed us that he had a room in his house we could rent for $15/night. We decided to go for it. It was nice enough (well, cots for beds, toilet that wouldn’t work), but after seeing it and how far away it was, we talked him down to $10/night. But then, an hour after we had settled down to sleep (mmm... 5 am) we were awoken to the lovely sound of ROOSTERS right outside our window. They wouldn’t shut up so we finally just got up and left at like 10. We had met some nice French girls the night before so we hung out a little with them and their friends. We went to a mine and were given a tour by an eight-year-old girl. We couldn’t understand her so we asked her to speak slower, but she didn’t. Mary and I couldn’t stop laughing cause the whole thing just seemed so ridiculous so be led around by a child. At the end she was like “That’s it” and then stood there waiting for her tip. We also visited the home where Diego Rivera lived as a child. I didn’t know anything about him before (like that he was married to Frida Kahlo) so it was pretty interesting. Of course we did some other stuff but I think it was most fun to just wander the streets looking at the vendors and musicians playing on every corner. There were so many people on the streets all night and day and there was always someone to strike up a conversation with. Mucho divertido.











































I've discovered that I really like writing about myself and I could probably write a lot more, but I’m not going to. You’ll thank me later. Ciao.