The following is a partial account of my second and final week at La Universidad Internacional, Center for Bilingual Multicultural Studies. The letter is longer than most of my emails and I don't expect that everyone will read it all. Once I started writing it occured to me that it is a good way to log my experiences for my future pleasure, so I included a bit more detail that normal.
After surviving five 9-hour days of classes
I had the weekend to see a bit of Mexican culture. The school sponsors
excursions to various places and I signed up to go to the Teotihuacan Pyrimids
on Sunday. There had been another excursion Saturday but it was full. As
it turned out I was invited on another excursion, a small group of other
students, which was much better.
On the Saturday trip a group of 8 of us took the bus to Mexico City. When we got there we broke up into two groups because some of wanted to visit the Frida Kahlo museum and others wanted to go to a baseball game. It worked out perfectly, four for Frida and four for baseball - and four is the optimum number for the little Mexican taxis. Needless to say, I wasn't with the baseball group. The Frida Museum was great. Although I knew little or nothing about Frida or her work, the women in my group knew all about her and did a great job of filling me in (I was given an assignment by them to view the Frida Kahlo movie when I get home). The Paintings and exhibits were interestingsting and I enjoyed them, but what I was most fascinated with was the building itself. The museum is housed in the home where Frida grew up and later worked. Apparently she came from a very upscale family because the house is very large and very beautiful. Most impressive was an interior courtyard or garden with trees and flowers and also it is a good point from which to view the architecture of the building which looked, to me, to be a fusion of the European Bauhaus style and traditional indigenous Mexican.
The museam is quite small and only took a couple hours to thoroughly traverse. Leaving us some time to do other things. One of the women had been given a recommendation to visit the Saturday Bazaar in San Angel, so we managed to locate a safe looking taxi to get us there. Bazaar is a couple of blocks of an old part of the city where artists and artisans sell their work - perhaps a bit like Jackson Square in New Orleans. As a matter of fact, architecture there is very European and looks very much like Jackson Square (and as usual I enjoyed most analyzing the buildings there too).
By this time we were ready for something less energetic (most of the group were fairly mature) and so we finished up with lunch (lunch in Mexico is about 4:00) at of all places The Hard Rock Cafe. kelli, who is a college senior, had a hankering for a hamburguesa americano.
I probably should mention the bus travel between Mexico City and Cuernavaca. Unlike the little Camiónes often pictured for Mexico. The intercity transportion is outstanding - like flying first class - spaceous seats, beverage service and a movie, all for $6.10(usd)
The Sunday trip to the Teotihoucan ruins
was fun too. One of the best things about the excursions is being able
to meet and talk with some of the other students. At the start of the trip
we all spoke with one another in Spanish (Spanglish) but as the day wore
on we tended to use less Spanish and more English until totally exhausted
at the end of the trip no one spoke Spanish except for the guide. We were
lucky with the weather while at the pyramids but Mexico City had a downpour
(we had to pass through there) and we spent two or three hours in a traffic
jam due (1) to a large tree that fell down across the highway (major highway,
major tree) and (2) a flooded road (same highway) - very much like Houston.
The students here are at all different levels. While I am not the least prepared, most have had two or more years of formal Spanish. I'm trying very hard to express myself in my new language, however it some times has had amusing consequences. For instance, Dolores, a new friend and who has several years of Spanish, often breaks into gales of laughter when I stammer out some of my phrases. When I was younger I would have probably taken offense, but now I realize that if she didn't like and respect me, she wouldn't be able to laugh in front of me (would wait till my back was turned) and I take it as a compliment. And if I make her day a bit happier, hey, I'm here to serve. However, I'm afraid I sometimes sound a bit like a Spanish Yogi Berra.
I don't think think I mentioned the climate here in Cuernavaca; it definitely is worthy of note. I was very surprised when I arrived that it was so mild - cool and dry, a bit like Denver or maybe cooler at this time of year. I had expected that by coming south of Louisiana the weather would only get worse - but no. They call this the "City of Eternal Spring" and for good reason. Also, when it rains, it is usually a night and the morning breaks clear and fresh. Most afternoons I walk home, about a 20-minute walk, up and down steep hills (they also call Cuernavaca "Little San Francisco") and I hardly raise a sweat because it is so cool and dry. Also while walking the view to the west is very reminiscent of Golden (massive Hills) except here the mountains surround us an all sides.
The zenith of the second week was dinner and drinks at two fabulous restaurants for our last evening together. Dolores invited me to join her and a few of her friends for drinks at "Las Manañitas" and diner at Gaia's. The evening was perecto and I wish I could recall in full detail, all the sights, sounds and conversation which made it so pleasant. Las Mañanita's where we had cocktails is a world-renown Inn and has been featured in many travel books (ie Fine Inns of ...). Like most of these genera, it had been a private home of a wealthy family. Notable of it, was its spacious formal garden with roaming peacocks. As we sat in garden chatting and enjoying our drinks various peacocks would approach us with quizzical expressions - I was not sure who was observing whom.
After cocktails we continued the evening
at Gaia's, a very fine restaurant and also a originally a private home.
Even though Las Mañanita's is more famous, Gaia's is more beautiful.
It had been owned by a successful artist (Mario Morano) and the architectural
and artistic detail is exquisite. The dining room where we ate opened onto
a balcony which overlooked an atrium. In the center of the atrium, below,
was a small swimming pool (with unimaginably clear water) the bottom of
which was a mosaic of running figure which was personally installed, tile
by tile, by Diego Rivera for his friend, Mario.
As the two weeks come to a close, I feel sad. The experience has been wonderful and probably similar to Heather's when she attended summer camp in Maine. In an environment like this, we create strong bonds with both the other students and the staff. I hope I will be able to maintain contact (email) with at least some of them. When I get home I hope to set up a web page where we can share our photos (post them and down load them). I am already anticipating my return visit to Cuernavaca; maybe next summer, maybe sooner.
Buena Suerte,
Bruce