In the words of Rebecca Black: it’s Friday. We were planning on going to the beach with the local church youth group, but the event was cancelled by the rainy season. The evening turned into family game night, which consisted of Pass the Pigs (or as Ashley calls it, “Pasa los Tocinos), Charades, and Basta. Basta is basically Mexican Scattegories. We ate Oaxaca bread and drank Oaxaca chocolate out of Oaxaca mugs with our Oaxaca family. We apologize for the lack of blog posts, but as you can see there are lots of other things to occupy our time. Here are a few highlights that we have not yet covered from the last five weeks:
After being here for a week, we were invited, along with the entire town, to a wedding. We only thought we had escaped… But there was free food, so we went. The wedding started at two (which in Mexican time means between 3 and 3:30) and lasted until the wee hours of the madrugada. No one should ever complain about the length of an American wedding reception.
On September 16, 1810, Mexico received its independence from Spain. On September 15, 2011, Cacalote partied like it was 1810. Cheap food stands, sketchy ice cream vendors, and eggs filled with flour -that was only the beginning. We were told that at midnight there would be a “shout” celebrating the moment of independence, and we were determined to witness it. We observed drunken karaoke, walked around town with a mob of torch bearing students yelling “Viva Mexico!”, and watched our “sister” Grace play in the school band. Two minutes after midnight, still no shout. We thought maybe they were running on Mexican time so we waited. Finally, we asked Antonio if it was over. And sadly, the answer was yes. Disappointed, we made Antonio walk us back to our casa.
In addition to Taco Fridays, we take weekly trips into Puerto Escondido, which is a tourist town. Our favorite place to hang out is a little café named Dan’s. With free internet, a ping pong table, incredible food, free coffee refills, and the occasional group of Australian surfers, it’s our favorite hotspot.
On the subject of internet. Ashley’s new name in Mexico is “Red” (as in the color of her hair) which in Spanish translates into “internet”. Her last name is Brown; which in Spanish is Café (the word for Brown). Needless to say, but compelled to say: Her name is Internet Café.
After spending hours on the internet, we head to the magical kingdom that is Super Che. Where we buy our groceries. Only the necessities of life: Giant bottles of pure jugo de naranja nada mas, Milch Candy Bars, bottled Starbucks frappuccinos, and crema de cacahuate.
Other times, we take shorter trips to Rio Grande to use internet. Honestly, we go for a little Sandwich shop named Jox. They make tortas gigantes that will rock your socks off for only 45 pesos.
Among all of our exploits, we have also been attending Spanish classes. We recently finished our first session. Our dear friends Antonio and Milo finished the final level and are leaving us this week. They will be missed.
