Weekend Fun

 This weekend was full of some good adventures I wanted to share. Saturday morning I woke up and was just sitting in my bed just kind of keeping to myself. Gaby, my host sister and roommate, and already left to go work in the store. As I was lying there I suddenly heard Gaby, my host mom, call my name. I  jumped out of bed to go see what she wanted. She looked at me and just said "vamos" [which means "let's go"]. I looked at her strangely and she just told me to put on shoes and come. So, in my pajamas, undone hair, and non-made up face i put on some flip-flops and got into the car with Gaby & Martin. They finally told me that we were going to a little town outside of Tehuacán to buy some food. It was about a twenty minute drive out of the city to a tiny unknown town. We got there and I got out of the car and was able to watch some ladies hand making tortillas. Martin was there apparently to buy a dish called "mole de panza". I had heard of mole before, but this was different. It was basically like a soup. We got the mole and then started the journey back to Tehuacán. Once we got home I was finally able to put on real clothes and do my make-up. Then it was time for lunch. We ended up eating the mole de panza for lunch along with a really spicy taco and some cantaloupe. I tried to eat the mole de panza to be polite, but it tasted pretty awful to my gringo taste buds. Shortly after lunch, I was going to sit in the store with Gaby, but I started feeling very nauseated. I took some pepto bismol to try to settle my stomach and it did eventually help. I later told Gaby, the mom, that I thought the mole de panza upset my stomach, and that's when she decided to tell me that mole de panza is made from GOAT STOMACH. I was very surprised to learn that, but it finally made sense why my own stomach was so upset. Apparently my stomach and goat stomach don't get along very well.

this isn't my actual mole de panza, but this is what it looks like.

Sunday I was planning on waking up early to attend my 8 AM church, but unfortunately my alarm decided to not go off, so by the time I woke up I was already too late to go. I decided then that I would go to church with my host family. My family is Catholic and I have never been to a Catholic church before so I thought that it would be a good thing to experience. We got ready and headed to the 10 AM mass. The cathedral was beautiful and it was very large. I was really confused for most of the mass because I'm so unfamiliar with the way that it works, not to mention it was held in an entirely different language. After mass we went to brunch at a little restaurant across the street with the Grandma of the family. I don't remember the name of what I ordered, but it was basically eggs wrapped in tortillas with black beans on top. Very delicious. 

After brunch we did a little bit of touring around the centro in the city. The family is always really excited to show me things, especially if they are specific to Tehuacán. We got to see the City Hall of Tehuacán which is painted with lots of beautiful murals and we visited the outside of the Cathedral once again. 

The Cathedral that I attended mass in. Huge! Beautiful! 

me in front of the city hall's many murals

the door to city hall


After some sightseeing, my family took me to the local market to pick up some food. There was tons of fruit, fish, meat, and pretty much anything you could imagine at a market like this. It was crowded and very busy. On our way out the family jokingly asked me if I would like to try chapulines, which at the time I didn't know what it meant, but they showed me them and they were basically little brownish-red bugs. I said no at first, but then the grandmother bought some and asked me again if I would try them. I was reluctant at first, but then I decided to just go for it. I was really scared especially since I didn't even know what chapulines are. I later found out that they were grasshoppers. They weren't awful. They were salty and crunchy. Gaby & Daniel said that they hadn't even ever tried them before. I was pretty proud of myself for being open to something like that. I am trying to try as many new things as possible rand to have an open mind about all the things I'm doing here. I ended up eating a second grasshopper because I took one out of the bag to take a picture and then the Grandmother shut the bag and I didn't know what else to do with the one I had taken out...so I just ate it.

there were some men in the market playing the xylophone! 

moments before my first grasshopper.

hmmmmm.

After the market we actually visited the local mall. The outside didn't really look like a typical mall to me, but it had all of the same types of stores as an American mall. Most of the stores I hadn't heard of, but there were a few familiar places. There was even a McDonald's inside the mall! I loved that the chicken sandwich there is called a "McPollo".

All in all, I had a great weekend of trying and doing new things. I can't wait for all the adventures that are in store for the new couple of months here in Mexico!