Saturday: El Centro

written on Saturday...
This morning we woke up at 7:00 - no alarm! :) - and did things like write in our journals until about 8:30 or so.  Then we went out and ate breakfast (click there for the recipe).  It was very super tasty, but heavier and more than I'm used to for breakfast.  I want to make it for lunch sometime when I get home.  Then we showered.... which was an adventure.


Jill showered first and had no problem. Then it was my turn. I went to the bathroom and then got in the shower.... only to discover there was no water. In any of the faucets. Sheepishly, I wrapped myself in a towel and went out in the kitchen to report that "Lo siento... pero no hay agua en la ducha..." (I'm sorry... but there's no water in the shower...) Thankfully, Carmita the daughter was very understanding and went and turned on something from the backyard and then the shower worked. Hot water, cold water, good enough water pressure. There's a window in there so you can feel the air outside, so the cool water actually felt really nice.

Speaking of the weather, after breakfast and showering, Carmita took us to figure out the bus system so we can get to school today, and the weather was not too bad! I was expecting it to feel like Oklahoma in the summer only worse, but it was not even quite that bad! It was not cool by any means, but there was a nice wind that helped a lot. And I love my skirts and white shirts :) (By the way, for anyone who's interested, I just pushed the billionth ant off my computer since starting to type this post.) The school looks cool! And it was sooooo fun riding the bus through the city. We went to the bank so we could get some pesos, and guess what. My credit card didn't work. Luckily I have a debit one, though. We're going to try it later when we're over there.

When we got home, we were all pretty tired and hot, so we treated ourselves to glasses of warm water (when you're so so hot, cold water hurts your throat) and then after we finished that, glasses of cold water. :) We then proceeded to watch Carmita make lunch...

Yum!  It was kind of a lot of food, but delicious!  Then Carmita went to her church (she's Catholic) to make some flower arrangements for church tomorrow and Jill and I went to siesta - only neither of us slept.  We have a pool in the backyard, so Jill was in there, but I was feeling kind of sick so I stayed inside and video chatted with my family first on skype, and then with Michael for a while and also got to type chat for a few minutes with Joel.  We decided we would go to the bank to try and get my debit card to work and then maybe go to El Centro for a little bit because some of the people in our group had someone who was willing to give them a ride.  Carmita went to her church to make some flower arrangements for church tomorrow and told us she would take us at 5 or 6 to figure out the bus for church tomorrow.... but we didn't leave until 4:40.  I wasn't quite sure what to do, because I knew that the "on time" idea is different here but I didn't know how Carmita was, so I left her a note telling her where we were going and what time we thought we'd be back.  When we left, there was no car, so we took the bus and went straight to the El Centro.  It was fun!  I was feeling kind of sick, so I probably didn't act super fun, but it was :)  I didn't take any pictures today, but I'm excited to go back! There are so many beautiful things there!

When we first got there, we stopped and took pictures and went inside the oldest cathedral in America!  It borders the park in the middle of El Centro.  It was really pretty, but so awesome because it was so old.  A bunch of the floor inside is made of old tombstones.  I'm curious as to who they belong to and why they're in there.  After that, we kind of just walked around the outside of the park.  Then we went into the park part.  By the way, today is Children's Day in Mexico, which is a pretty big deal.  While we were in the park (where there is a flag pole), two military men came to take it down and we got to watch them do that.  It was neat.

FREDDY:
We were talking about it and this man came up - it was so funny! - and started talking about how usually there's a military band that plays the anthem while they're taking down the flag but for some reason there wasn't today.   He then proceeded to tell us his name, how well we spoke Spanish, ask about where we learned Spanish.  He teased us about dating, talked to us about religion, and proceeded to tell us his whole life story.   It turned out to be a tourist trap, albeit a funny one :).  He was an employee from a store (although he never told us that) and took us there to show us about some things he'd told us would make our trip better :)  That place was expensive!  But there's a hat that I totally want to buy.  I didn't have enough money and wasn't confident enough to barter for it then, but I'm going to go someplace cheaper and buy one, I think.  They're pretty.

We went to an ice cream shop called Colón (after Cristobal Colón) and it was yummy!  I got a peach kind and it tasted like baby food :)  I tried some of the other kinds people got, though, and my favorite of all of them was the guayábana.  Mmmmm!  After we ate at Colón we came home... but there were problems finding the bus.  Everyone went in different directions until us and two boys were left - Lars and Nate - and we didn't know how to get home, so they took us.  We waited for the bus.... and waited and waited and waited, but the one we waited for never came.  Finally we saw one that said "Plaza Fiesta," which is where we get off the first bus to go to school, so we took that one.  When we got off, we walked for a long time, but we finally got home!  And the boys were nice enough to take us home. Super fun. :)

When we got home (at like, 9 or 10:00), I felt pretty bad.  Carmita didn't see the note we left her, so she waited up for us to get home because she didn't know where we were.  She laughed when we told her the story of the bus but then she offered to take us in her car to show us how to get to church and she made a few comments that sounded like she wasn't fine.  The way to church doesn't seem too bad, though. I was sitting in the backseat and she had the radio on, so I'm trusting Jill to get us there! :)  I'm sure it'll be good, though. It seems easy.  I got to type-chat with Joel and video chat with Mom and Dad and fam, so that was cool.  I'm so excited for church tomorrow! I'm ready to meet some more people.  It'll be fun! :)