(no subject)
It's really nice to settle into a routine here. Classes started yesterday and the pace of life here in Taxco is much more reasonable than it was in Mexico City. We moved into our hotel on Saturday, and it's awesome. The hotel is, I think, a former monastery, and there are rooms on three floors surrounding a courtyard. There are some really comfortable communal areas and a rooftop terrace with a beautiful view of the city.
So Saturday morning I went to the silver market. Taxco used to be a big silver mining area. Most of the actual mining has stopped, or moved elsewhere in Mexico, but there's a lot of silver work that happens here, and the Saturday market is a pretty big deal. There were streets and streets full of little stalls selling jewelry, and I bought some fun things. It was funny to go back to the hotel (where all 12 of us in the course are staying) and see everyone wearing new earrings and necklaces. We're such good tourists. That night we went out to a bar that had a guy playing guitar and singing. I had beer with hot sauce poured in and chile powder around the rim, kind of the way you can put salt around a margarita. The musician was playing songs that everyone knew and sang along to, and it made me wish I knew the words. Everyone I've met has been so friendly, and some of the folks at the bar tried to teach me the song lyrics, but it didn't go very well.
Sunday I didn't do much besides watch the football final. Oh, and there is a restaurant right across from the hotel that serves a lot of vegetarian food, which is a nice change from all the many variations on corn and meat that I've been eating.
We started classes yesterday - pre-hispanic art in the morning and spanish in the afternoon. The Spanish class is really great, and although we're only supposed to meet twice a week, the teacher invited us to join her women in literature class, which meets another two times a week. We did that today, and I really enjoyed it. The campus is fun. It's a center for foreign students, so there are people from all over the place. I swam in the pool between classes today, and on the patio nearby a Hispanic guy was teaching a Caribbean girl and an Asian guy how to do flamenco dance. There is also a classical guitar festival and competition going on in Taxco, and most of the competition part is happening during day at the CEPE campus (where we are). There's beautiful music everywhere you go!
So I mentioned I swam today, and yesterday after class I ran on something like a track. There are a few runners in the group, and we had been told that there was a track. It turned out to be a more or less square brick walkway around a playground and a soccer field...but at least it's a flat place in this very hilly town. Although we did a lot of walking around Mexico City last week, I can't really call it excercise, so it's been nice to be more active here.
So Saturday morning I went to the silver market. Taxco used to be a big silver mining area. Most of the actual mining has stopped, or moved elsewhere in Mexico, but there's a lot of silver work that happens here, and the Saturday market is a pretty big deal. There were streets and streets full of little stalls selling jewelry, and I bought some fun things. It was funny to go back to the hotel (where all 12 of us in the course are staying) and see everyone wearing new earrings and necklaces. We're such good tourists. That night we went out to a bar that had a guy playing guitar and singing. I had beer with hot sauce poured in and chile powder around the rim, kind of the way you can put salt around a margarita. The musician was playing songs that everyone knew and sang along to, and it made me wish I knew the words. Everyone I've met has been so friendly, and some of the folks at the bar tried to teach me the song lyrics, but it didn't go very well.
Sunday I didn't do much besides watch the football final. Oh, and there is a restaurant right across from the hotel that serves a lot of vegetarian food, which is a nice change from all the many variations on corn and meat that I've been eating.
We started classes yesterday - pre-hispanic art in the morning and spanish in the afternoon. The Spanish class is really great, and although we're only supposed to meet twice a week, the teacher invited us to join her women in literature class, which meets another two times a week. We did that today, and I really enjoyed it. The campus is fun. It's a center for foreign students, so there are people from all over the place. I swam in the pool between classes today, and on the patio nearby a Hispanic guy was teaching a Caribbean girl and an Asian guy how to do flamenco dance. There is also a classical guitar festival and competition going on in Taxco, and most of the competition part is happening during day at the CEPE campus (where we are). There's beautiful music everywhere you go!
So I mentioned I swam today, and yesterday after class I ran on something like a track. There are a few runners in the group, and we had been told that there was a track. It turned out to be a more or less square brick walkway around a playground and a soccer field...but at least it's a flat place in this very hilly town. Although we did a lot of walking around Mexico City last week, I can't really call it excercise, so it's been nice to be more active here.