Third month abroad

It’s that time of month again, like I don’t write at completely random intervals. This marks three months in Mexico! Not much has happened the last month really, with the exception of “Día de los muertos” and going to the caves in Tona(tico). Also I went to Toluca to have a presentation about Norway and live with another family for 3 days. Alright, so things have happened, but they seem a little drab compared to last update. Got to keep the expectations up right?

Still playing that guitar

31st of October until 2nd were the “días de los muertos” here in México. The 31st we went to see the “ofrendas”. These are alters dedicated to different people that have either died recently or that were of special significance to the families. The ofrendas always have water, salt and candles, but other than that they include whatever the person liked, like a deck of cards, tequila or different foods. At the jardín there was a competition for best ofrenda, where about 8 big ones were competing. My favorites were an Aztec one and one dedicated to some famous Mexican actor. In the night there was a baile(dance), and the mean people organizing it served beer from liter cups! For 25 pesos each!

Blood and displaced body organs, that's how to do a proper ofrenda

The 1st we went out in the night with costumes and masks and joined in on a parade going around town. Everyone danced through all of Tonatico with a marching band in the rear, sweating like hell behind our masks. Afterwards there was a costume competition at the basketball field. A huge guy with an axe and great mask won. Then we went to the Mirage disco in Ixtapan. I could also mention that there was sort of a fireworks show. A shabby wooden bull (far from full-size) with lots of fireworks attached to it was lit up. Whoever wanted picked could pick it up and charge at the kids standing around. It was pretty funny seeing the kids panic as the crazy exploding bull was rushing towards them.

It wasn't easy to see anything with this mask

The 2nd wasn’t too special. In the morning we went to the graveyard which was richly decorated. It was also roasting hot, so I was glad to get back to the house. Tired from two late nights with friends and family I went to the Memphis disco in Ixtapan with my uncle to see the “Chicas AAA”. They came on at 2 in the night, so I came home at 3.30 pretty exhausted. Luckily, then came the weekend.

The caves in Tona are really fascinating! The following day I went there with Samantha from New Zeeland and her family. They go one kilometer into the mountain, and have tons worthy of seeing. Also the lights went out when we were in the middle of it which was quite something; being 500m into a mountain not being able to see anything.

I'm going down there Tuesday

We are going back Tuesday to go rappelling and swimming in the, without doubt, ice cold water. Swimming inside a mountain should be “bién chido”.

Speaking about cold, the last days have really been just that. I brought my winter jacket to school yesterday, and had a scarf as well!

Last weekend I went to Toluca to have a presentation about Norway. I was preoccupying myself with not knowing what was the best example of something typically Norwegian, so it ended up with being about the basics; population, language and religion, and of course; climate. I imagined it to be a big thing, as the volunteers of Tona had told me about this two weeks earlier. I turned out we from Tona were just about the only ones who knew about it. The presentation was for about 30 students so it wasn’t a big deal. In December I’m having one for our entire school, that’s 400.

Afterwards came the event really planned for the weekend; a temporary change of families. I was to stay with another family just for the weekend, one living in bitter Toluca that is. Toluca is a very cold city; located at a 2,680m above sea level. I like Toluca because of the cool discos and the shopping centers, but other than that I usually miss Tonatico the same instance I get there. I have become a pussy to temperature living in this hot climate. At least my brother says it’s unusually cold for Tona this year. Today has been pretty good, I’m in my tee.

It was a pretty nice family, my siblings went to private school (with a pretty negative view on public ones) and the parents had great jobs. My father seemed very strict, and his Spanish was difficult to understand. The mom was really nice, and my brothers cool. Friday I went to a great party, let me emphasize the great a bit. GreeaAAEaET. I was expecting another family reunion with cake, soda and kids, but it wasn’t what I was going to at all. It was a party of amateur rock bands with free drinks! Going with my two new brothers, one of them being thirteen years old, I didn’t take to much advantage of the open bar, but nevertheless the music was great! All thanks to the last guy who got on stage. It was a two-man band, drums and guitar, but they weren’t short of anyone as far as I could tell. Also the intimacy of the entire party was great, I don’t think we were more than 40 there.

The rest of the weekend wasn’t too special, Saturday we went to a movie and Sunday I came back to Tona because we went to the Ixtapan water park. That was a mostly cold experience. But come one, how many can say they’ve gone swimming in November? I should go one more time in January just to make sure I stand out. The Ixtapan Balneario(water park) is pretty well known in Mexico, and It turned out Max’(over at Maxicooo, yeah, it’s all in intelligible Dutch) family had decided to go there as well. Apparently, his family was super rich and lived in what he described as a castle. His bedroom had friggin’ 2 stories!

The following Monday there was another parade. This was to celebrate the (insert number)st/nd/rd/th anniversary of the Mexican revolution. This parade was different because it was a so called desfile deportiv. Athletic parade is probably an acceptable translation. It basically means that all the schoolgirls wear miniskirts and march dancing. Being myself I think the schoolgirls got some good competition from the grandma’s in Mexican dresses with rifles and ammunition belts.

Don't panic, they behave quite nicely

Aaah, my lil' bro' heading off to the navy

Economically I’m doing more or less as planned. My goal has been using less than 20 000 pesos until my next stipend comes. I’ve kept good track of my money. I’m pretty sure I’d use more in Norway.

Coming up is the rappelling Tuesday, going to Teotihuacan Friday to stay with underprivileged children and Christmas. What do Mexicans give for Christmas-gifts? How are the customs? Well just have to wait and see.