Happy Christmas

December, month of the two most important days of the year; Christmas and my birthday. Let me start of with a recap of last the month.

• I went to Teotihuacan
• Christmas

Teotihuacan, about 40 minutes northeast of Mexico City, is home of the biggest pyramids I have ever seen, or climbed for that sake. Furthermore, also home of the first pyramids I've ever seen. This was the biggest city of Mexico before the Spaniards came, housing nearly 250 000 Teotihuacans. Furthermore we were to go with kids from an orphanage, having being with a girl or boy through the day. I don't have a whole lot of time, so I'll just let the pictures talk for themselves. I know, I'm barely updating my blog, and when I finally do I'm being sloppy, but its just the way it is. I've had a more restricte access to the computer lately.

Approaching the biggest pile of rock I've ever seen

One of the pyramids had around 280 steps

Time for lunch

What's with this dude?

A great view

So that's Teotihuacan. Christmas here has been something very different. Mexico has obvious signs of influence from the American Christmas, with tons of lights for decorations, at in some homes very American inflatable Santa Clauses. Still, as with everything, there are Mexican traditions as well. Very special are the Posadas. For nine days, starting on the 16th of December, there are parties in the night. Some done by families, others by political parties or organizations. The parties are in the streets, with music, ponche (a traditional warm fruit drink), and lots of people. The two last nights the political parties PAN(the party of the current president, Felipe Calderón) and PRI held posadas in the Jardín. They were quite big concerts with local durangense bands.
Also there have been events by the church. First there's a mass in Church, followed by a parade around town (this is what they call pedir posada - seeking shelter or lodging) carrying a little sculpture of Mary and Joseph. During the parade they pick up piñatas and the kind of firework-bulls I explained in the last post (the ones with loads of fireworks mounted on them, called toros or toritos)

Also yesterday we went to see some Nacimientos. These are big recreations of Jesus' birth, some covering the entire floor of a house. They were very impressive, but it was impossible to take a good picture of them without flash in the low light. At least I don't know how.

Lots of green

The biggest nacimiento in Tonatico

A little banda, although very hard to make out, it consists of 4 green frogs and a big drummer

So that's mostly it. In January there's supposed to be a big feria here in Tona. I'm not quite sure what it will be like, but I'm imagining all of Tonatico turning into a big marketplace. Also big events in the evenings. From the 31st of January to the 4th or 5th of February most of the AFS-ers in the area are coming, towards the end of the feria. Also, the 8th of January school is starting again, and exams are on. David no prepared.

My headset broke for my iPod, so the last weeks have been missing something very me in my pocket. I went looking for a new one but you'd be lucky to find anything of better quality than a 10$ Rolex. I ordered a Koss PortaPro in a web cafe the other day though, so gotta go sometime to see if it got through.

Anyway, I just wanna say very happy Christmas to everyone everywhere, and I hope you'll send me a tought when you're opening your presents and stuffing your faces with delicious Christmas food. Thinking alot about you guys this special Christmas, but oh my GOD, one more month and I'm halfways. That's hard to belive. Also, most AFS veterans say the second half goes faster than imaginable. Before I know it I'll be walking Tashi (my sisters pet dog) against my will and hanging around in Bø with you buddies.

So.. HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY MY BIRTHDAY EVERYONE!!

Oh, and sorry for typies, I didn't write this in Word this time.