What a great weekend! On Saturday morning, RosaEna dropped me off at the university at 7:00 AM and I met with 25 people. We got into two separate vans and did the 3 hour drive to Cuetzalan, Mexico. Basically it was like driving from Portland to the Gorge, but the tropical version.
We were in the mountains, so it was completely green and beautiful, but it was humid and there were lizards and different types of birds everywhere. On Saturday, we got to the hotel and ate lunch (which was delicious...I really do love the food here). We then went for a walk throughout the town. We eventually ended up at a waterfall (which made me think of Multnomah Falls in Oregon). It was beautiful!
That afternoon, we walked to downtown Cuetzalan, which isn't very big, but is very historical. We were all shopping and looking around for about an hour. I went to look in the shops and was thinking about buying something for my parents, but then before I knew it, the rest of the group was gone. Plus, it was 6:00, which meant there were only 2 hours left of daylight, and there was no cell phone service in the town. Not a good combination!
I spent an hour walking around the town and was trying really hard to stay calm and not stress out, but honestly, I was starting to get really nervous. I had no idea where I was, couldn't remember the name of the hotel, didn't have anyone's phone number from the group, and my cell phone wouldn't work. Thankfully, I ran into two women from the group. I didn't recognize them, but they knew me, so that was really lucky. They were lost too, but it was better being in a lost group rather than alone. Eventually we found our way back to the hotel about 7:30.
It took me a while to calm down, so I decided to watch the sunset from the hotel. It is definitely a different experience being a town rather than a huge city. The sunset was beautiful and I enjoyed watching the people associate with each other.
The next day, we drove to another town called Hueheutla, which is a A LOT smaller than Cuetzalan and is made up of indigenous tribes. The area reminded me of a forest/jungle. It was extremely green and beautiful, but very humid. We walked up and down some hills, along a small stream, and eventually ended up at a garden where we met 15 women from the indigenous tribe. It was very interesting because they speak a different language, so our tour guide translated everything into Spanish. The women gave us homemade tamales that were wrapped in plantain leaves.
We then kept exploring and kept walking along the hills. Because it was so humid, it was getting difficult. But one of the tour guides showed me a plant that is used to cool people off. Before we knew it, the whole group had strips of these green plants all across our foreheads. :-)
We stayed in Hueheutla until about 5:00. Another group of indigenous women fed us a wonderful dinner of black beans, rice, fried cauliflower, veggie soup, and tortillas. (When in Mexico, you will never have a meal without tortillas and salsa....which I love). We then got in the car and did the 5 hour drive back to Puebla. I met some new friends this weekend and am thankful for the experience of seeing different cultures within the same country.
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