1st Bi-annual Sabb Awards

If I were to give awards in these categories, the following would take the cake:

Best meal: Chiles en nogada
Best sunset: Playa de los muertos, Puerto Vallarta
Most random experience: Touring rural outhouses in Veracruz
Best night of debauchery: Salsa dancing with all of Susan's daughters, then paparazzi photo shoot
Best strolling musician: El Potro
Scariest moment: Waking up to see burglar's feet
Best hotel (excluding all-inclusive): Casa de los Dulces Suenos
Best movie: A Place Called Chiapas
Most fulfilling experience: Volunteering at CITAC
Best drink: Beso negro
Best ruins: Yaxchilan

Most revolutionary experience: Visiting the Zapatista community of Oventic
Best language school: Escuela mexicana
Most painful moment (actually hours): Horseback ride to Chamula
Best animal spotting: Crocodiles
Most nausea-inducing road: San Cristobal to Palenque
Best park: Parque Los Tecajetes, Xalapa
Most allergic moment: Cempasuchil fields
Best church: San Juan Chamula
Best live performance: Nebbia
Best visitors: Mom, Dad, and Jules

Congratulations to all the winners! Europe, it's your turn to compete.

Bienvenido

Welcome, Issac David! I'm so glad you're here!

EZLN

Two friends and I had the unique opportunity to visit the Zapatista community of Oventic. To learn more about the Zapatista movement, click here: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zapatista_Army_of_National_Liberation?wasRedirected=true

We weren't allowed to photograph any of the people there, but these are some of the beautiful murals found there.

Walking away from Oventic, I wondered:
Does there come a time when violence is the only option? Can good come of it? What role does education play in a social revolution?

Blessed art thou among women

For the past week or so, in preparation for the celebration of the Virgen of Guadalupe, not fifteen minutes go by without a religious procession passing through the main pedestrian street of San Cristobal. Some come with marching bands, others come yelling cheers that seem more appropriate for a football match than for the adoration of the mother of God, and the most impressive come running from distant towns carrying torches. Little boys are dressed as Juan Diego, the indigenous man to whom the Virgen appeared, and little girls are dressed as Guadalupe herself.
I have heard it said many times that before dating a Mexican man, you need to know that you'll always rank third: first will be his mother and second will be the Virgen of Guadalupe. Looking around at the magnitude of this celebration, that's not too hard to believe.
Speaking of girl power, happy birthday to my dear friend Jean, one of the most powerful girls I know!

Closet Zapatistas

Who knew?

Lost and Found

A couple of years ago, in a Peruvian marketplace, a saleswoman gifted me, along with my change, a small red and black seed to keep in my wallet. She assured me that by keeping it there, it would bring me luck in love and money. I did as I was told and continued to do so, despite not winning the lottery and definitely not being the poster child for "lucky in love."
As I packed for my sabbatical, the little red and black seed made the move from trendy Chicago wallet to floral Mexican coinpurse. But, about a month ago, in a cafe in Coatepec, I oh-so-gracefully tipped my purse and dumped all the contents of it onto the floor, including, I soon found out, the good luck charm. As many people rushed to help me recover my belongings (chivalry, by the way, is definitely not dead in Mexico), all I could think about was locating, on the patterned tile floor, the tiny South American seed. Too embarrassed to get down on my hands and knees and admit what I was looking for, I begrudgingly gave up the search, in the moment resigning myself to poverty and lonliness. For the next couple of days, each time I went to pay for something, I felt the absence of litle black and red.
As time passed, though, and my luck in love and money seemed to stay pretty much the same as always, I thought less and less about my Peruvian seed, until eventually, I forgot about it entirely. Until today, that is.
On a hike through the steamy Lancondon Jungle, Ulises, our guide, stopped to point out a special tree, the ormosia, which just happens to produce a certain red and black seed. Looking down, I saw that the ground was carpeted with them, only these were bigger and brighter than the one that I had been carrying around for so long. All that luck right there for the taking! I chose a nice, big, fat, shiny one and dropped it right in my purse.
I have had trouble believing it for a long time, but maybe it really is true that you have to lose something and let it go in order for it to come back to you, this time even bigger and better.

Despierta, Mary Beth, Despierta

For the 13 of her 31 years that I`ve known her (how can it be that long?), MB and I have had many adventures. On her natal day, I thought I'd list a few:
-Navigating the cheese section at Whole Foods
-Traveling to the Grand Canyon with a psychic
-Eating Chinese food in Mexico (not all of the adventures were the greatest of ideas)
-Being thrown off of a waterfall by raging rapids (why'd she go and break the camera?)
-Convincing Matt to go for bijotes (doesn't take much convincing)
-Watching her assault the waiter at Taj Mahal
-Compiling playlist after playlist
-Performing a mean rendition of Sinatra on a boat
-Reenacting the blue footed booby mating dance while dressed as aforementioned booby

Wishing you many more adventures! Happy birthday!

It´s a tough life, but somebody´s gotta do it

10+10+10 Happy 30th Becky!

10 nice things about Becky:
*She's an amazing book club documentarian
*She's the best Picture karaoke partner a Sheryl Crow impersonator could ask for
*She's generous and patient even when your piles are all over her green chair
*She's a passionate advocate for Upward Bound
*She'll sit up and watch Sex and the City with you even if it's past her bedtime
*She's a #1 source for trashy yet amazing music
*She doesn't get mad when she does all the tech research, and then you buy the better model
*She does the Humpty Dumpty rap almost as well as the 5 year olds
*Her Taffy Apple salad is top notch
*She'll take care of your Slanket while you're away

10 little known things about Becky:
*She has been known to be given the children's menu at restaurants
*She downloads music "legally" from Russia
*She has a Winnie the Pooh bedspread
*Extreme Makeover: Home Edition makes her cry
*She has bowled naked
*She's been to both the geographic center of the US and of North America
*She can name 8 different fabrics in Spanish
*She once ran over a cooler while driving a car that wasn't her own (how convenient)
*She winces when playing catch with 5 year olds
*She has a duck named after her

10 wishes for Becky on her birthday:
*That she never run out of gas in the middle of nowhere unless there is a four-wheeler nearby
*That she check off all 50 states (just not before me)
*That that pesky raccoon never return
*That she always have a stash of Life Savers for that forgotten Cero visit
*That there always be goat cheese on the menu
*That she never win free tickets to an all female music festival
*That she always be victorious in the PICKLE ROUND!
*That she never have to drive in reverse
*That a cute sailor be on board all of her ships
*That she have another 30 years and another 30 after that of zestful living!

Gobble!

Today, like every day, I have an amazing amount of things for which to be thankful. Thanks for being some of them. And eat some extra French Silk for me!

And the fortune that went with it

After my sushi-fest, this was the fortune that arrived at my table:

La oportunidad toca a su puerta una sola vez. Este alerta.

(Opportunity knocks only once. Be alert.)

So I've been trying to stay alert, keeping a keen eye open for that opportunity.

Since receiving that fortune, I've turned down an invitation to join some men in the basement of the "Internet cafe," an offer of a ride in the back of a pick-up truck through a deserted ex-hacienda, and the chance to donate money on-line to a stranger, even though the title of the email affirmed that God had chosen me for that very task.

I hope that none of these were the opportunity to which the fortune was referring.

Maybe the knocks will be louder in Puerto Vallarta (or maybe I'll go back fo a new fortune tonight. After all, mango and avocado together...)

Stay tuned: San Pavo

Pseudo-Japanese Sushi Break

OK, I'll admit it. I'm sick of Mexican food. If I never put another bite of chilaquiles in my mouth again, I think I'll be just fine (and the thing is, I like chilaquiles (what's not to like about chips, cheese, and sour cream for breakfast?)) It's just that I've had my fill of corn-based products, and, while not at all ready to go home, I am more than ready to be embraced by Chicago's culinary selections.
So you can imagine my palette's delight at coming across a Japanese restaurant, non-authentic to be sure, but Japanese nonetheless. Salmon rolls with mango and avocado? I think I will, thank you very much.

Stay tuned: Sugar daddies

H1N1

I would somehow find this message more reassuring if it weren´t next to a skeleton.

(Translation: Our school is flu-free)

Tyin´ it

Congratulations, Rachel and Travis! I wish you much happiness and many adventures together!!

Padres

My parents just departed after visiting me for 10 days. We took part in a Day of the Dead tour and then continued on to Mexico City. Traveling with them, you would have never guessed that they hadn´t ever traveled outside of the US (except for Canada and Los Cabos, which hardly count as international destinations).

These are the reasons I was proud of them as travelers:

1. Not a word of complaint about the food, even though dad just about jumped out of his skin with excitement when he found ravioli on a menu

2. They attempted a little Spanish (mom knows muebles!), although the occasional German "nein" escaped form my father´s mouth (Brain research is accurate!)

3. They climbed to the top of the Pyramid of the Sun, all 248 steps

4. Dad kept everyone on the tour entertained with his on-demand karaoke

5. Dad stomached mezcal, and mom took a shot (of water!)

And I thank them for:

1. The extra space in their suitcases (to relieve me of some of my suitcase bulk)

2. The magical floating coin purse

3. Moving outside of their comfort zone to come and see me!!!

Happy Birthday, Jenn!

Once upon a time, Jenn and I dressed as gypsies and read fortunes on the Quad. On her birthday, my wish for her is that she never lose that sense of magic, fun, and light-heartedness.

P.S. Long live Redheads With Balls!

Stop and Smell the Flowers

Cempasúchil (marigolds) play a very important role in the Day of the Dead observance. They are found on every altar, and the cemeteries are filled with them on the night of November first. It is believed that the fragrance of the cempasúchil leads the ánimas, or spirits of the dead, back to the living world for this night.

We had the opportunity to visit the fields in San Pedro, Michoacán where the cempasúchil are harvested. (Made me sneeze quite a bit, but the experience was worth it!)

Night of the Dead

On November first, around 10 pm, we headed to the village cemeteries where people would hold their all-night vigils. We visited three different villages, and each cemetary was markedly distinct from the others. The first, in Cucuchucho was beautifully decorated and illuminated with thousands of candles. As we awkwardly traipsed over thier ancestors´ graves, the people there graciously greeted us and answered our questions.

In the second village of Tzurumutaro, the cemetery was much more humble. Nonetheless, people brought what they could, and whole families sat together throughout the night.

The last cemetery we visited was in the village of Ihuatzio, and this was the flashy, showcase graveyard. The ofrendas looked professionally arranged, and some families even had had structures built to house them. There was much more of a party atmosphere here and, as a touist, I felt much less out of place.

The following day, November 2nd, we visited the town of Santa Clara del Cobre and stopped by its gorgeous cemetery on the side of a hill. It was packed with people, and many families had contracted bands to play graveside.

I feel so lucky to have had the experience of witnessing first-hand this beautiful and respectful tradition.