Guess What I Did Today!
Trip Start
Jul 09, 2009
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49
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Trip End
Dec 12, 2009
Mexico City, Central Mexico and Gulf Coast, Mexico
Friday, October 2, 2009
Wow. I love this city. I love this city so much. And my Spanish has improved so much! Just when I feel like I can finally have a great, in-depth conversation with my host family, I have to leave for Europe (on Sunday).
Don't you hate it when that happens? :)
So I have a few days to catch you up on but my most favorite day (so far) in Mexico City was today when I climbed the 3rd largest pyramid in the world: The Pyramid of the Sun! So amazing!
Before I tell you anymore about today, let me first start with Tuesday.
If you ever want to be treated like a celebrity, just join Up With People and perform at a high school in Mexico.
I'm talking about mobs upon mobs of crazy, screaming fans waving cameras and autograph books in our faces!
Right away in the morning, we (a small group of us who were performing in the mini-show) performed for a television spot on our outdoor stage at Xochitla. Then we headed to a local high school (Preparatoria #27) to perform our show. We were greeted by the school's marching band! What a welcome!
After getting ready, we went outside to practice for a few minutes before our actual performance.
Our plans changed as we saw that the entire school was already sitting, waiting for the performance to start!
Because we were guests in their school, the students wanted to welcome us by doing some performing of their own. We watched an opera singer, a guitarist, and a pianist who composed his own music. So awesome! Then, half of the choir sang for us while the other half asked everyone from Up With People to dance!
Then we performed our mini-show! The screams were deafening! It felt so great to perform for students who were so appreciative of our music and message.
That, and I'm pretty sure that all of the girls had crushes on our dance captain, Paul.
I did get a video clip of me singing but it will take more than 5 hours to upload. I'm working on it! On a side note, I have taken a lot of video clips but anything over 20 seconds takes about an hour to upload. I'll upload them when I have time so be prepared to read something from one city while watching a video from another!
After lunch at the school, we headed back to Xochitla to prepare for Wednesday's culture fair.
Remember the culture fair in Lake Havasu City, Arizona? Well, we had another culture fair here in Mexico City!
With 1500 high schoolers. Wow!
I painted faces all morning with Michelle (CA) and Sarah (CO). We had a great time meeting all of the high schoolers. I've never painted so many stars or music notes in my life (those received the most requests).
After an awesome day with the students, we learned about Sweden from our Swedish students. Following that was some great reflection time. I love reflection time. It's greatly appreciated to have time to think, reflect, journal, write... and catch a few winks!
After an exhausting but amazing day, we (Nilo and I) were picked up by our host sister (Fiana). Our host parents wanted to take us to their favorite restaurant for dinner so we (Nilo and I) along with our host family and some family friends drove about 30 minutes to their favorite family restaurant. Our host dad wanted to make sure that Nilo and I tried all typical Mexican food (after our last host family, is there anything else to try?) so he ordered for us.
When he asked me how many tacos I wanted, I replied "One please!"
I got 4. Surprise, surprise!
We were even serenaded by a guitarist at dinner! It was a great night out :)
Thursday, has been my favorite day so far in Mexico City. First of all, there are 6 sets of families here. 6! And they traveled with us today! They had a great time with our cast.
And they highly recommend that all parents who have yet to travel outside of the United States to see their daughter AND have yet to experience a true day in the life of an Up With People participant, should do so immediately. Especially when the group goes to Germany or Poland.
Just sayin' :) Can I make it more obvious? :)
We had a great tour of Mexico City with Armando, our tour guide, UWP staff member, and Mexico City native. He knew so much about the city and the history. We visited the Mexican Palace, an absolutely gorgeous cathedral, the Mexican Post Palace (their post office), the Mexico City Opera House, and so many other beautiful places. I can't get over the architecture here. Every building is so detailed and exquisite!
We also experienced just how much Mexico City is sinking! Mexico City is actually an island built on a large lake. Very large! And now, because it is so populated and contains so many structures, cars, etc..., it is starting to sink! Some of the older building - the most beautiful but also the most heavy - are sinking which is causing the sidewalks to become topsy-turvy. The sidewalks are actually curved! The beautiful cathedral we visited actually has a pendulum inside that is moving! The government is working to correct the problem, but how do you prevent the world's largest city from sinking?
After a great tour, we ate lunch. All of us. AT A RESTAURANT! An alumni from Mexico City arranged our entire lunch today at a great seafood restaurant called Fisher's. What an awesome thing to do for us :) A section of the restaurant was reserved out for Up With People and we were served chips and salsa, Spanish rice, fish and chips, and french fries! I can't remember how long it's been since I've had french fries! And for dessert, popsicles! And not just any kind of popsicle... fruit popsicles! I had a melon-flavored one :)
Fisher's was also the meeting place for some alumni. Many of the parents that traveled with us on Thursday traveled together in Up With People as well. And now, their children are doing the same thing! How cool! Those parents met up with some other alumni in Mexico City once we arrived at Fisher's. It was fun to watch them reconnect.
After an amazing lunch, we traveled to the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacán, a nearby districk of Mexico City. The Pyramid of the Sun is the 3rd largest pyramid in the world. It is claimed to have been built by the Aztec Indians but, as our amazing tour guide, Armando, explained, this is false because the structure and details of this pyramid do not match with other Aztec structures. Thus many speculate that the Aztecs were trying to claim the pyramid as theirs when, in reality, no one is quite sure what tribe constructed it.
And so, we headed to the top! 245 steps and a few deep breaths, I was standing on the top of the 3rd largest pyramid in the world, overlooking Mexico City. I could also see a nearby pyramid, The Pyramid of the Moon, and other ancient ruins. We all took some amazing pictures and had a great time on that pyramid!
A bunch of us took the infamous "jumping" picture in which you jump and someone takes a picture of you in mid-air. I got one too!
And the first time I jumped, I landed on both feet but with only one flip-flop on. My other flip-flop went over the side of the pyramid.
And our awesome education coordinator, Dave, climbed down to get it for me! In reality, it only went about 30 feet down the pyramid but probably could have flown down the entire edge! A big thanks to Dave for rescuing my shoe!
It's now 6:30 a.m. on Friday morning and it's Community Impact Day for Up With People. I have to go get ready!
Have a great day and a fabulous weekend, everyone! Go and conquer something this weekend... something you've always wanted to do. It may not be as tall as the Pyramid of the Sun but you'll feel just as accomplished :)
Video of me at the Pyramid of the Sun
Video of a very friendly squirrel at the Grand Canyon (before arriving in Chino Valley, Arizona)
