The Following was in The News, the English-language paper in Mexico City today. http://www.thenews.com.mx/home/tnArticulo.asp?cve_cont=390335


My family has always celebrated Thanksgiving, we really love it. I think it's the greatest holiday, it can't get any easier than this. Family, good food and thank God... NO GIFTS!

But it's not always as easy as it sounds. As time passes by, life eventually catches up with us; times change, people change, grandparents get older, we get older, children become teenagers; divorce, sickness, quarrels, etc., take their toll

This past Thursday I couldn't be with my family, I missed them so much, but at the same time I felt grateful for all of them, for all the memories of past Thanksgivings; "the good old days" when everything was or seemed normal.

Are the normal days gone forever? By normal I mean "the good old days," the good times, the simpler times. Can we ever get them back? I guess we could if we didn't forget how incredibly peaceful and joyful a normal life can be.

I've always said "normal is the new perfect." Who wants perfection anyway? Its impossible to obtain and even hard- er to keep up. So this year I give thanks for my wonderful and happy and healthy, full of love, "normal" life.

And you?

An abundance of Thanks

We had a lovely Thanksgiving trip to IL this weekend, seeing Dave's whole family from grandma to babies. I had been hoping to make it in time for a Thanksgiving Eve service, but we knew time might be too tight. Rather than worry, I finally offered up the situation to God: "Jesus, if you want us to make it to church, you're going to have to make it happen!!!" We managed to make it through the immigration line, the car rental line, the backed-up traffic, and the rain to get to church with 2 minutes to spare!!!

For the good we all inherit, thanks be to God.
For the wonders that astound us, For the truths that still confound us
Most of all that love has found us, thanks be to God.

Thankful

The U.S. is one of the only countries with a day set aside for giving thanks. Then, we fill it up with stressful travel, family pressure, new recipes, and too much shopping. Even so, the holiday is purely "united-states-ian" and I love it. I love eating too much, shopping too much, and getting too many hugs from relatives - wait, I can never have too many hugs.

So if you're reading this over the Thanksgiving holiday - STOP!! I'd rather talk with you in person, and so would the rest of the people who know you. So call, email, text, or facebook me today. I'd love to tell you how thankful I am that you are in my life.

And if you don't get a chance, I'll tell you now. Thank you.

Health Care Debate

This is a quote from The News, the English-language newspaper in Mexico City. For the full article, see http://www.thenews.com.mx/home/tnhome.asp?cve_home=2075

"The president also promised that by the end of his term in 2012, Mexico will have universal healthcare.Even with obstacles, the goal is still achievable, Calderón said; not a single Mexican will lack access to a doctor, medicine and hospital care, if necessary."

Our Spanish tutor is very well read, and also quite political. She'd be in the green party or something if she was from the U.S. Anyway, she hates the current Mexican president, but has a bit of a man-crush on Obama. He had her from January, when he promised that he and his cabinet would take a pay cut. (salaries of mexican governemnt workers are really really high, as I mentioned in a previous posting.)

Anyway, Sara wants to support Obama, but doesn't understand the current healthcare 'crisis' in the U.S. We tried to explain to her about insurance, which they don't have in Mexico, or about the spiraling cost of health care for everyone, which they don't have in mexico, or highly paid doctors, which they don't have in mexico. Finally, we explained that in the States, anyone (citizen, resident, tourist, criminal) can get help to keep them from dying. As long as they have a baby coming out or are in the process of a heart attack or were just in a car accident or something, they can get enough care to keep them from dying. But that we don't have pre-natal care or heart disease treatment or cancer treatment or anything to prevent these people from showing up in the hospital.

Turns out, in Mexico, they don't even have that kind of basic help. You have to pay for an ambulance to pick you up. If you don't have money, you can call the red cross, and they will come when they can, which might be after you're dead. If you're not immediately dying (like car accident or childbirth) you're going to walk/take a bus/ride the metro/beg your friend for a ride in their really unreliable car.

If you go in for surgery, and you need blood, they will not perform the surgery until your family has donated enough blood to restock their supply. (it does not have to be the same blood type.) If they cannot do that, and you cannot pay for the blood you're going to use, they will not perform the surgery.

If you are in labor, and there are complications, they will only perform a c-section if you can pay for it. If you cannot pay, it doesn't matter if the baby's or the mother's life is in danger, they will not perform the surgery.

There are exceptions, of course. The Red Cross provides charity clinics, ambulances, and hospitals. There are 2 "welfare" hospitals in Mexico City for the very very poor and very very old who qualify for mexico's version of Medicaid. But those poor people have to get to that hospital in order to get treatment. Sometimes teen mothers walk to Mexico city from hundreds of kilometers away bc the midwife in their town won't help them deliver (since they're unmarried) and the only charity hospitals are in D.F.

So, in Sara's opinion, we already have free health care in the U.S. Dying people get care. Everyone gets an ambulance ride. Poor communities have free clinics. Employed people and retired people get doctor's appointments and immunizations and medications and treatments and tests.

When you look at it that way, you can start to see why immigrants will walk hundreds of miles to have a baby in one of our hospitals. I'd do the same if the situation were reversed.

Pain Of Global Downturn Persists In Mexico

This is from an article on NPR. My comments are in italics To see the complete article, go to http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=114321374

This is a picture from the Central de Abasto - a huge market near the Mexico City airport. It covers more than 750 acres, making it about eight times bigger than the Mall of America outside Minneapolis. We have had to drive through this on our way home from the airport, which makes for a long and confusing ride.


As the U.S. appears to be pulling out of recession, Mexico's economy is shrinking at its fastest pace since the Great Depression. The effects of the downturn are being felt across the nation, in all sectors of society and in most industries.

An herb vendor nearby says he started breaking up the thick bunches of parsley and cilantro into halves and quarters to make them more affordable. He says he never had to do that in the past.

And shoppers also say they're buying only the basics.
Lugging a canvas bag stuffed with vegetables, 67-year-old shopper Candelaria Gonzalez says she is no longer buying fish or beef.
"The price of beef has gone up to 80 pesos [$6] a kilo, and the minimum wage is only 50 pesos a day. Imagine," she says. "All you can get for the minimum wage is beans and tortillas."
The Mexican minimum wage is 55 pesos, or slightly more than $4 a day.

We've actually been told that Mexico has 2 minimum wages - one for manual labor or unskilled jobs and one for skilled jobs or those requiring a certain level of schooling. The manual labor minimum wage is $4 per day, the other one is possibly $300 per month. The number of hours worked is not a factor in the wage, leading many unskilled laborers to work 10-12 hour days and many skilled workers to put in less than 6 hours. The average Mexican makes about $10 per day. To put that in perspective, the average American makes about $100 per day.

In a country where nearly half the population already lived below the poverty line, the global economic downturn has slashed all of Mexico's largest sources of revenue. Oil profits are in a free fall. Automotive exports declined 40 percent this year. Swine flu and Mexico's warring drug cartels have battered tourism. And cash sent home from Mexicans working in the United States is dropping at an unprecedented pace.

Alejandro Villagomez is a professor of macroeconomics at the Tecnologico de Monterrey, one of the country's top private universities. He predicts that Mexico's economy will contract 7 to 8 percent in 2009.

40% of Mexicans live in Poverty, nearly 60% pay no taxes - normally bc they are "self-employed" "underemployed" or paid "under the table" The avg. annual salary for a family in Mexico is $4000 USD, the average in Mexico City is $12,000 USD - not bc there is less poverty, but bc there is more wealth.

Puzzles

Before we moved to Mexico, I ordered a special puzzle of our house in AA. The puzzle is a map with our house as the center piece and the 3 mile radius of our house, including major streets, schools, parks, shopping centers, rivers, etc. I thought it would be a fun thing to do if we got homesick. Also, I knew that we would not have TV or internet at our house for the first few weeks after we arrived.
We just put the puzzle together this weekend.



The puzzle didn't arrive in time to go on the moving truck. Then, it didn't arrive on time for our summer '08 visit. Then, it didn't fit in our suitcases after our Christmas '08 visit. Finally, the poor puzzle did make it to Mexico June '09 - nearly 5 months ago. Now that we have satellite TV & internet at home, as well as friends in the area and lots of travel plans, we haven't had a lot of weekends to stay home and do puzzles.
This weekend, Dave was sick, so we did stay home. And it turns out that once he starts on a puzzle, he won't stop until he's done! It must be his engineering talents.
While I'm worried about all the pieces of my life that I'll have to put back together when we move home next year, Dave can calmly wait until after we move back. Then, he can calmly evaluate all of the options and decide (calmly again) on what step he wants to take.
I look at all of the pieces and get pretty desperate and overwhelmed by the options in front of me.
Somehow I think that I need to pray a little more and worry a little less. Maybe trust that the puzzle really will come together, even if it's a little later than I'd planned and a little more work that I wanted.

I almost...

We went home this past weekend for a "pre-thanksgiving" family get-together. It was AWESOME. Mainly really amazing that as soon as I step off the plane, I feel as if I have never left. I smell the air and hear the words and see the places and then walk into the comfort of familiar arms that have been waiting for a hug and I am home. It really doesn't matter how long I've been gone or where I went, home is a psychological space that I can always find with those warm hugs.

Still, this was the longest time I've gone in-between trips home (basically in forever)and also the longest time I've considered somewhere other than Michigan home. So I was surprised at all the things I "almost" did, without thinking about where I am:

I almost -
sped past a police cruiser on the freeway
ran through a red light when no one was there
drove 80 mph on a 45 road
tipped the cashier at the grocery store
asked someone for the "basura" before squeaking out the word "trashcan"
forgot the word for dustbin (that plastic thingy used with a broom?)
couldn't order in English at Chipotle (a carnitas burrito with tomatillo salsa just sort of lends itself to a fully spanish conversation!!!)
added 3 blankets to my niece before she went outside
kissed male non-relatives on the cheeks
shook everyone's hand upon entering and leaving a room
turned on "univision" for the real news of the day

So... whenever I do move "back" home, I'll be taking a lot of my new home with me. Especially an annoyance with LOUD English conversations. Seriously, we don't all need to know what you're saying, people.

What is "caucasian"?

The journal topic for the day in Geography was, "What is Caucasian?"
My students normally come in, write down the topic, and then write for 5 minutes. It takes this small group of ESL and LD 7th & 8th graders about 5-6 minutes to write the question and 3 complete sentences in response.
This day, they wrote down the question, then -
"Miss, what is 'cow-cass-ee-an'?" "what mean this word?" "I think it is someone from caucasia-land!" "how you say this?" "Caucasian not in my dictionary!" (by that, Ji-Won meant that her electronic dictionary could not provide a Korean equivalent for the word)

The point was to show that there really is a group of countries called the "Caucas" countries, and it is between Russia, Turkey, and Iraq, and so "caucasian" really does not mean what most North Americans think it means.
Unfortunately, my kids had no idea what it means, so my genius idea to have students write about what they assumed the word meant backfired.

*sigh*
Teaching is all about thinking on my feet. Even if my kids don't know what that word means, either.

I offered to give them a hint. They love hints. "Drew, Brianna, and I are all Caucasian," I said, pointing out the two missionary kids whose parents are from the U.S. and including myself in the group so that they wouldn't feel picked on. "Monica might be Caucasian, but there's still debate on that" I was afraid Monica, the only fully ethnic Mexican in the class, would dislike being pointed out, but she beamed proudly. She liked being a little mysterious, it seemed.

"Yellow-hair!" one korean shouted out. I reminded them that drew & I are both brunettes, and that there was no debate about Monica's decidedly non-yellow hair.
"yellow hair & blue eyes - what is the word for that?"
A furious korean conversation - with enough English and Spanish words sprinkled in for me to get the gist of the conversation - followed, and they decided that 'blonde' was not what caucasian meant or they would have heard of it before.
Sandy, the one who had looked up 'caucasian' in her dictionary, started demanding a translation for a korean word. No one knew what that word would be in English, so they thought it could mean caucasian, except that since cuacasian wasn't in her dictionary, it may not have a direct Korean translation anyway.
"westerner!" she shouted, proud of her quick work at the electronic dictionary.
"American!" shouted another student with even less grasp of the English language but also without a fancy electronic dictionary.

I smiled to myself as they started to understand the concept, but I still wanted them to write. I told them to write down their best guesses and then we'd talk about it.

When I explained that "caucasian" was a word used in the U.S. to talk about someone with European heritage, they looked confused. Drew was especially confused bc his family was from Tennessee, not Europe. (no joke) Finally, I said it was a polite way of saying "white people" kind of like "african american" is a nice way of saying "black people".

They wanted to know what is the nice way of saying "asian people". I said "asian people" was a nice way of saying it. But they weren't buying it - why didn't they get a special word like caucasian? Especially since caucasia-land is an actual place, and I wasn't from there but I still got to check off the caucasian box on my census form?

Education is the key

This is another article from THE NEWS, the English-language newspaper here in Mexico City. for the full article, go to http://www.thenews.com.mx/home/tnArticulo.asp?cve_cont=389721

Education is the key

In Mexico, social development is more important than investment risk ratings, according to JosAc Narro Robles, rector of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).

The problem is structural and of the future, he stressed, not situational or of the moment. The most important thing, he said, is not just to create wealth, but to distribute it adequately. For that reason, he said it's necessary to subordinate private interests in favor of the interests of the nation, to define priorities and devote more resources to higher education, science and culture.
He said that education is fundamental for progress.

Guanajuato Governor Juan Manuel Oliva Ramírez said that for the 200 years of Mexico's independence, academics have been committed to the construction of a better, more just and humane, country.

Mexico has a good school system, and it's a 'public' system, in that it's free for citizens. But, it's not available for all citizens. All children are entitled to 5 years of free elementary school. Much like in the U.S., poor neighborhoods tend to have lower-quality schools. The difference is that 40%-60% of Mexico's citizens live in poor neighborhoods. Students must pass a test to enter middle school, and there is only enough space for half of the mexican children. After middle school, the children take another test and again only half of them progress to prep school, or high school that is required for college entry. From this small group, less than half will qualify for college. For those who are able to pass the tests, elementary, middle school, high schoolo, and even college is basically free. Unfortunately, it is mainly the students from the rich neighborhoods, with the better public school teachers, who are able to pass the tests and continue in the public system - despite the fact that their parents are most able to afford a private school alternative. This leads to a cycle of poverty and divided classes that cannot be easily broken. Education would quickly move Mexico into the realm of developed countries, as an educated voting public would no longer accept as much government corruption and mismanagement. I think.

Raramuri

This is my last copper canyon post, I promise!!

Our stop in Creel gave us a chance to see some of the local indiginous peoples called "raramuri".
Originally inhabitants of much of the state of Chihuahua, the Rarámuri retreated to the Copper Canyon in the Sierra Madre Occidental on the arrival of Spanish explorers in the sixteenth century. After discovering that the Copper Canyon did not, in fact, have any copper, the Spanish abandoned that idea but did find silver locally, and enslaved the local natives to work in their silver mines. Many many natives died from the working conditions in the mines or the diseases brought by the Spanish people and their animals. Those who hid from the Spanish in the mountains survived.

Current estimates put the population of the Rarámuri in 2006 at between 50,000 and 70,000 people. Most still practice a traditional lifestyle, inhabiting natural shelters such as caves or cliff overhangs, as well as small cabins of wood or stone. Staple crops are corn and beans; however, many of the Rarámuri still practice transhumance, raising cattle, sheep, and goats. Almost all Rarámuri migrate in some form or another in the course of the year.

There was a store in Creel that sells locally made handicrafts to raise money for a Christian mission hospital and school. The goal of these missions are to provide health care and education for free to the local Raramuri people.



Many of the women and girls we saw were wearing "traditional" outfits, even though they looked more like 19th century prairie dresses than indigenous clothing. I wondered why the men all wore jeans and sweatshirts, and then Dave found a picture of traditional Raramuri men, and decided that once jeans were available, none would voluntarily wear loincloths very often.



This mural was painted on the wall in our hotel room:

Creel:

We flew into Chihuahua late Friday night, after working all day, and then had to be up at 4:30 am to buy tickets and get on the only train leaving that day at 6am. Needless to say, we were exhausted when we got on the train. Thankfully, we weren't going far that first day. About 5 hours after getting on the train (and after a delicious breakfast, a long nap, and some delightful podcasts), we stopped in Creel. This is a delightful small town, and a great place for a rest. We spent most of the rest of Saturday sleeping and relaxing (and trying to stay warm! we weren't prepared for northern mountainous weather) but Sunday morning we woke up ready for our vacation day with about 3 hours to kill.

Dave got the great idea to walk around and "see the town". Well, it was a small town, with not much to see, but I wanted to walk before 9 hours stuck on a train. Thankfully, we did find an amazing rocky hill behind our hotel. Dave then got the great idea to climb it. I watched.


Since Dave did not die ("no death, no jail" is my travel mantra) and he offered to help me up, I climbed up, too.



From up on that rock, we were able to truly see the town of Creel, and not just the 2-block tourist center.



Definitely worth the climb.

El Chepe/ El Ferrocarril

In order to truly see the Copper Canyon, one has to ride on a train through the mountain range. There is one train, run by the Mexican Government: The Chihuahua Pacific Railway. (By combining "ch" and "p", they had the abbreviation "CHP" which in Spanish is pronounced "chay-pay", so over time the official brand name of the train company was changed to "Chepe" rather than try to use the letters as an abreviation.)


The train runs 673 km (418 mi), passing over 37 bridges and through 86 tunnels, rising as high as 2,400 m (7,900 ft) above sea level near Divisadero (the continental divide), a popular lookout spot over the canyons. Each one-way trip takes roughly 16 hours.

Bridge:


Us on the bridge:


16 hours is a long time to be on the train. We did 5 hours the first day, and saw not much of anything ;) The second day, we rode about 10+ hours, and the last 4 hours were dark. the train goes really slowly, likely due to old tracks and even older rail cars. So even on the flat, boring part, we were only going about 40km/25mi per hour. Unfortunately, there are only airports at the beginning and the end of the rail system, so we had to ride 9 hours of not much interesting to see the 7 hours of really great stuff. We were smart enough to take naps, eat in the dining car, watch movies, listen to podcasts, and read books during the 'boring' parts. I enjoyed the relaxation of the train nearly as much as the amazing scenery in the middle.

We could see great stuff from our window seats, and thanks to our friend Claire, who loaned us her camera, we also got great pictures through the windows. But since Mexico isn't one to really care about safety regulations, it was common for groups to congregate near the open windows of the space between the train cars and get amazing pictures. I hope that some safety department somewhere doesn't stop this practice. It was one of the better aspects of the ride.

Copper Canyon

400 years ago, Spanish warriors invaded Central and Southern American in search of gold and other precious metals. After fighting off a few natives, and finding no gold or diamonds or fountain of youth, you can imagine their surprise at finding this:



This is a rock from what's now called the "barranca del cobre" or copper canyon. The Spanish conquistadores saw the green and orange moss on the rocks, lots of rocks, mainly from far away (because, honestly, getting up close and personal was a little difficult using only their feet and a donkey). They assumed that the rocks throughout the canyon were holding hidden reserves of copper. Not gold, not even silver, but copper. So they were pretty excited.



Today, thanks to engineers who made it easier to travel to and through the canyon, and to geologists who researched the area, we know much more about the "copper" canyon. It is really a series of 6 canyons, formed by 6 different rivers, hidden within the Western Tarahumara/ Raramuri mountain range. The overall system is at least 4 times larger than the "Grand" canyon in Arizona, and is definitely deeper than the Grand Canyon in multiple areas.

This is us standing in front of a large canyon. It is absolutely beautiful, and pictures do not do it justice.

for more copper canyon pics, check out our picture site at www.dropshots.com/DavidAnderson

Best Place to Retire?

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/RetirementandWills/RetireInStyle/the-worlds-best-places-to-retire.aspx

Mexico is the second best place to retire (in the world) as ranked by International Living. The U.S. is ranked 22nd. Mexico gets a 78% (the highest score on the list was 79% - no where is perfect) and the U.S. gets a 62%. The climate in Mexico is amazing, of course, but so is the culture, the low cost of health care, the comfortable houses, and the relative safety of the country.

It is rare to retire at 28, but if we could become overnight millionaires, I don't think Dave & I would mind retiring here!

Mexico can handle a new H1N1 outbreak

This is also an article from THE NEWS, the English-language paper in Mexico City. for the entire article, go to http://www.thenews.com.mx/home/tnhome.asp?cve_home=2071
Mexico can handle a new H1N1 outbreak

The World Health Organization (WHO) said yesterday that it believes Mexico will be capable of controlling a second wave of the H1N1 human influenza virus. They also commended the Mexican authorities and the population's ability to handle the surge of the pandemic.

To date, the national Secretariat of Health (SSA) has confirmed 50,234 cases of the H1N1 virus in Mexico, 328 of which have been fatal.

The H1N1 human influenza virus has caused the deaths of at least 5,000 people and has infected over 414,945 people worldwide.


Unfortunately, this likely means no surprise swine-flu vacation. Shucks.

Yummy Mexican Food!

This is an excerpt from an article on NPR about some delicious mexican food. for some amazing recipes, and the full article, check out http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120062592



Day of the Dead is one of Mexico's most meaningful celebrations, and Michoacan is a spectacular place to experience it, partly because of its beauty and cuisine, but also because of the richness and depth of its centuries-old traditions.

The Purepechas, also called Tarascos, who remain the predominant indigenous group of the region, believed since pre-Hispanic times that the dead return once a year to visit those they miss. Centuries of intermarriage between Purepecha, Spanish and Catholic Church traditions and ingredients resulted in an eclectic mix of rituals and exquisite foods.

Former political analyst Patricia Jinich left her job in a research policy institute to pursue her passion: Mexican food. She is the official chef of the Mexican Cultural Institute in Washington, D.C., where she heads Mexican Table, a culinary program with workshops, cooking demonstrations and tasting dinners. She lives in Maryland with her husband and three young sons. Read more at her blog, Pati's Mexican Table. http://www.patismexicantable.com/

Christian Character Day

The Christian school where I currently teach is very very conservative. It is an interdenominational international school, so the administration has decided to take the most conservative route possible. So, we don't have halloween in case any of our families are opposed to it. But, to placate the kids need for costume parade, we have 'Christian Character Day' and the kids can dress up as any Bible character or historical Christian figure. We have an assembly where the kids stand in front of the school and we guess who they're supposed to be; the kids get prizes for their creativity.

Last year, I chose my costume to keep my boss guessing about my political persuasion!


This year, I almost didn't go to the assembly. I didn't have a very good costume, and I had lots of things to do. But thankfully I stopped by, bc two of our students had really great costumes!

Sara, in 8th grade, wore a scarf much like to my co-teacher's favorite accessory. Her hints: "I am the youngest sibling, I like texas, I drink a lot of coffee, and I pray every 50 minutes!" We all knew she was Ms. Claire!!!

Then, Soo, one of our very talented 11th graders, stood in the front of the assembly, saying nothing, but twirling her hair. I started laughing, but most of the students were still confused. So Soo helped them out: "I yell. A LOT! and I fight with my husband sometimes, but I always lose." And then she let out a HUGE laugh! By then, everyone was rolling with laughter.



I don't know if i'm a 'Christian Character' but if Soo's impression is acurate, I guess I am a bit of a character!

This is the "callejon de besos" or the "alley of kisses". This picture was actually taken the last time we were in Guanajuato; the alley was too crowded for a picture this last weekend.
I think I wrote the story before, but just in case, here it is again:

Guanajuato was an old mining town. Spanish men owned silver mines and local natives worked the mines like slaves. One of the Spanish owners had a daughter, who was very beautiful. She fell in love with a miner (or a miner's son, depending on the version of the legend). When her dad found out, he was furious - it would be like a southern debutante falling for a cotton-picking illiterate black slave. He moved her from their beautiful house near the mine to a small apartment in the city of Guanajuato nearby. When the poor miner discovered this, he was crestfallen. But, he quickly discovered where she was staying and managed to rent the apartment directly across the alley from her place. Their balconies practically touched, the alley was so narrow.


The rich spanish daughter had chaperones and she was not allowed to leave the apartment unescorted. But, she could be alone on the second-story balcony. So, the rich girl and the poor boy secretly met on their balconies and exchanged kisses there.
Well, her dad finally heard a rumor that they were meeting, and went to confront his daughter. But she refused to leave the apartment and refused to stop seeing her lover. In a fit of rage, he murdered his daughter in her room. Her poor miner boyfriend saw the entire thing from his balcony and was so distraught that he killed himself.
So today, the city of Guanajuato has a lot of visitors who come to kiss in the alley, which is supposed to be romantic or good luck, depending on your point of view.

Mummy Museum

One of the popular tourist attractions in Guanajuato is the Mummy Museum. One of the churches in that town buried people in catacombs rather than in graves, mainly due to the hilly-ness of the area. After about a century, they were running out of catacomb space. So, they started removing people from older catacombs, mainly people who had no family in the area to complain. They quickly noticed that the bodies were not as decomposed as they had thought they would be after so much time. Basically, the unique method of burial had mummified the bodies. The church started a back-door tourism industry charging visitors to see the creepy mummies. Over time, the town just embraced the unique mummies and created an official museum to preserve the mummified bodies and allow people to see them.

These are 3 examples of mummies. The woman on the left has her hands in a weird position, which leads us to believe that she was thought to be dead when she was buried but not really dead. She fought to escape once she woke up buried in a catacomb, but eventually died from lack of oxygen.


This woman was 8 months pregnant when she died, and at that time there was no way to safely remove the baby, so the baby died too.

Mexican Money

It's a little hard to tell from the picture, but we are standing in front of the University of Guanajuato holding the Mexican $1,000 peso bill, which has a picture of the University of Guanajuato on it.



This is from last spring when we went to Puebla. We're holding the Mexican $500 peso bill, which has a picture of the Catedral in Pueba on it.

Shopping in Leon

We visited Guanajuato and Zacatecas in March, but spent most of our time in Zacatecas and only a few hours in Guanajuato. Guanajuato has a very colonial ambiance, and we wanted to go back and spend some more time there.
Also, we had heard that the small town of Leon had great leather shopping.
So, this last weekend, we took 3 teachers from my school - all North Americans - and drove up to Guanajuato and Leon.
We had a wonderful time.

After a little bit of teasing, we decided that Dave must be either a very patient or very lucky man to spend hours shopping with 4 women.