Last night I finally got to see Sergio! He and I were really good friends when we were in DC. He swooped me up yesterday evening and we hit the town..OK we didn't really hit the town. He gave me a driving tour of Queretaro which was really nice. The main part of the city is basically a circle and there is a main road that cuts it down the middle. After the tour I got a better sense of the city. We then went to the historical city center and walked around a bit. Sergio's tour of the city center added to what Oscar showed me on Wednesday night. On our walk we passed beautiful hotels and restaurants that were nestled in colonial buildings. I also heard some jazz-ish music at one restaurant which made me think of my boryfriend, Maurice, so I felt a bit nostalgic. After a while we settled on a place to eat, Maria y su bici, which means Maria and her bicycle. The restaurant and many others in Queretaro have foods from other places in Mexico. At Maria y su bici they served food from Oaxaca (pronounced wa-ha-ca) which is in the southern region of Mexico. There food is more "daring" for example they use more spices and eat things like roasted crickets. Since we were in an adventurous mood Sergio tried some dish that I have no idea what it was and we tried a drink that is made up 7up/Sprite, fresh lime, orange, and grapefruit juices served in a wide, thick, ceramic bowl. The fruit is left in there and sprinkled with special chili powder that is not very spicy and used mostly for fruit. To top it off you pour in a tiny shot of mezcal which is similar to tequila. Tequila is made from blue agave cactus and mezcal is made from the maguey plant/agave americana.
After our Oaxacan experience we went to Itziar's friend's house to celebrate Itziar's 26th birthday, which was last Friday. There were a few friends there and they were having a great time. Once the party died down a little bit the few of us that were left had a mini dance party which was beyond hilarious. The girls were very nice and included me in dancing and wailing at the top of our lungs to American songs. One thing that will always make me laugh is hearing people sing songs in languages not native to their own. For some reason I enjoy seeing how passionate they are about the song and the fact that they probably know more of the words than I do. The last dance that wore us all out is a traditional Mexican dance and type of music called Banda. It is high energy and takes some skill. That being said I was literally wisked around the room by one of Itziar's guy friends. I've seen Sergio and Alma dance Banda in DC, but I did not learn it until last night. Needless to say I was a terrible dance partner.
Today I did not do much. I talked to Maurice on video chat for the first time since I've been gone (cue Kelly Clarkson's "Since you've been gone"..ADD moment). It was good to see his face and I got a little sad there for a moment but was so happy to see him at the same time...Luckily my host family called me downstairs to show me their pictures from China when they visited their son and his family for the Christmas holiday. Although Jorge speaks English he explained all of the pictures in Spanish. I missed some details, but I think I did a pretty darn good job understanding. Afterwards we went to the Centro Comercial/the mall. Blanca went to look for a purse to match a dress she ended up returning. I helped her try on other dresses, but nothing worked out. Then we walked out of the mall with a baby gift for her friend's newborn grandchild. Blanca jokingly apologized for going in for one thing and leaving out with another. On the way home we went to the city center to buy churros (flash fried dough coated with cinnamon and sugar). The day with my host family was nice. They are such a cute couple and you can still see the love between them after so many years. Jorge was critical of every dress Blanca tried on and she just dismissed him. They told jokes to each other and made witty comments. I enjoy being around them because they are genuinely nice people and I am grateful that they have opened up their home to me.
After a whole day I finally got in touch with the girl Rachel who does not like her host family. I told Blanca and Jorge about her and they would love to have her stay here as well! Jorge even invited her to come with us to Bernal tomorrow...After a little planning Rachel will come with us to mass and we will all go to Bernal. Bernal is a town outside out Queretaro and has the third highest monolith of massive rock in the world (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernal,_Quer%C3%A9taro)...Jorge also told me it is home to great gorditas which is the same as tortilla but just thicker.
I'm excited for a family filled day tomorrow. Now to hit the hay!
