Sunday, January 8, 2012

Un Aventura: de Iglesia a Bernal a Taquisquiapan a casa con nueva amiga Rachael

The title of this entry says "from church to Bernal to Taquisquiapan to the house with my new friend Rachael." Rachael is an American girl I met Friday who was part of the group of girls who were trying to figure out how to set up bank accounts and such. While we all talked about our host families she shared disturbing news of a negligent house mom. The lady is nice and cordial but is gone all day and made Rachel buy her own cereal because she doesn't like cocoa pebbles cereal. She also goes behind Rachel and turns out the lights even if Rachel is in that particular room using her laptop. And there were other things. I told Rachel that my host family has more rooms if she'd like to stay with me. I asked my host family that night and they'd love to have her and invited her to Bernal with us for today.

This morning the four of us went to Catholic mass. It was interesting for me because I am not Catholic. I've been to a Catholic church twice before but for special occasions not during a service. So not only was this my first real Catholic experience, but it was in another language! Rachael understood the order of service because she is Catholic and I could only understand some of the bulletin. Overall it was a good experience. Not sure if we will go every week, we'll see.

To get to Bernal it is about a 40minute drive. We took pictures on the side of the road as we were approaching the town and when we were closer. At the base of the mountain there are little artisan shops and the center of town is colonial style with little restaurants and shops as well. Rachael and I did a short climb then returned to the base of the mountain. Afterwards, we ate at a place that served traditional gorditas, which is what Bernal is known for. Later we traveled to a place called Tequisquiapan where we walked through a market that had sweets, jewelry, and textile goods. Once we got home we made a pastry called borrador. It is similar to churros, but crunchy because it is less dough. After the dough is dropped using a form you let it brown for a few seconds, take it out the oil and let it cool before coating it in sugar and cinnamon.

Below are pictures and a video from today.

 
Approaching Bernal
 Approaching Bernal
 Base of Bernal
 Base of Bernal
 Ascending Bernal
 Ascending Bernal
 Descending Bernal
 Restaurant that served gorditas
 Gorditas
 Gorditas con cactus y queso y frijoles (with cactus, chees, and beans)
 Center of Bernal the town a little ways from the monolith
 Outside of the artisan market in Tequisquiapan
 Jorge preparing to fry borrador
 Frying set up in the kitchen
 Cooling area next to the bowl of cinnamon and sugar
 Awkward picture of us in our aprons after frying borrador
All fried and ready to eat!

Check it out> Here is a video of how to fry borrador!

Well that was a lot for one day!!! Oh ya we also got lost driving Rachael home so that added to today's adventure. Anyway, I have Spanish class tomorrow and that's it. I think the extra curricular class don't start until next Monday. Also Rachael will probably be moving in tomorrow! I'm pretty excited because I will have another young person in the house and she speaks Spanish. I will learn quickly with her around I think.