First week in Pachuca

Welcome to the city of Pachuca in the state of Hildalgo, Mexico. People here say this is a small town and that nothing is really that far away. However, there is around a million people living in this city and it's jam packed with houses and buildings and continues to grow! It's beautiful here as the entire city it surrounded by mountains!!!


I was taken on a tour of the University that I'm working with here in Pachuca and at one of the buildings they had an observatory that was on the top of the tallest part that you see in the above picture. It was an amazing view of the entire city of Pachuca and I was able to see various landmarks from above! The crazy winding streets looked even crazier from above - as well as some of the incredibly steep streets that seem impossible to go up in down by any means of transportation!

When studying Spanish in Guatemala I heard about a holiday that I never wanted to be part of, or even be around for. Well, this year I ended up in Mexico during that holiday. It's called 'day of the dead' and really the celebration starts with halloween but continues for many days. There are many differences and the people are remembering their ancestors but the meanings behind what they do and some of the things that they do are just not things that I want to take part in or even be around!!! The below photo are some of the flowers that are used during this holiday. Just a couple hours later all but a couple of the orange flowers were gone.


This week I also went to a Mary Kay party with some of the professors from the university. It was fun to spend time with them outside of the university! Below is a photo from that evening.


Saturday I went with my new missionary friends to a nearby city called Real de Monte. It's a city that was settled by English miners a long time ago and maintains some of the traditions started back then like tin roofs on all the buildings and more European style buildings. This is also the origin of the famous Paste which is a food that can only be found in and near Pachuca. I've eaten many of these since coming here! It was traditionally lunch for the miners.


This town is up the mountain about 20 min., the problem was that the entire mountain was covered with a cloud! We were at about 9,000 or so feet elevation and because of the cloud cover the temp got down to 47 degrees F. It was cold!!!!!!!!!!!! Unfortunately the cloud never lifted, so I took pictures even though it was hard to see. Well, you'll get to see what I saw anyway!

This is a picture of the mountain on our way down . . . no wonder it was so cold and we couldn't see!!!!
And you can see the same cloud covered mountain just a little bit farther away - notice the blue sky above and around the cloud!!!

Sunday I was able to go to my missionary friend's church. It was a neat Sunday as they were celebrating 11 years and the return of a special guest. There was a lunch after the service and a yummy cake that was served!