Pachuca and Piñatas

Here is the famous Pachuca Reloj close up. This is the pride of Pachuca and it is claimed the the mechanism that runs the clock is the same that runs Big Ben. Sounds kinda silly - but actually the English settled in this area to do mining and so I would say it's quite possible!

It's so tall that it was tricky to get a photo of me in front of it!
Some of the surrounding streets and mountains around the Reloj.
There are cactus everywhere around here, even farms of them. Some of them are called "Nepal", which I think is the same as the prickly pear and you eat the leaves - yummy!!! Even before coming here I made some salsa with Nepal in it just for fun!
Here are some photos of the fiesta I went to for the 3 children. Of course the little girl had to have a princess piñata!!!
And we had to be so careful with the older boys who were swinging so hard at the piñata, this is the one of the birthday boys.

And finally what all the kids are waiting for - massive amounts of candy!!!
There was also tons of cake - one cake was decorated for the siblings, one side for the boy and one side for the girl . . . too cute!!! And a whole other cake for the other birthday boy!
The house where the fiesta was held was up the side of one of the mountains and they had an amazing balcony on each of the levels that looked out over the city of Pachuca. Even from here it's impossible to see the entire city because it wraps around the sides of the mountains!

And here is a photo of the house that i've been living in for the past couple weeks.

This adorable little girl was so gently hitting the piñata - it was just too cute and I was able to get a bit of it on video:

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!

Bienvenidos a México!!!

I have heard this phrase over and over again since arriving in Mexico: Bienvenidos a México or Welcome to Mexico!!! It has come in the form of a greeting after arriving at the airport or when meeting somebody new.
But, there have been some other times that I have heard it such as:
*when the electricity went off for 4 hours during a storm one night
*when we were driving to a clinic and there was a section of the street flooded so we had to
turn around in a narrow street
*in traffic or when somebody runs a red light
*when driving the wrong way on the highway because the right way was blocked
*after eating real Mexican tacos (like in this photos)


I've had a few days here in Mexico to take it easy and adjust to the 7,500+ ft. elevation. Because of my many travels to Guatemala and my time in El Paso/Juarez most things are pretty familiar and there is not a lot of culture shock! I've been challenged with speaking Spanish again and love being surrounded by the language - I can't wait for mine to improve some more!

A street in Pachuca, notice the houses on the
mountain in the background -
Pachuca is surrounded by mountains,
and the poorest live on the mountains.

I've been staying with a wonderful missionary family and have enjoyed my time with them so much! Today (Sunday) I traveled with a traveling medical clinic through the university to a nearby town. They had mobile dental offices and an eye clinic as well as doctors, nurses, pharmacists, psychologists, nutritionists, etc . . . who were able to help the people. After graduating from the university there is a requirement to do a certain amount of social service ranging from 6 months to a year. There were between 40-50 people staffing this clinic and a foundation that helps to fund these clinics provided us with breakfast and lunch as well as had entertainment for the patients. There was traditional Mexican singers and dancers, as well as clowns and people on stilts throughout the day. It was quite the fiesta in this little town as the clinics and entertainment all took place around the town square. I will soon start my official time with the university and will have to wait and see what that holds!

Booths set up for the medical consults.

Dental office

Town Square with Clinic set up around it

Traditional dancers from different Mexican states

Welcome baby Josephine!

My niece was born on 9/9/09 and I was so excited to be living here in Indianapolis so that I could get to the hospital and meet her just hours after she was born. She is such a beautiful little miracle - Josephine Rose!!!

Meeting her for the first time
Sleepy, but oh so pretty in pink =)

A glimpse of those pretty eyes

Proud Mom and Dad getting Josephine ready to go home

Josephine sleeping through the tour of her new room

Grandma enjoying holding her first grandchild

Can't believe I'm finally an aunt!!! So fun!!!

Day at the Indianapolis Zoo

This week mom and I were able to get to the Indianapolis Zoo for the morning, and we were so excited when Maranatha and Joseph were able to join us! We had a great time watching the Dolphin show, walking around looking at the animals, and even going for a carousel ride!!! Mom rode in the wheelchair which made it a little more interesting to maneuver around, and there was only one time that we though I was going to dump her forward . . . oops! For some reason she didn't want to go down stairs in the wheelchair, but thankfully the zoo is very handicap accessible and we just had to find the ramps.

Mom, Maranatha, and Joseph

Joseph ( I seem to always just miss his huge smile!!!)

My Urban Garden

I've had little experience at gardening - but have enjoyed trying. One year I grew zucchini and cucumbers and some herbs. Well, this year I thought I would try again, but the trick is that I only have pots to use for my garden. So, plants have been moving around from pot to pot trying to figure out the right size pot for the plant. Most of these plants I started from seed - the beans, zucchini, cucumber, spaghetti squash, and cilantro. I bought the basil and mint. Everything is getting bigger than I expected, and it's hard to keep up with the watering when the plants are in pots. The other day I decided that 3 cucumber plants were too much for the one planter because they are flowering like crazy but no cucumbers. I was contemplating just pulling up one of the plants to see if the other 2 would start producing cucumbers. So, the one day I just decided to pull up the middle plant and see what would happen. Well, once I pulled it out I got a better look under some of the leave and itty bitty cucumbers were growing =( i looked for them on the other plants and there were a couple, but not as many as were on the one that i pulled up. I was very sad, but quickly planted what was left of the root system and have been trying to see if I can keep it alive. So far the vine is alive and healthy although lots of the leave are all shriveled up and sad looking. Oops!

I have limited space, but somehow or another it seems to be working =) And so far no complaints from the neighbors =)!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is one of the bean plants - I've had a couple small servings of beans. I just started a couple more plants to see if i'll be able to have a continued harvest of beans =)

I've been able to eat 2 zucchinis already and there is a third and possibly fourth that will be ready soon - this is a photo of one of them.

I was able to freeze some basil - I ended up with 3 of those plants and they are doing fantastic. Otherwise I'm just hoping for a little bit more fruit from the garden - and that they will stay alive for the rest of the summer and into the fall! This year was kinda random in what I planted - was trying to use up some leftover seeds. Maybe next year I'll be able to try again and be a little more prepared for planting a garden that I can handle!

4th of July weekend

I have never been able to consistently celebrate the 4th of July holiday. One year I was in Guatemala, a couple years I was in Chicago sitting on the lakeshore, at Navy Pier, or in Grant Park amidst the millions of people, or at various locations like the fairgrounds near the town where I grew up. Last year I was in the midst of moving out of Chicago and was trying to get myself ready to go to Guatemala the shortly after and finish up a paper, som in the craziness didn't plan for celebrating the 4th, so I just watched fireworks on TV. Well, this year I'm living here in Indy, my mom is staying at my brother's house recovering from double knee replacement surgery and my brother, sister-in-law and her parents were all in town. I had thought it would be fun to have everyone over to my place and then walk a block or two and see if we could see some of the downtown fireworks. Well, then on the 4th it was rainy and cloudy and nobody was up for the adventure . . . good thing though because the fireworks were canceled and postponed until the 5th. So, the 5th was a busy day at my brother's house and once again nobody was interested in attempting to see the fireworks . . . except me! So, I just went back to my apartment (thankfully early enough that there was plenty of parking!) and about 5 min. before the fireworks started I walked about 3 blocks to Mass Ave. and had a perfect view of all the fireworks. It was great. Then they were over and I walked past all the poor people stuck in traffic trying to leave and back to my apartment. Next year I think that I will be planning a 4th of July party at my house - and I'll supply the fireworks =)
Here's the only 4th of july photo that I have from this year: