I have finished my second week in Mexico, and I feel like I am becoming a lot more comfortable with my surroundings and the language. I spent some time shopping for souvenirs in Teotihuacan, and I found that for simple interactions with the vendors and negotiating prices I didn’t even need to think about what I was saying. We spent the weekend in Mexico City, where we were able to visit several museums over three days. It was a completely different cultural experience from being in Querétaro; the city is much larger, there are far more U.S. stores and restaurants, and there are many more tourists of all nationalities and languages.  Interesting side note: on our last day in Mexico City, a massive drug lord escaped from a high security prison in the same state as us for not the first, but the second time. Consequently, we got to see even more police officers around the streets than we normally would.

One of the most interesting things here is the rain. It has rained most nights that I’ve been here, but it’s usually only at night. When it rains, though, it rains a lot. The city also has very poor drainage and a lot of pitted areas, so walking around when it’s raining or even the morning after is like a massive and never-ending game of hopscotch. I’ve found it very interesting to observe how the people here react to the rain; if it starts raining, the streets rapidly empty, and it becomes almost impossible to find a taxi. They also seem to be very adept at reading the clouds and knowing exactly when it is going to begin raining; my señora has not been wrong yet, and people always seem to know when they should have their umbrellas with them.

I tried traditional mole for the first time while I was in Mexico City. I’ve only seen real mole in a few Mexican restaurants in the U.S., but pretty much every place here has it in some shape or form. The most common type is chocolatey and very sweet and spicy at the same time. One of my favorite parts of being here is all of the food I get to try; I grew up eating a lot of Mexican food, both homemade and from restaurants, but all of the apparent equivalencies I’ve tried here have been very different. As amazing as this is, it can be very overwhelming to have absolutely nothing familiar around me; even the ketchup is completely different. I feel like I have been experiencing a belated form of culture shock. I caved and visited a McDonald’s the other day, which was somewhat familiar and comforting and helped me to not feel so out of place; since then, I have returned to my previous excitement for trying new things.

On our way back to Querétaro from Mexico City, we took a detour to spend a few hours in Teotihuacan, where there are many intact and massive Mesoamerican pyramids. Pictured above is the largest pyramid there, the Pyramid of the Sun. It was amazing climbing over all the structures around the site; there was also another museum there where I was able to learn more about the cultural significance of the amazing pirámides. This was also the first day that I managed to get a very bad sunburn; even with sunblock, I hadn’t realized how high up we were and how much sun was getting through the heavy cloud cover. Regardless, it was my favorite site that I’ve been able to visit since I’ve been in Mexico.

I am almost half-way through the program, and I already feel like I have learned so much. I am so excited for the next half!