El Tahin

Our trip to el tahin began with a nice drive out of mexico city that quickly turned from 5 hours to 8 after a thick cloud of fog filled the road for about 75% of the ride. when we finally got to the town, we crashed in the first hotel we could, a family run house with a gorgeous garden, and a funny little pen out back with geese and puppy. The puppy was so cute, but was persistently pestered by the geese, which was pretty funny. We woke up early the next morning, to get to the site right when it opened. It was a very good choice, as we had the place practically to ourselves. We started to walk around and then decided to get a guide, since nothing was really marked. Our guide knew everything! I nerdily took notes, and found out that this place was an amalgamation of several cultures, brought together as a trade center. The site was huge, with twenty something pyramids. And my very favorite, the pyramid of niches, has 365 windows for each day of the year. The setting was gorgeous too, with huge jungly mountains surrounding the impressive pyramids, and with a nice warm climate. When i could finally tear myself away from the place (mostly because i was hungry.. not because i wanted to leave) it was about two, and as we left, busses and busses of people arrived. out in the nick of time! We headed to Orizaba along the coastal road, which was gorgeous, passing the place where the spanish first landed (and its quite obvious why they stayed!), but the site that was there was already closed. About two hours before getting to my cousins house in Orizaba, the gear box on the car sputtered and popped and i was pretty sure we were going to be stuck. But, luckily my dad is very optimistic,(or maybe just couldnt hear as well as I?) and despite the terrible grinding sound, and the fact taht we could no longer enter 2nd or 5th gear, we slowly made our way to orizaba, arriving two hours late. whew.

navidad

oh my, so much has happened and i havent had internet! christmas went well, but instead of the 41248210348 people who we expected, it was just my mom,dad, sister, cousin and aunt. but there were roasting of chestnuts, and plenty of fireworks. we even managed to set a cactus on fire. mexican tradition. the next day some family from toluca, the town 30 mins away from my dads, stopped by with my.. cousin? or neice? or something, who is the cutest little girl in the world. we bonded over crayons and playing in the fountain. On friday we dropped my mom off at the airport, went and got me a pirated version of office for mac downtown, and then went salsa dancing with my sister and her friend. or more specifically, i watched the dancing of salsa. my efforts were more along the lines of guacamole. Saturday i spent at home, relaxing with the cats, and preparing for my dads christmas gift, a trip to an archaeological sight called el tahin, which we would head out for on sunday

pinatas, tamales, and cheek pinching.

Food. Is the best thing in the world. Or at least in mexico. My first morning waking up my pa brought fresh tamales. Fabulous. I've spent the first few days recovering at my sister's house, picking up my ma from the airport, and just putzing around. I spent a day at my dad's place in the country, where I tried to go for a run, forgetting the change in altitude. Two miles and I almost went into a coma. Yesterday was quite the event. My dad's non-profit group, Amextra, had their holiday brunch (at sirloin steakhouse, nonetheless, quite classy!). Lots of people who I've known since I was born, some of who I remember, and some who, without fail, will come up to me and proclaim "I remember you when you were only thiiiiiis big. Do you remember me?!" No. I was six months old, thanks. Luckily, I got placed at the table with the kids (well, my age now) of some family friends who I know well. There was a fun gift exchange, where you were allowed to steal other peoples presents if you rolled a double with the dice. Of course, I felt no shame in stealing from whoever had what I wanted. It's the name of the game. After the luncheon and a big cup of coffee (socializing can be quite draining!), we headed over to my Dad's church, where they were putting on a posada. This is quite possibly my favorite thing about the holidays here. In contrast to the white lights and angelic christmas services in the states, the Posada is a big party celebrating the journey of Mary and Joseph, trying to find room at the inn. After a few false starts (traffic and illness kept a few people from coming), the night began with the kid's play, an adaptation of the christmas story. One of the members of the church, a dramaturg, wrote the script, hilariously I might add. My dad ended up filling one of the roles as a mexican style shepherd, complete with a bottle of tequila. After the play, everyone grabbed candles and sang the posada, where one group stands inside pretending to be the inkeepers, and the other group outside pretending to be mary and joseph. At the end, Mary and Joseph find their stable, and everyone lights sparklers and they break out the pinatas and tamales. The groudskeeper of the church had two sons, about seven and four years old, who were careening around uncontrollably all night. The seven year old took a shining to me and I must admit, reminded me of Colin, so we hung out all night and I explained to him what everything was about and listened to him tell me stories about his cats and how his brother has this phone that plays videos and its the coolest thing ever. Honestly, his company was way better than more chit chat with people who semi-remembered me. Plus, he was as excited as I was about the pinatas. I got some great action pictures, and had a really good time with everyone, finally getting home around ten to rest and watch some episodes of Hannah Montana on my computer before bed.

Yes, we have eight bags and two cats please.

We made it! And I may never travel by airplane again. We arrived at the airport early at 10 am, to ensure that if anything went wrong, we had plenty of time to fix it. The first ordeal was the Thrifty car rental return. It was like a clown car getting everything out of our rental and onto the waiting platform. Then the shuttle came and we loaded up as quickly as we could, easily taking up half the shuttle and possibly irritating the other half. The driver was kind enough to mention over the intercom that "if there is anyone on the shuttle that has a lot of luggage, ehem, there is a free cart on the sidewalk right here if you would like to get out and use it, *glance at us*". We made it to the check in counter where we learned that in the winter an embargo prohibits more than two checked bags a person. We had a total of five very overstuffed bags. After an extensive conversation with my dad, where I tried to get him to understand that carrying on two cats and two bags still left us with FIVE to check, no matter which ones you decided to carry on, and that no, a "personal item" can only be a small purse or coat, not a whole other bag, we finally managed to cram the contents of one bag amongst the others. Tadah! And then we hit security. Apparently when travelling with pets, they must be taken OUT of their carriers, and carried through security. This resulted with several more scratches. Luckily, my cats are just so gosh darn cute that everyone just oohed and aawed instead of being irritated that it possibly took us ten minutes to get from one side of the arch to the other. Then a bit of smooth sailing. Blaze thought this trip was the most awesome thing, and kept poking her head out of the carrier to take it all in. Anya, on the other hand, must have just gone into shock, because she was silent for everything except takeoff and landing. After a couple hour long delays, we made it to mexico around one am, where my sister picked us up and took us to her apartment. The cats were happy to stretch their legs and my dad and I were happy to have made it. All in all, it went well, but not a process I ever wish to repeat. Conclusion: However difficult, it appears to me that travelling with cats is STILL better than traveling with kids. Probably because you can keep them in a cage.