Hanging out in Gto

The time between the student conference and my next adventure (!!!), I spent doing homework, hiking, and “museo-ing,” trying to enjoy Guanajuato, people here, and the history/culture it has to offer. I went to different markets and explored the vast variety of merchandise, asked questions about different fruits and vegetables (my favorite vegetables here are: chayote, calabaza, aquacate, elote, and chile, and my favorite fruits: mango, ceriza, manzana, melon, durazno, and the ones new to me are the zapote, mamey, atuna, (which are best if made into sweets like “nieve,”) and the xoconostle.)

As you can see, you can find anything and everything in abundance at the market. The fruits are always one of my favorite parts because they're just beautiful! The little skeleton figurines here are only about a couple inches tall (I used the "macro" mode on my camera, cool huh?) Death here is celebrated and seen in a more "light-hearted" perspective rather than being dreaded and feared. Maybe you're familiar with "Day of the Dead?"

The chiles I"m not so sure about--how in the world will all those be sold before they start to rot? (Actually, don't tell me, I really don't want to know the answer...) Also, here is some pottery. Typical. But my favorite pottery (not this) is called the telavera (sp?) Definitely bringing some home with me. I found a store were the man and his family who work there have been making the pottery for 5 generations. Love it!

One day I hiked up to the bufa again, this time with Rachel, her friend Gumaro, Catherine, Yadira, and Pepe’s younger brother, Jorge. Gumaro asked us lots of questions about us all being Christians. It was neat to share with him what we believe and to hear what he thinks about religion, too. Most of the youth I have met here say they were Catholics, but now that they're older, they realize that there is much they disagree with and therefore don't really practice anything. Most people, still, say they believe in a god, whoever he may be. We all packed food (I made garapiñatas/pralines) and picnicked in one of the caves. Catherine and I both turned back early, but had a wonderful time getting to know each other better, chatting, praying, etc. (I would have pics, but my camera died the first time I turned it on when we were hiking! Ha!)