A School Visit

Colegio Frey Pedro de Gante has a primary school, a secondary school, and a preparatory school. They are really scrunched together. The secondary school was a small platform that had three floors and all the classrooms were close to each other. The primary school was basically a building about the size of one of the McDougle classrooms.

Everything in the L.A. classrooms was in Spanish so I couldn’t join in the class (I only know a little Spanish). All the playgrounds were kind of rugged and plain. The day we came to see the school it was “hoy no vere TV” which means that nobody in the school is supposed to watch TV. The whole school was Catholic so there were lots of portraits of Jesus and Mary everywhere. I got to meet the principal and she said there were at least 3 or 4 kids in her office everyday and she said that it was often the same people. I guess her kids are kid of rowdy.

During recess the kids were allowed to take out their phones and text and talk, which I think is really awesome. Some of the kids in the courtyard formed a position and started marching. I guessed they must have been practicing for some sort of marching band. I noticed that a lot of the bathrooms were small and kind of trashy. The lady that was giving us a tour said that they clean them every week but the kids mess them up.

Between the uniforms, the small classrooms, and the Marys and Jesuses everywhere, Colegio Frey Pedro de Gante de San Miguel de Allende was completely different from our school.

Family Visit

Coti Patino was a babysitter for me for a very long time. She heard that we were going to Mexico, so she invited us to go see her family in La Laja. This was important because her family has been a part of my life for about 9 years, ever since I was 4, so, visiting her family in Mexico was a big thing for me.

Her family lives in a little town named La Laja, which is right next to Celya. La Laja was about an hour drive from where we were staying in San Miguel. On the way there we noticed that there were a lot of big rocks in the middle of the road. I guess a construction truck spilled its load. We finally got there and were greeted in by Coti’s family and sat down with the gifts we had for them.

The dinner we had was amazing. We had some rice and noodles with a main course of chicken and mole. Mole is a chili sauce made with non-sweet chocolate. Man, was it spicy. Mole is often served at celebrations such as weddings, quinceaneras and other holidays. So, the thought of them serving us celebration food made us feel good and special.

After the meal we talked a little bit about how Coti lives in Chapel Hill and the other half of Coti’s family lives in Mexico. We understood that they came to America looking for opportunities of which there are not many in La Laja. After that big conversation we then we decided to go home. We had our farewells, then began the long trip back to San Miguel full of good food and the kindness of good friends.

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Money in Mexico

San Miguel is a tourist economy. In the 1950’s ex-GI’s came to live here to learn art and live cheaply. Since then American tourism has gone up 10 fold and the Mexican people profit from the visitors. The native people sell things like dolls and homemade bracelets. Some carry their products on their backs in the streets, no kiosks or anything. Others, however, have little kiosks on the side of the street or shops (often in their houses) throughout the city.

The Mexican currency is measured in pesos. One U.S. dollar equals 12.5445331 Mexican pesos. That means candy bought for one peso and sold for a dollar would yield about a 92¢ profit. Ninety-two cents doesn’t seem like that much, but 100 Pixi Stix sold for a dollar each gives you $92.00 in profit, proving that volume is an important factor. This makes me want to be a candy entrepreneur. It also makes me realize how big businesses like Walmart buy from other countries where things are cheaper and sell them in America for a higher price.

San Miguelans have come to rely on American citizens to travel to their city. The recent fall in the economy has stopped a lot of people from traveling because they don’t have the extra money to vacation. The kinds of things that they sell in San Miguel aren’t things that people necessarily need, and so if people are on a budget, many of the stores will not make any money. Several stores in San Miguel have shut down because of this.

My First Real Mexican Food

I eat a lot at home every single day. I like a lot of things; I’m not really a picky eater. What I usually have is a nice big juicy steak or a large pizza. I’m not really a big fan of salad or sushi. The things I do like my dad makes on a regular basis. My dad has to be one of the greatest chefs, ever. But in Mexico he didn’t cook at all, instead we went out to Mexican restaurants where we enjoyed a different kind of eating.

My favorites were shrimp and steak. The shrimp in Mexico, called camarones, was served completely different than ours. Shrimp in the U.S. is usually served steamed with nothing on it, but the shrimp in Mexico was cold with tomato, onions, cilantro, and a side of jicama. The steak, however, was just about the same at home except it was a lot more tender and served with a side of jicama.

Speaking of jicama, Mexican people have lots of fruits and vegetables in their diet. Every morning we had fruits such as jicama, watermelon, mango, papaya, and strawberries. The Mexican people go to the market every few days and buy fruits and vegetables as they need them.

The market was a very interesting place because there was a bunch of food but there were also a lot of toys, clothes, gadgets, and candy. It was filled with hundreds of people all looking to buy something. I loved looking at the candy and fruits, but instead of those things, I bought a belt buckle, a cool new wallet, a new polo shirt, and a new watch. Although I can't eat any of them, it was fun to shop surrounded by the aromas of the Mexican food. On the way home I spotted a Dominos I asked if I could get some but my dad said he refused to get Dominos in Mexico.

First Impressions

The countryside between Leon, Mexico and San Miguel de Allende is a very dry. We have come to Mexico visit my grandma who lives in San Miguel for a month every year. My first impression of this part of Mexico is that there are a lot of unfinished buildings everywhere. I learned that the reason that there are unfinished buildings is because the government doesn’t charge taxes on unfinished buildings. I guess nobody wants to pay taxes. However, most of the buildings that are completed are very small and crowded. Everything is made of stone or bricks.

The grass is very gray and dusty. Cacti are everywhere. To make the long drive from the airport more interesting, I started to count cacti. I got to 312 after about 2 minutes and stopped. My dad made me average the number of cacti that I would have seen in one hour. It came out to about 9,360.

We got to the house that we were staying in and I think that it had to be one of the nicest houses in San Miguel. The house was complete, there were flowers everywhere, and it had three floors. All five of us had lunch together that was made by an amazing house manager named Lourdes. The shrimp was different than what we serve in the US because it was covered in lime, tomatoes and cilantro. Delicious!

We finally finished our lunch and of course I was still hungry. I would be glad to be Mexican and eat lots of great food every day because I can eat a lot. We went to a nice seafood restaurant for dinner and I got shrimp that had to be at least five times as big as a regular shrimp and it only cost about 8 dollars (100 pesos).

After dinner we went to the Jardin (pronounced har-deen), which is the main town square. In the Jardin people come to sit, play, buy, sell and celebrate. The Parroquia, a large colorful cathedral, sits at the top of the Jardin. It has many different statues and colors that light up at night like the Eiffel Tower. The architect who built it used styles of different churches and put them all into one unusual building. San Miguel always has a reason to celebrate, everything from religious holidays to the dancing of the Aztecs, and this main square is a perfect place for that.