Trip to Mexico City

I just got back on Sunday from an amazing five days in Mexico City. I went with my roommate Claire and we stayed with the family of her friend Paco, whom she met when he studied in Australia a year ago.

Part of the reason we went to Mexico City the dates we did was to be there for Mexican Independence Day on September 16 (we had September 16 off from school). It was such a great experience to be in the capital of Mexico (full title is La Ciudad de México, D.F.; the D.F. stands for “Distrito Federal”, or Federal District, since Mexico’s federal government resides there).

I’ll do my best to recall everything I did and saw:

Tuesday, September 15:
We arrived the day before Mexican Independence Day, in the afternoon. After about an hour in a taxi, we finally made it to Paco’s house. It mainly took so long because of the traffic (on the way back to the airport it only took us 25 minutes, because there was not nearly as much traffic on a Sunday). Mexico City is the second largest city in the world with a population of about 25 million. Because of this, even at off-hours you’re bound to hit slow-moving traffic, simply because the population is so dense.

Anyway, as soon as we arrived to Paco’s house, we were met with the warm hospitality that Mexicans are known for. Paco’s mom even let us know that “Mi casa es su casa.” Relaxing over a Corona, we visited with Paco and his mom as we discussed our plans for that night, to celebrate Mexican Independence Day.

In Mexico, on the eve of Independence Day at 11 p.m., the president of Mexico (currently Felipe Calderón) walks out onto the balcony of the Palacio Nacional, the government’s main building, in front of el Zócalo, Mexico City’s main plaza. A HUGE crowd of people waits for him in el Zócalo, where he proceeds to issue the “Grito de Dolores” (Cry of Dolores), Miguel Hidalgo’s call to rebellion against the Spanish in 1810. This includes a shout of “¡Viva México!”, followed by a cry from the people of “¡Viva!”.

We didn’t actually watch “El Grito” from the Zócalo, because we heard there would be way too many people there. Instead, we watched it on TV at Paco’s house while his extended family all gathered to have a nice Independence Day dinner. We then dressed up in traditional Mexican attire (Paco wore a poncho and sombrero, and although Claire and I didn’t have much, we wore Mexican flag headbands and painted Mexican flags on our faces!



Then we headed to Paco’s friend’s house for an Independence Day fiesta!

I have never seen so much passion for one’s country as I did at this party. Everyone was wearing either red, green and white (the colors of the Mexican flag), or ponchos, sombreros, or even fake mustaches. One of the attendees kept shouting passionately, “¡Viva México!” and everyone would respond “¡Viva!” They served traditional Mexican food and played traditional music, and everyone danced. A perfect way to celebrate one of the most important cultural holidays here!

Wednesday, September 16:
As it was a holiday, Paco’s parents had a day off from work so they took us out to a late lunch/early dinner at a delicious seafood restaurant.Seafood is very popular in Mexico, especially in the form of cocktails. This one had every kind of seafood you could imagine in it. Soooo good!

Afterwards, Paco and his friend Mario drove us to the Centro Histórico (historic center) of the city, which included the Zócalo. As it was Independence Day itself, there were several people walking around the Zócalo, as well as vendors selling food and various Independence Day gadgets.
There we saw the Palacio Nacional, where the president had shouted “El Grito” the night before, and walked along the streets around the Zócalo to see the other historic sights (I’ll post all my pictures soon and explain everything in the captions).


Thursday, September 17:
Paco’s mom was so sweet and took the day off from work to show Claire and me around some more of the city. We first went to el Museo de Antropología (Anthropology Museum), one of Mexico City’s best museums, which had a variety of rooms dedicated to everything from the evolution of man to the Aztec ruins. It even had the original Aztec calendar!:



After the museum we walked across the street to Chapultepec (which means “Hill of Grasshoppers” in the Náhuatl language), Mexico City’s largest park (seriously, it was huge). It includes several attractions like lakes and a zoo, and even “Los Pinos”, the residence of Mexico’s president! However, we went specifically to see the Castillo de Chapultepec (Chapultepec Castle), which sits at the top of a hill in the park. This castle served as the residence of Emperor Maximilian and Empress Carlota in 1864, and continued to house Mexican presidents until 1939, when it was converted into a museum. We were able to walk around the grounds and see the rooms of Maximilian and Carlotta, and the castle had a breathtaking view of the city!





From there I could really tell that there are 25 million people living in Mexico City; it was all buildings, so close together!!

After that Paco came and met up with us, and we all drove to Coyoacán (“Place of Coyotes” in the Náhuatl language), a cute little town outside of downtown Mexico City. Our first stop was none other than the “Blue House,” more commonly know as the Frida Kahlo museum! Yes, this was the house in which Frida, the renowned Mexican artist married to Diego Rivera, grew up. It is so named because of the bright blue color it is painted, and it has beautiful gardens. Although most of the rooms were closed due to renovation, we were able to see one room full of Frida paintings.

The rest of Coyoacán was very cute with a small Mexican pueblo feel, so we walked around for a little while. Apparently it’s famous for its tequila-flavored ice cream, so of course we had to try some of that! (Delicious). Then Paco took us to a street taco stand. It seemed like one of those really popular places that only locals know about. You can pick the type of meat you want on your taco (we got the ones with a little bit of each type of meat), and the rest is an assembly line: there are bowls full of potatoes, onions, salsa, and even nopales, which is an edible cactus that is very popular here in Mexico and DELICIOUS (it looks and tastes somewhat like green beans). Once we added what we wanted to our tacos, we just stood on the street next to everyone else who had ordered and ate standing up!

Then, to settle all the rich food we just ate, we went to a typical Mexican cantina for after-dinner drinks.A cantina, at least in the sense that we experienced, is a relaxed salon that often offers live music. We stayed there for awhile, playing dominoes and enjoying each other's company. Then, a mariachi band came up to our table and offered to play some music for us, so we bought four or five songs!


Friday, September 18:
On Friday all of Paco’s family had to work, so Claire and I took advantage of our time on our own to experience Mexico City’s public transportation; never were we more grateful to have a family there, willing and able to kindly drive us all over the city. Not that public transportation in Mexico City was anything inefficient; it just took us over two hours to get to our destination, because we had to catch a bus that ended up being about an hour ride because of the traffic, and then two different metro trains, both of which we rode to the end of their line. It really made us pay attention to how HUGE Mexico City is!

Our destination was Xochimilco (Náhuatl for “Place where Flowers Grow”), another little pueblo town on the outskirts of the city known for its canals. Mexico City was actually built and expanded on a lake, and Xochimilco is a reminder of that. Actually, like Venice, Mexico City is known as a sinking city. It’s been said that some of the buildings have sunk about 10 meters in the last 100 years, and when we were walking around the Centro Histórico a few days before, we could tell. For example, we saw a church that now has to be entered by walking down several steps.

Anyway, Xochimilco was similar to Venice in more ways than one. Not only did it have canals, but we were able to rent a gondola-style boat (trajinera) and ride along the water!



I went to Venice a few years ago but didn’t actually ride a gondola, so this was a real treat for me. The trajineras in Xochimilco are a lot bigger than Venice’s gondolas, and all are painted in very bright colors. As the “gondolier” slowly pushed us along the canals, we had time to relax and take the sites in. There were smaller boats of locals riding by us, wanting to sell us souvenirs or corn-on-the-cob cooked right on their boat! There were also boats full of mariachi bands wanting to play for us, and although we didn’t actually get any songs, we were still able to enjoy the music since other people did:). Our gondolier let us stop off at two different places; once to peruse an artisan market on the water, and another to stop into a flower shop full of gorgeous flowers! (There were several flower shops along the way). We had a little bit of time to walk around town before we caught the metro for a long ride back, during which we got caught in a heavy downpour (for the months of September and October, Mexico is in its rainy season unfortunately. Speaking of weather, I also noticed that Mexico City was a lot cooler than Monterrey. In Monterrey I’m usually hot, but I was so cold the whole time I was in Mexico City!).

Friday night Paco and his friends took us to a Mexican rodeo. We were hoping to see a bull riding, but there weren’t any that night, because instead there was a dance competition! We watched couples in beautiful costumes from all over Mexico dance a variety of Mexican dance. They were SO good, spinning and jumping around really fast and doing all sorts of flips and twirls!

After we watched the competition we had the opportunity to do a little bit of our own dancing (although not nearly as good). We danced to banda music the whole night, which is a brass-based traditional Mexican style music. It originated in northern Mexico, but has a very Western/cowboy feel because it became popular in the Western U.S. states. Banda is a partner dance in which you hop from side to side, left to right, to the rhythm of the music. It’s best if the female holds onto her partner very tight, so that she can follow his lead. Although hopping side-to-side is pretty simple, every once in awhile the male can change it up and hop in a different direction or rhythm, so the female has to be ready. There are a lot of other moves that can be done with banda, but I decided to keep those to the experts!

Saturday, September 21:
Well you certainly can’t go to Mexico City without seeing the pyramids, so that was our plan for Saturday. First for lunch we went to a market that had several food vendors, all selling typical Mexican food. There were mainly tacos there, but as I had been eating tacos all week (literally – breakfast, lunch and dinner!), I wanted to try something different, so I ordered what I think was called a bambosa. Whatever its name, it was delicious. It was a sliced sandwich roll, cooked in garlic-flavored oil and filled with potatoes and chorizo. YUM!

Afterwards, it took about an hour and a half to get to the pyramids, because we actually did drive outside of the city, to a place called Teotihuacán. Teotihuacán has two main pyramids: Pirámide del Sol (Pyramid of the Sun) and Pirámide de la Luna (Pyramid of the Moon). It was Mexico’s largest ancient city, housing the Aztecs, and was developed around AD 400.



We climbed the Pirámide del Sol, by far the bigger of the two and the world’s third-largest pyramid (about 70m high). Although it didn’t take too long to get to the top, it was intense because the steps were very steep and small. It was SO worth the view though!!:



Afterwards, we walked through some more of Teotihuacán, along the Calzada de los Muertos (Avenue of the Dead), which is lined by stone structures assumed to be tombs. At the end of the Avenue, we saw the Pirámide de la Luna and were able to walk into some of the ruins.



Our country’s history in the United States dates back just a little over 200 years; imagine being able to tour your country’s history from almost 2000 years ago! If you ever visit Mexico, I hope visiting the Aztec ruins at Teotihuacán is at the top of your list, because how often do you get to see something so ancient and so different from everything you’re used to seeing??


P.S. My sources for the historical and cultural information in this post were The Lonely Planet for Mexico, and wikipedia.com.

The Swine Flu, McDonald’s, and Kangaroos

To say that Mexico is full of the swine flu (or for that matter, drug traffickers or people wanting to immigrate to the United States) is like saying that all Americans eat McDonald’s or that Australians all have kangaroos living as pets in their backyards: it’s just not true. (Just a funny anecdote regarding stereotypes: the other day I met someone from Costa Rica who, upon hearing that I was from South Carolina in the U.S., asked excitedly, “Oh is that anywhere close to where Britney Spears was born??”).

I’m working on a project in my communications class on quantitative research, in which my group is analyzing the stereotypes that the cinema gives to Mexico. Although we have barely begun, I can already tell that the results will be amazing but not surprising. Think about the following movies: ‘Babel’. ‘The Mexican’. ‘Nacho Libre’. Even the ‘Sex and the City’ movie. Can you honestly say that these movies don’t reinforce the stereotypes that you already had about Mexico? ‘Babel’ deals with immigration and portrays a Mexican woman crossing the border through the desert. ‘The Mexican’ deals with drug trafficking and portrays the Mexicans in it as mob members. ‘Nacho Libre’ makes a fool out of Mexico (from what I’ve gathered at least; I have no real desire to see it). And even the ‘Sex and the City’ movie portrays the water in Mexico as undrinkable (I realize in some areas it’s not a good idea for a foreigner to drink the water, but I have been drinking tap water here in Monterrey and have had no problems).

Community service is an essential part of my time here as a Rotary scholar, and I have been searching all over for ways to volunteer my time. To be honest, it’s been difficult. Having worked for the last year for an organization that helps immigrants, I have unfortunately not been completely devoid of stereotypes either. I half assumed that I would be coming to a Mexico that I could help “save” from all of the “terrible things” it was experiencing that I heard about on a daily basis in the newspapers, on TV, and in the movies. Don’t get me wrong; I have a great deal of respect for those who have come to Mexico, have volunteered and worked in rural communities, and have helped an incredible amount. Because yes, there is a lot of need in certain areas. However, since I am here in Monterrey, I’d like to offer a different perspective on Mexico – one that you may never hear about otherwise: Mexico has great, well-developed and modern cities that offer everything that you could need or want. There are – believe it or not – areas where the tap water is drinkable. I have not yet encountered any drug traffickers nor have I seen any drug-related violence (or any violence at all for that matter). (By the way, I should note that almost all of the violence involving drugs that does occur is against people who are in some way already involved in the drug trade). I have not caught the swine flu or met anyone who has. And lastly, of the Mexicans whom I have met who have traveled to the U.S., all have gone with proper documents, to visit and to see the many great things that our country has to offer as well.

On that note, I was able to find a way I can do some community service here while also learning more about the culture of Mexico! I joined a student organization called Asociación Estudiantil por los Pueblos Indígenas(Student Organization for Indigenous People). (Click here for more information). Their mission is to promote interest and understanding of the culture and current situation of Mexico’s indigenous people. Through this organization, I will be doing some volunteer work with a related program called Creando Espacios de Inclusión (Creating Spaces of Inclusion). This program meets several Saturday afternoons throughout the semester, and it is intended to help indigenous students from small villages adjust to life in the big city of Monterrey. The students range from high school- to college-age, and are given scholarships to study in Monterrey.

My first time volunteering there was last Saturday, September 12 (we actually met in one of the classrooms at Monterrey Tec). After a fun icebreaker activity, we watched two videos about life in the indigenous villages, learning a lot about the struggles the people go through, including lack of access to health care and education, militarization (i.e. intimidating military there) and poor infrastructure. Afterwards, we broke up into groups to discuss the film. The indigenous students in my group described to us life in their villages, and how they experienced situations like the ones in the videos. They then talked about the difficulty in moving to Monterrey, a huge, sometimes intimidating city.

My first Saturday with Creando Espacios de Inclusión was of particular interest to me since I have worked with immigrants in South Carolina, helping them to adjust to a completely different environment than what they are used to. I thought it was a great strategy to bring together indigenous students and Tec students, and allow the indigenous students to share their stories and the Tec students to open their eyes to another culture – its beauty and its struggles.

As these Saturday meetings continue, hopefully friendships between the indigenous students and the Tec students will develop. I came to Mexico as a Rotary scholar hoping to foster mutual understanding between the Mexican and the U.S. cultures, but I have found that there is so much more here. Not only is there the cultural interaction of the people of Mexico and of the U.S., but in this city of four million, there are also students and professionals from almost every country in the world, as well as indigenous people who are native to Mexico but have a culture of their own. And I am eager to learn about them all.

More Pictures Posted

Hello all,

I apologize for being M.I.A. recently. I'm in the process of writing another blog entry about the last few weeks, which I'll post soon. In the meantime, though, I've put up more pictures of my time so far in Mexico, so please check them out and write comments! Enjoy the beauty of Mexico:

Exploring Monterrey the First Week, Album #2

Weekend Beach Trip to Tampico

Monterrey - Various Sites Around the City

What do Monterrey, Mexico, and Rotary’s PolioPlus program have in common?

A man named Dr. Carlos Canseco González, past president of Rotary International and founder of the program that Rotary is best known for: PolioPlus, whose goal is to immunize all children of the world against polio and thus eradicate the world of that terrible disease. He was also from Mexico and once the president of one of the Rotary clubs in Monterrey, whose meeting I attended on Wednesday.

I walked into the Hotel Quinta Real on Wednesday morning at 7:55 a.m. not knowing what to expect of my first Rotary meeting in Mexico. I tried to be professional and early, but not too early, as “Mexican time” tends to run on a later clock than the United States (it is a stereotype of the Latino culture that they take their time coming to meetings and events). Fortunately, I saw other Rotarians walking in at the same time, so it looked like I estimated about right.

At the meetings for my sponsor Rotary club in South Carolina, the Lake Murray-Irmo Club, we meet in a room at a somewhat casual community center at 7:30 a.m. on Wednesdays. Breakfast is informally served – we go up and help ourselves to the typical southern meal of eggs and biscuits. About ten minutes is allowed for mingling and eating, and then the meeting usually begins around 7:40.

Here in Monterrey, the meeting time was at 8:00 a.m. but the meeting didn’t begin till about 8:30, after a delicious and much more formal breakfast. Because we were in a hotel, the breakfast was all catered to us at the table. The first course was tropical fruit served in a cocktail glass, and afterwards we had some kind of fancy egg-white dish, decorated with asparagus and a tomato and a few different Mexican sauces; it was delicious!

The meeting began around 8:30 with the Mexican Pledge of Allegiance:

¡Bandera de México!
Legado de nuestros héroes,
Símbolo de la unidad
de nuestros padres
y de nuestros hermanos,
te prometemos ser siempre fieles
a los principios de libertad y justicia
que hacen de nuestra Patria,
la nación independiente,
humana y generosa,
a la que entregamos
nuestra existencia.

**Disclaimer: I found this on Wikipedia as the Mexican Pledge of Allegiance, so I assume that is what they were saying. This is the translation Wikipedia gives:

Flag of México!
Legacy of our heroes,
Symbol of the unity
of our parents
and of our siblings,
we promise you to be always faithful
to the principles of liberty and justice
that make of our Homeland,
the independent,
humane and generous nation,
to which we dedicate
our existence.

Whereas in the U.S. we place our hands on our hearts for our Pledge, in Mexico they put their hand in a salute form over their hearts.

The rest of the Rotary meeting ran very similar to the Lake Murray-Irmo meetings. First there were some announcements, and then they had a guest speaker, who spoke about a program he runs to improve the world’s perceptions of Mexico. He gave several examples of how far along Mexico is in regards to things such as education, compared to various other countries. Very impressive.

One thing that was very different from the Lake Murray-Irmo club (and I assume most clubs in the U.S.) is that the attendance was all male. I learned afterwards that the Rotarians’ wives meet separately once a month to do their own activities.

I also learned that the main service activities that the club does are 1) raising money for the university hospital here, since most patients at that hospital are low-income, and 2) bringing purified water to some rural areas that don’t have access to it. Wow!

The Rotarians were all very kind and hospitable, and I hope to attend more of their meetings. I also plan on attending the meetings of other Rotary clubs in the area. I’ll keep you updated!

Here are some photos from the meeting, taken by photographer Salome Martinez (note: the only woman there, other than me, was an invited guest for the day):







Here is an abridged biography of Dr. Carlos Canseco González. The full one can be found at http://www.rotaryfirst100.org/presidents/1984canseco/bio.htm:

Dr. Carlos Canseco González was born on March 17, 1921, in México City, México. He received his Doctor of Medicine degree from the National University of México. He then went on to complete a specialty in Allergology at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois, and a second specialty in Clinical Immunology at the University of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania...

...From 1950 to 1952, he served as Chair of the Allergogology Services at the Autonomous University of Nuevo León. He then co-founded the Monterrey Football Club, joined Rotary International, and became President of the Rotary Club of Monterrey. He also raised funds for the purpose of building the first Children’s Hospital in Monterrey....

...In 1984, Dr. Canseco González became President of Rotary International. During his tenure, he proposed a program to eradicate polio. Rotary International and the World Health Organization began planning for the most ambitious program in its history – to immunize all of the world’s children against polio. The plan required collaboration with international, national, and local health agencies and took shape early in Dr. Canseco González’s year as RI President when he appointed the Polio 2005 Committee. He invited Dr. Albert Sabin, developer of the oral polio vaccine, to serve as a special consultant to the committee. The program for eradication of polio continues to this day. During his term as President of Rotary International, Dr. Canseco González worked diligently to form new Rotary Clubs. Rotary International experienced an increase of 978 new clubs and 45,000 new members.

Rotary’s pledge of US $120,000,000 to fund its PolioPlus program was announced in October 1985 at the 40th anniversary of the United Nations. This ambitious commitment was well received by the global public health community. Within three years, Rotarians had more than doubled their fundraising goal, donating US 247 million.

Dr. Carlos Canseco González will go down in history as the Rotary International President who launched, in 1985, the PolioPlus Program with the goal of raising $120,000,000 to provide enough vaccine to rid the world of polio by the Centenary of Rotary in 2005...

The Beginning of Pictures!

Finally. After losing many battles with the internet here, I have some pictures posted! Click on the links below to see them, and keep updated because I have many, many more. Feel free to write comments, because I love reading them!

Road Trip to Mexico

Exploring Monterrey the First Week, Album #1

It’s one thing to learn another language. It’s a whole other world to be intelligent in that language.

I have “successfully” completed my first two weeks of school. I put that in quotes because there were some mishaps along the way, but I have so far worked to the best of my abilities, and I suppose that is all you can hope for when you’re taking graduate-level classes in a foreign language in a class of students who are native speakers of the language. I am taking the following classes:

“Comunicación de Masas” (Mass Communication). This is an introductory class that teaches about the theories and history of mass communication. Throughout the semester we will be applying the various theories we learn through analysis projects of various mass media (newspaper articles, media company structures, television shows, etc.) and the tools they use.

“Investigación Cuantitativa” (Quantitative Research). This is a research class that discusses and applies quantitative mass media research methods, like surveys and laboratory experiments.

“Seminario de Comunicación Organizacional” (Organizational Communication Seminar). This class is of particular interest to me, since I worked for a nonprofit for the last year. We will learn and discuss the most effective communication strategies for an organization (both internal and external), while studying various cases. I also like this class because naturally we will discuss barriers in intercultural communication, and therefore the best ways to accommodate other cultures from a communications perspective.

“Nuevas Tecnologías: Implicaciónes e Impacto” (New Technologies: Implications and Impact). The title is pretty self-explanatory. I think I would like this class a little bit more if the book we were reading wasn’t essentially a science book (well, the history and development of science). Imagine having to read a science book in Spanish, when you’re studying communication...

Salsa Dance: Of course! You can’t be in Mexico without taking salsa, right? :)

Truth be told, I love my classes. The teachers are wonderful, great teachers, and very helpful and willing to accommodate my less-than-perfect Spanish. I’m really glad I chose to study communication, also. The material being taught is so interesting, and although they didn’t offer any intercultural/international communications classes this semester, because we are in Mexico (so close to the U.S. and also housing thousands and thousands of internationals) and also because of the topics of the classes, we can’t help but discuss communication and use examples from an international perspective.

Although I am able to follow a good bit of what is being taught in class, and can pick up enough to definitely get the jist and most important parts of everything, it is still going to take some adjusting getting used to classes being taught in Spanish. As I entitled this blog post, it really is a whole other ballgame to be expected to think critically in a language that is not your first. Up till now, I’ve only really had classes on the Spanish language itself (grammar and conversation), which drilled me to perfect my Spanish – to be able to speak and write well. Now, I’m forced to put behind me the focus on the language that my teachers here are speaking, and move past that – move into actual comprehension of the ideas, theories, and analysis being discussed. I bring my Spanish-English dictionary to class with me everyday to look up various vocabulary words that come up during class, and I try to take advantage of the fact that the classes are being taught in Spanish to perfect my Spanish listening skills, but in order to fully absorb the material being taught, I need to move past that. I know it will come with time, so I’m not going to be too hard on myself, but I thought I’d give you all some insight into the world of the sincere mastery of another language. And hey, I am proud to say that I have read – and understood the general jist of - the first three chapters of a Spanish science book! Now if only I can master the vocab of the region, next time I will do my homework correctly instead of assuming that “dos cuartillos” means “two paragraphs” (turns out it means “two pages”...whoops!).

First Week, First Impressions

Note: Since I wrote my last blog post, I have added a few pictures to compliment the narrative – so scroll down to my previous post and check them out! Also, as soon as I’m able to secure a strong internet connection (the one in my apartment building is pretty weak), I will post lots of photos online).

First impression #1: Monterrey Tec is an excellent, beautiful, and very wealthy university. Our first full day in Monterrey, my dad and I decided to walk to the Tec (no “h” in the Spanish spelling, so the abbreviation here is just “Tec”) campus and check it out. First of all, I am very lucky because I live an easy 5-10 minutes walking from campus. Once we arrived, I discovered that I would be pretty safe on campus; I had to explain to a security guard that I was an international student at Tec (with no ID yet) in order to be able to enter the campus. The campus itself is beautifully landscaped, with modern architecture and lots of trees. We also stumbled across a peacock hanging out there! (And I’ve been told that there are deer, or “Bambi” as they are called by several Europeans here learning English who don’t know the word “deer” yet). It was clear that the campus offers a lot of services and facilities for students, and that I will be well taken care of.

I hate to admit this, but I was actually pretty surprised at how excellent of a school Tec clearly is. I had heard reports of its quality from various sources, but still I couldn’t get out of my head all of the negative news stories about Mexico that had been pounded into my head by the media for the last several years. It is one of my goals through my year in Mexico as a Rotary Scholar to shed light on the true nature of Mexico, as I will experience it. For starters, I hope my readers will realize once and for all that Mexico is producing incredibly intelligent, educated, capable, and well-rounded young men and women ready to go out into the world and contribute something beautiful.

First impression #2: Despite its industrial character, Monterrey still has a lot of culture. The evening of our first full day in Monterrey, my dad and I decided to visit Barrio Antiguo, the old, historic part of the city. There we met up with a girl from Memphis named Sara, who has been a godsend in helping me get adjusted to and figure out things in Monterrey. She moved to Monterrey a few weeks before I did, so she had just “been there, done that.” Anyway, Sara, my dad and I went to Paseo Santa Lucia, a river/canal that runs through Barrio Antiguo. They have tourist boats there that take you down the river and back, and although we waited for almost two hours in line (!!), it was worth it. By the time we got on the boats, it was dark outside, and the lights of the Paseo (“passageway” is the loose translation) were beautiful. We passed a few Mexican cultural bands that were playing beautiful music, as well as a few restaurants on the water’s edge. Kind of reminded me of Venice. After the boat ride was done, we stopped and had tacos at a little taco shop, which is the typical food/restaurant here. The tacos, although small, are nothing like what you would eat in the U.S. – sooo much better!

My dad and I went back to Barrio Antiguo the next day to walk around some more. One of the best things we stumbled across was a band playing salsa, merengue, cumbia, and other cultural music in a big patio area, where there were a lot of random couples dancing! There was a whole crowd of people surrounding the people dancing, watching and listening to the music. It made me so happy to be in Mexico. We then walked across the street to a cathedral, which happened to be in the middle of a Sunday evening service! We were there for the last ten minutes of it, and both the singing and the church itself were absolutely beautiful.

After the service we wandered along the Paseo, and stumbled across a flea market where they were selling a lot of cultural items, like woven cloth dresses and handmade jewelry. There were also a few stands with Mexican food, and we both sampled mole, a spicy Mexican chocolate spread which is more spicy than chocolaty! I think you might have to be Mexican to really enjoy it...


Our last stop was at a restaurant on the river/canal, where we ate outside and enjoyed old U.S. love songs (haha) sung by Mexicans attempting an American accent.

First impression #3: The natural wonders surrounding Monterrey are incredible and breathtaking. The following day my dad and went to La Cascada Cola de Caballo, or Horsetail Waterfall. It’s in a town called Santiago, about 30 minutes from Monterrey. We had to drive a little ways up a mountain, and then park our car and walk to the national park, where the waterfall was. There’s not much more I can say in words to describe its beauty, so here are some pictures, even though they don’t do the waterfall justice:




Afterwards we ate at a little restaurant overlooking the valley:


We shared slices of steak (carne asada), tortillas, guacamole and salsa – a typical Mexican meal. And of course, cerveza (I would have preferred Corona to Tecate, but that was all he had. Tecate is like the Budweiser of Mexico). The steak was cooked on the grill right there as we waited, and all the food was fresh and delicious.



I experienced the natural wonders of Monterrey yet again just a few days ago. My friends and I went to Las Grutas de Garcia, a set of caves about an hour outside of Monterrey. The grutas doesn’t really mean “caves” though. It’s more used to describe stalactite and stalagmite, which is a much more accurate description than just a “cave.” The caves were at the top of an incredibly steep mountain, up which we had to take a cable car, and they were the most incredible things I had ever seen. They were filled with white-crystal stalactites and stalagmites. The air was cool and crisp, a welcome change from the 110-degree heat we’ve been having. The caves would have been creepy, but for flood lighting in various nooks and crannies, accentuating the designs of the grutas (actually, the lighting may have made it more creepy). We walked around for an hour or so, up and around the various passageways and staircases. After the tour, we dined in the little town of Garcia, which felt like a ghost town as there was barely anyone around and there was ominous music playing in the town square. The food was delicious though!

First impression #4: Monterrey is a safe city. You can take a deep breath; Monterrey is one of the safest cities in Mexico. Since it is a big city, I do have to be careful about walking alone at night, petty theft, etc., but really I feel safer here than in Memphis, my home town. Ironically, I am more worried about the cops here; they are notorious for being corrupt, and I’ve been told to keep a few hundred pesos on me as a bribe (anywhere from $30-$50 USD) in case I’m stopped for something they say I did. But don’t worry, I feel safe here, and am not experiencing any of the violence you may here about in the media.

First impression #5: Monterrey is a very international city. I spent the last week in orientation for international students at Monterrey Tec. There are about a thousand extranjeros, as they’re called here, from all over the world. Tec prides itself on its international flare, and it seems to me that other universities here do as well. The locals are accustomed to accommodating the extranjeros, and it seems that every semester the Mexican students seek out international students as friends. I have a Mexican friend assigned to me as a “buddy,” who has been very helpful in showing me around the city and getting acclimated. I have made friends with French, Germans, Canadians and Australians primarily, and have also met people from Sweden, Finland, Italy, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, and many other countries. I came to Mexico hoping and expecting to have my eyes open to Mexican culture, and in the process am having my eyes opened to a wealth of other cultures and languages (I even feel like my Australian roommate and I don’t always speak the same language!).

I like to think that I’ve always had an open mind to other ways of thinking and to other cultures, but I realize now that I could only absorb so much living in one country for my entire life. Of course, my semester in Costa Rica helped a lot, but there was still so much U.S. influence it was sometimes hard to differentiate between cultures. It is suddenly hitting home that there is a whole world out there, much larger than the one that my life has been more or less centered around. Those of you who know me know that I consider myself pretty culturally aware, but now I see how vital it is for me to interact and make friends with people from other cultures for it to really sink in. There is only so much that textbooks can teach you.