well, it's already tuesday, and i'm trying to think back to adventures from sunday. it seems like a week has passed! candice certainly has packed our schedules, and we are making the most of every minute we spend here.
on sunday, i was feeling a little better, but still not so great. actually, the morning was a little rough, but i toughed it out and made it down to chocolate y churros for breakfast with ryan and therese. we had a lovely time, though i wish i could have had more coffee. we then made it back up the hill and caught our tour bus to guanjuato for a day trip. i was on a mission to see the mummies...and to enjoy the sunday despite the stresses of school and life in general.
the trip was an hour and a half, and we arrived in guanajuato at 2:30 or so. we walked as a group down the the mummy museum, and the line seemed long. most people in the trip didn't want to go, but i had my heart set on seeing the mummies. what can i say? especially after seeing that bodies exhibit, i was curious to see how they were preserved, why they had been created, and to view the awesomeness of the natural phenomenon. admittedly, i am drawn to the unusual and macabre as well, so there was that factor too. the line was long, the tour guide said over two hours, and most of the group didn't want to go. i wasn't going to give up, though. luckily, ryan, therese and enrique all agreed to go, so we got in line. it only took 30 minutes to get through the line. the mummies were not well kept, and it was extremely hot inside. despite that, there was something very moving to me about the. i guess when the skin and tendons dry, the mouths of the mummies are drawn open. so they look like they are moaning or screaming or crying...a few laughing, but mostly in faces of anguish. it is an amazing reminder of our own mortality, and that ultimately, we are composed of the same substance as these mummies. what is interesting, too, is that these mummies aren't very old...only from 150 years ago. they were bodies that weren't claimed by families or who couldn't afford to keep the bodies interred. the most famous of the mummies are the doctor and the fetus. the doctor has full clothing and big white mutton chops, still perfectly in shape. he was french, and his body was never claimed, but he was very prominent and well known in town. and yet, here he was in the same room in the same state as the poorest indigenous person, preserved together by the silts and muds and minerals of the land they both knew. the fetus was pretty self explanatory, and yet also moving in its positioning. it made me think about birth and death and the commonality of both for all people, all cultures.
anyway, after the mummies, we went to another small museum about death and occult. it was so cheesy...it was like a cheap disneyland exhibit but with real mummies. i wasn't sure if i should laugh at the irony or be outraged by the lack of respect shown these human bodies. either way they had holograms....can you say museum 1984? lame. but sort of funny, too.
after that, we taxied to the market, where we found a great place to have lunch. empanadas, soup, mineral water, guacamole...i was starting to feel a little less sick. it was a lovely day outside, and we were in a quiet square listening to a terrible mariachi band and just enjoying a leisurely day. doesn't sound exciting, but it was fantastic.
from there to the mercado, which is pictured above. it was large with many indoor stalls...everything from chicarrones to plastic bags to lucha banks to traditional embroidered dresses. and of course, illustrated adult comics. i had seen these before and they are somewhat legendary in mexico. so i got one...wow, i don't think i was man enough for that comic, but if i ever wondered about sexuality in mexico, it was a fantastic crash course.
we ran out of time then, and caught a cab back to the bus, and then a nap on the ride home. i kept dreaming about being in san diego. it was funny. it rained a bit on the trip back, and we saw a rainbow. upon arriving home, we parted ways. i ended up walking down to town with this cool girl erika on my trip, getting some tortilla soup and then coming back to go to bed early. i think i ended up feeling really homesick after all that dreaming so i made a quick but expensive phone call, and then crawled in bed. i hoped to dream more, but ended up not dreaming at all. i think i was too tired.
