Saturday, November 18, 2006

Playa Manzanillo



Last weekend (sorry... I've been lax on posting lately) Jenny, Rebecca and I went to a beach called Manzanillo with a group from a church here in Guadalajara. Manzanillo is south of Puerto Vallarta, on the Pacific coat.
We learned about the trip because we are friends with some of the people who attend the church-the Iglesia Biblica de Guadalajara. This church has a Thursday night bible study a lot like the one we do on Fridays (but bigger and in Spanish). I would like to go, but I haven't yet because it is totally across town and it goes until late. We teachers have early bedtimes. Anyways... the beach.

It was more of a retreat than just a weekend at the beach. They had flown in a speaker from Guatemala. The theme was El Arca (the arc) and they talked a lot about faith. I was very excited because I really understood almost everything he said.
On Saturday, after our morning session, we had most of the day to just hang out at the beach. That evening at 5:00 we took a boat ride to an island. Both the ride and the island were really great. The beach was pretty, but not the most beautiful I've seen. Although I really liked the water. Even when it was around 15 feet deep we could still see the sandy bottom. I realized how much I've missed swimming.

We got back late on Sunday night, after a 4 hour ride in a very uncomfortable van... and I have sort of been recovering ever since.
Here are some photos!




Jenny and Quetzal

The judging of our sandcastle competition.
Rebecca, Jenny and I on the island.

A group on the island. The guy in the front-right is Higinio, who planned the trip.
This rock is supposed to be an elephant. Can you see it?
My sandcastle group. We made an arc... but you can't really see it in this picture.

Sunday, November 05, 2006

Black Widows



This is from our front gate. Enough said.

Dia de los Muertos

Thursday, November 2nd, was the Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). We had no school because, even though our Christian school doesn't recognize the very pagan holiday, the public schools do. And we follow their calendar.
SO, halleluia for a break! We took advantage of it and 13 of the teachers went to Chapala, the town with the biggest lake in Mexico, and then to Ajijic, a neighboring town. It was really great to see some new sights. Ajijic had some awesome, colonialish Mexican streets and a plaza. It felt very authentic. And we saw some Day of the Dead alters. The people basically think that their dead loved ones come back on this day, so they make them an alter where they place flowers and the person's favorite food, and they light candles. Thinking, I guess, that the dead person will come back to eat. I don't know...
But we did get to go to an alter to Frida Kahlo, made by some art gallery owners, so that was neat to see.
The town Ajijic also had a lot of Americans and Canadians... apparently a big retirement place. It was exciting, though, that even with all of them it still retained lots of Mexican-ness. OH! but we did go to an American store, with all imported items that you can't get just anywhere. But holy cow was it expensive! For example: Kashi cereal $8-9.00. Natural Peanut Butter: $16.00!
So... I felt that I didn't miss anything enough to wipe out my funds.