Last weekend the whole gang took a trip to Acapulco, but Alex and I stayed home so we decided to go out for a night on the town and treat ourselves a little.  We ended up treating ourselves a lot.  We walked into "House Bed and Breakfast" and were met with a candlelit path to this...

 I think I was most excited to get a drink with ICE! I've missed cold drinks so much.

 Usually I'm a really big chicken when it comes to trying new foods, but I figured "when in Mexico..."  So I was brave and instead of going for a quesadilla I got Tacos al Pastor.  In one word, delicious!  The creme brulee for dessert wasn't bad either.

 Then we had a little fun with the furniture. 

But the fun didn't end there.  After dinner we headed out to the Zocalo to look for some live music.  We stumbled upon this group called "Ginga Guerra Capoeira" which was amazing.  They combine music, break-dancing, capoeira, and fire dancing all into one awesome show.
 

 Then came the big move.  We left our friends, the nuns, at the CCIDD compound and moved across town to Casa Verde with a little more bedroom space for all the new volunteers. 

"Big Girl's Room" with outdoor terrace. 

Kitchen/common room

 Stairs of death.  Also known as the sobriety test stairs... 

 

...which lead to the rooftop terrace/garden.  And yes, that's a hammock.

 

 

 One of the best things about the move is our new friend, Sasha. 

The final adventure for the week was Jardin Borda.  It's one of the oldest gardens in the Americas and has been around for over 200 years.  There are art exhibits, boat rides, fountains, rose gardens, and tons of vendors who seem to know exactly how to get all my money.  Luckily I didn't take a single peso, which is a good thing because I wanted to buy everything in sight.

 Alex got a little distracted and ran off chasing a butterfly.  In her defense they are huge here.

 There are so many places here to make me feel like even more of a giant.  Mexico is definitely not made for tall people.

 Mangoes with chili powder.  EVERYTHING here has chili.  Even the ice cream.  Still can't get over that one. 

Catching Up

Only two weeks in and I'm already behind, so here goes!

WEEK 1:
 The highlight of the week was a trip to "La Catederal" (hopefully everyone can figure out that Spanish).  It was my very first Cathedral and it didn't disappoint. 

It's made up of three Cathedrals in total, two smaller and then the main one.  

Numero uno (my favorite one):

 Numero dos:

And finally, the main attraction.  Complete with skull and crossbones over the front door.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven..."

WEEK 2:

 This week was a trip to the pyramids at Xochicalco. The  was founded in about 650 AD by the Olmeca-Xicallanca, which are a Mayan group of traders.

View from the road. 

And into the museum with an aerial view.

And LOTS of artifacts.

 

Apparently skulls were really in fashion back in the day.  Used for bracelets and to line the outer walls.  So versatile.  

"Ball Game" kinda like a combination of all games involving a ball.  The only rule- no hands.  The best part is that the winner was the one to get sacrificed. 

 

And finally, out to the actual pyramids with some amazing views of the city.

And a few stairs.

Chole decided she'd had enough of the stairs and jumping off would be a lot faster.

And Clair got in a little trouble for walking on the walls.

               The main pyramid.

The "ball game" court

The observatory. A cave modified to allow study of the movement of the sun. The cave was covered with stucco and painted black, yellow and red with a chimney that measured from the base to the surface 29 feet, and which is hexagonal in the top. The chimney has a slight slope allowing the sun's rays to be to projected on the floor of the cave.
In the 105 days running from 30 April to 15 August, the sun shines into the cave. In the sun's movement towards the Tropic of Cancer and upon their return, respectively, on 14/15 May and 28/29 July, the sun is at its zenith and the astronomical noon, the beam of light falls directly through the chimney showing the image of the sun on the floor of the cave. The site was also used for religious ceremonies (thank you to Wikipedia for the info).