Holy Week!

Time for another update! We left last on April 1 for our week in Mexico City. Sunday, we started off by visiting a traditional bull ranch that was complete with a bull ring, chapel, store and housing for all of the staff and family. It is a working ranch, and has been around since the 17th Century. It was pretty cool because many of the gear, carriages, and even food and stuff from the store were still preserved as originals. It was also nice to be out in some fresh air and open space for a while. After that, we visited Templo Mayor. Templo Mayor is home to some amazing pyramids of the Aztecs of Tenochtitlan. We were able to climb most of the pyramids and with a lot of the structures still there it was easy to do.

We arrived in Mexico City in time to eat a quick supper, freshen up and then we headed to the Ballet Folklorico at Bellas Artes. This was a ballet unlike any us had ever been to before, not that many of us had been to ballets before. The dancers included traditional dances of Mexico, ranging from Spanish to any of the different pre-histpanic cultures. Some of the dances seemed to be courting dances that looked somewhat normal, while another one was a hunting dance, where the leading man was deer. I can honestly say, I have never been more intrigued by anything having to do with hunting. The costumes were incredibly detailed and colorful and often the dancers were accompanied by a flashy mariachi band which put on a good show themselves.

There were so many cool things we did and saw in Mexico City, so I will just highlight a few. We visited the highest building in the world (it's the highest technically, not the tallest, because of the altitude). We had just started to take pictures at the top, when everything started swaying a lot!! At first, I thought, "wow, I need to drink more water, I'm really dizzy!" or "Wow, the wind is strong!" but soon the workers began calling us to the center of the building because it was a tremor! I was pretty calm, but it certainly freaked some people out. Actually, it is one of the safest buildings to be in because it has been one of the few buildings to survive really strong tremors. Sooo...mark that one off my bucket list, be in the highest building in the world during a tremor. We also went to a street where mariachi bands play during the evenings, and were serenaded which was pretty cool. We also visited the Museum of Anthropolgy and the Modern Art Museum later in the week.

The second part of our week was spent with the Mennonite Church in Mexico City. They were overwhelmingly hospitable and we all enjoyed many conversations and laughs with them. They had a drum set, guitars, a bass, a keyboard and mikes which drew all of us music people in right away. They asked us to sing 4 songs for 3 different services and we did some as a group and some with just a band, in which I was singing. We did a couple in Spanish but mostly in English, and they sang some in Spanish. It was a lot of fun!

On Good Friday, we watched a re-enactment of Jesus' trial and walk to the cross. It was very powerful, and included a real crown of thorns and beatings with a whip and you could see the blood on his face and at the hill, he was tied on the cross. You really cannot just run and hide from the truth when you experience something like that. They had medics there to care for the people participating, but I had to think "Jesus had it so much worse and He didn't have a team of medics, or water and breaks". On Saturday, we went to a park with waterslides and pools to celebrate a baptism of a new member of their church and relax. It was a nice day and we even played volleyball on a sand court for a while, which made my day! When it came time to say goodbye to our brothers and sisters at the church on Sunday, we were all a little sad but grateful for the new friendships we have there.

It is hard to believe we only have 10 days left on this trip!! Next week, we are spending the week at a camp at Vasequillo debriefing and relaxing. A week from this Friday, we will be on a plane back to the U.S. I'm going to make the most of my last days here (even my 2 presentations I have to give in Spanish class) and I can't wait to see all of you when I get back!! :)