El Museo de Antropología de Xalapa

Here in Mexico -- or at least, at my university here -- we don't have classes on Friday.  So what's a girl to do with a long weekend ahead of her?  Well, I didn't make plans for the whole weekend, but some of my classmates and I decided to meet up this morning and take a trip to Xalapa's Anthropology Museum!

We met at the school and shared a taxi to the museum.  As we got close, we drove past an enormous garden, and I soon realized that this garden was a part of the museum!  I didn't get to explore the garden today, but I'm planning to go back to the museum at some point and take more time with all of the exhibits.  Inside the building, we bought our tickets and waited a few minutes for the guided tour.  It was, of course, in Spanish, and though I certainly didn't catch everything, I am pleased to say that I got the gist of it!  More reasons to make a return trip -- to catch some of the finer points and maybe ask a few questions.

The museum holds beautiful (and somewhat strange) relics from pre-Cortesian Mesoamerican cultures, like the Olmeca people who lived in what is today southern Veracruz.    You can see in the above picture a bit of the scale of these relics!  Not all of them were this big, but it was certainly inspiring to think of the work it took to move these stones and carve them.

If there is one thing I have gained from my first week in Xalapa, it's an intense desire to learn more about indigenous Latin American cultures, and more about Mexico in general.  I am realizing more and more how pathetically little I know about this huge, beautiful, complicated nation -- a nation which is arguably the most important neighbor the United States has!  Many of my friends have heard me say this before, but I am continually frustrated by the one-sided-ness of American education.  In the past few years, I have taken two "World" Civilizations classes at my college, and of course I covered world history in high school... But none of these classes addressed Latin America AT ALL  (two sentences referring to Haiti's successful slave revolt do not count as "covering" this enormous part of the world).  Yet the part of the world we are neglecting has huge significance today, and I think exploring non-European cultures would be extremely beneficial to Americans.  End of rant (for the moment).

After the trip to the museum, I went back to my house and enjoyed lunch and a bit of a break.  Then I went out with a friend to hunt for a local park which is supposed to be a great place to run (she runs, I'm only interested in walking haha!).  We eventually found the park, which is pretty big and kind of fun; there are a lot of carnival-esque rides set up (I'm guessing they are for the evenings or the weekend proper) and a LOT of churros.  I didn't take many pictures because it was really cloudy, but I'm sure I will go back to the park another day and will be able to show you the gorgeous trees rimming the little lake.  For your enjoyment, may I instead present a picture of Mateo, my host family's dog!  He's a big sweetie and very obedient. :)

I think that's it for now!  Next week I will try to elaborate a bit on my classes as I settle in, and maybe we can explore some of my favorite Mexican dishes thus far (side note: OH MY GOSH I LOVE AUTHENTIC MEXICAN FOOD (even more than I thought I did!!)).  If there is a part of life here in Xalapa I haven't covered that you'd like to know about, ask away!