Shoes, Spiders, and Scorpions

Above, is a picture of part of the shoe mall in Leon. It has 67 shoe stores. Leon is about 45 minutes away, so we made it a day trip. We took a bus there; that was a cultural experience. First, a man tried to sell us some kind of herbal remedy for your muscles (which I think it was just icy-hot). After he gave his 20 min speech (during which I don't think he took a breath), a man started playing a guitar and singing. It was actually pretty relaxing.

We also went to the Plaza Mayor which was the main mall for Leon. It was huge, and extremely nice. They even have an ice rink there. We ate at a restaurant called "Antares" which was beautiful. They had a grand piano and a violinist playing in the middle of the restaurant while we ate. It was very classy, but still casual-esque dining. My bill (after an appetizer, entree, lime tea, and tip) was $15; however, the prices throughout the rest of the mall were about the same as any US mall. Hugo Boss still costs about 300 US dollars for a pair of jeans, and the Forever 21 type stores had similar prices as well. I ended up getting some amazing shoes there though for $40 and a pair of nice jeans for $30, so I guess clothes are cheaper there, just not 10:1 cheaper.

On Friday night I met up with one of the guys that I had been talking to from here on Facebook. He, his girlfriend, and three other friends took John and I to a Karoke Bar where they sang some Mexican songs. It was hilarious because they weren't that good, but they didn't care. They tried to get John and I to sing a song in English, but all the bar had were songs from The Beatles and Madonna. Needless to say, we declined. After that we went to Bacardi Lounge which is a really cool place where tons of college students hang out. Everyone dresses up very stylishly and they have khaki sofas with plasma screen TV's everywhere with good music. It's really weird, the center of the place has wood floors, and then concrete floors around that, and finally sand-like gravel outside that. It's very different, but a lot of fun. Bodys (the guys from Facebook), his girlfriend, and another guy left early because they were tired. John, Juan Carlos, Andres, and I stayed behind and had a blast. Andres and Juan Carlos are from Mexico City, so when we go there at the end of June, they are going to show us around.

Today, my host brothers Carlos and Eric rode on Carlos' motorcycle through Guanajuato and videotaped the whole thing. I watched most of it today and it was hilarious. I'm going to post clips of it on youtube, but I'm going to restrict access, so I will let you know how to view the videos and when they are posted. The videos show you the mall, the tunnels, where I am living, who I'm living with, and a lot of the city. While you won't be able to understand the jokes in Spanish, they are still fun to watch.

There are some things down here that I am having to adjust too. It's not all fun and games. Haha! Almost everyone smokes, everywhere. It's really weird to go to restaurants and have people smoking. John wanted to smoke while we were waiting to re-join our group at the Plaza Mayor and he couldn't smoke inside the mall because he said it felt weird. Haha! It's amazing how quickly everyone has become accustomed to not smoking indoors in public places. Several people from my program have scorpions in their homes. One person says they have to check their beds at night because they will sometimes crawl into it during the day. Two unfortunate girls in my program found a tarantula in their room on Monday. They took a picture of it, but I don't have a copy of it. They said they put a hat over the spider, but a paper under it and put it outside. The next morning, their host-mother said it was still on the patio, so she took a stick and killed it. That's something else, John and I have been joking that Mexican women with sticks are dangerous. Last night we were walking home and saw a woman hit a car with a stick to get them to stop and talk. Apparently they were friends, or you just don't mess with a women with a stick.

I'm also realizing that Mexicans are amazing drivers. They drive like crazy, but they get to their destinations without accidents. I don't know how people drive in this city. Some of the streets (which are all mostly one way) are so narrow that you have to put your back against the wall when a car comes, so they can fit through. You will be able to see the streets when I get the video posted.

So, I've been desperately craving some kind of American food recently. They have an Applebees here, but no one is really wanting to go. My host parents (Martha and Eduardo) were out visiting family today, so she called and told us to order a pizza. We were all pretty excited, until it got here. It was good, but they put sooooo many toppings on them. On top of that, the pizza (which was a large here, but a medium in the US) cost $19 (US dollars). That just seems steep to me. I can go to downtown Guanajuato and get a full dinner at a tiny street restaurant for $3.50. Needless to say, the pizza just didn't taste like American pizza. Oh well, maybe I'll get Applebees soon. Priyanka (a girl on my program) said her host family took her to Applebees and she said that the restaurant was cleaner than any one she had ever been too. She also said that they ordered quesidillas and her host family said that they had way too much cheese on them. They use a lot of cheese here so that was surprising. Well, I'm going to go for now. I've got to do some homework for tomorrow.

¡Adios y estamos en contacto!