And it begins...in Mexico!_!

The trip to Cordoba, Mexico started June 19th. It involved a trip from 5-2:30 AM on an airplane flight that transferred from Baton Rouge, to Houston, then to Veracruz. After that we traveled in a packed (very packed) bus to Cordoba where we were dropped off with our families. I am in the house with Matilda. The family we are staying with for the next 15 days is the Castillo’s. Our father’s name is Jorge, our mother Gia, hermana Frida, and our hermono es Jorge tambien. They are very nice. When we arrived I told them I was a vegetarian. I lucked out and got the one family with a son who is a vegetarian. Lucky…I know. We stay in Frida’s room. So far everything is great. On the 20th we went to the downtown area of Fortin (where we stay). Frida and Jorge took us around and showed us the town. We went to the park, the library, and a lot of other places. We also ate this ice cream called cubitas. It is sort of like a Popsicle. It was very tasty. Nuestras madre y papa own (?) a pet spa. Afterwards we went to our first Spanish classes. It was…we different. Leo talked fast and my Spanish is..eh…Matilda has been translating a lot for me. She talks to everyone. On the 20th (Wednesday) we meet nuestra’s madre (abuela). Also, we went with all the other girls to a coffee shop with Favilol. She is awesome. She speaks English very well and she shows a different aspect to the city.

Today (the 21st) we went to el Fondo. From there we went to the orphanage in the country. The kids, I love them. They tried to understand my slow English and I tried to understand them. I meet some kids like Xochita, Rosola, Ricardo, etc. I played futbol for awhile. I fell in the mud two times and was hit in the face with the ball as well. The ride over there was interesting as well. It went from small city, to nothing. The orphanage is out in a huge country type atmosphere. There are a lot of trees, grass, everything. It is hard to explain and when I edit this I will do more. After the good bye, which involved a small child crying in Courtney’s arms. We went to our respective homes. It involved an awkward conversation about how I thought yesterday Matilda ate brains, I felt like an ass, but I meet a cool girl named Juliana who will teach Matilda how to swim. Next, we went to the Spanish classes, which were better because there was more…action…at 6 we went to downtown Cordoba and saw a lot of dancing. The Cuba and the Veracruz one. Some of the girls were asked to dance(Sam, Hanna, and Kelsey who stood still most of the time). The dance is specifically for Veracruz and the outfits they wore are as well. Some guys gave some girls some flowers and then Favilolo picked us up. Now I am in a room with a bad battery typing.

Cordoba, is beautiful. Something about the mountains, the people, the atmosphere. It reminds me of New Orleans in the Spanish sense. You start to think about how all the girls are so similar. They listen to Panic at the Disco, all the thing we (USA) like, but we are separated by language. It is almost amazing. Just, words can block us, when really we are the same. However, this can be overcome with hand movements (something I have used often). I plan to blog again, I just need to edit this stuff when I get back in America. Signing out.