June 29th, 2012

Yesterday, I went on an excursion with Scott, who is an instructor, and a couple of students. We first visited a market, not known to many, but that sells everything. When I say everything, I mean everything! This includes new and used things, anything you might need for your house, and even animals! They do not like if you come as a tourist to only take pictures, you have to buy something! So I bought two cazuelas (a cooking pot), which you can see in the first picture that I posted. I've never been to a market like this, but it was quite amusing because I've never seen a place where you can buy your groceries, household items and a cow or horse while your at it! Afterwards we visited the ex-convent of San Francisco de Asis of Caplan. It was built in 1548 and is really fascinating because every single detail added to the church and surrounding towers is symbolic of something. Unfortunately, we wanted to see the volcano Popcatepetl, which is an active volcano located here in Puebla, but it is very cloudy here in Puebla so you can't see it very well. It is Puebla's rainy season, so we will most likely not be able to see the volcano clearly until the rainy season is over in October. I'm only here for 2 1/2 - 3 more weeks, so I'm stuck in this rainy season. I did post a picture of the volcano, but it is somewhat hard to see with the clouds. Today was a relaxing day, we cooked a meal with our instructors and chatted for a while. I am hoping I will remember some of these recipes I am learning!

I bought two cazuelas (a cooking pot) and I'm looking forward to using them when I get home! 

They say that when you cook food out of these, it actually tastes different and better!

Some of the different foods sold at this market. 

A lot of tools and boots for sale.

A cow for sale!

                                       

Here was the section to buy animals. There were live turkeys, huge pigs (you can see a little one on the left side of the photo), horses, sheep, and many more animals for sale. 

The ex-convent of San Francisco de Asis de Calpan

One of the surrounding towers.

Mostly everything is original, including the doors and like I said, each little detail has a special meaning.

The church and the yellow building is where the monks use to live. 

This is the volcano Popocatepetl. It is the second highest peak in Mexico and is active!

I'm sharing this breakfast photo because it's eggs with chorizo (mexican sausage). I love having this for breakfast because the chorizo is spicy and delicious! If you haven't tried it yet, you should!

My plate of fruit that my host family member always gives me. Sometimes I think it's a little bit too much fruit, but somehow I manage to eat it all. 

For dinner my host family made homemade pozole. I posted a picture of the red pozole I ate at a restaurant for lunch, but this is the white pozole (it's a litter darker because I added a lot of chili!).

Today after class we made chilaquiles a la poblana and cream of carrot soup!

Here is a picture of one of the teachers cooking the chilaquiles. Not only is she a great teacher, but a great cook as well! The girl in back, Vanya, is her younger sister, who helps out now that she is out of school. The first question she asked me when I arrived was if I liked Justin Bieber. She's a sweet and funny girl. 

Our cream of carrot soup.

These are the chilaquiles a la poblana. In a casserole dish, we cut tortillas in quarters, then added the mix of chile poblanos peppers, cream of mushroom, and onions, then we added cheese and repeated this process. It's almost like making a casserole or lasagna. We're suppose to wait a while before eating it so it has more shape, but we were hungry! 

June 27th, 2012


This week is flying by. On monday I went to class and then explored a little more of Puebla with my tour guide. I bought a plate and bowl of talavera poblana for my mother, which is a type of ceramic that is only made in Puebla and surrounding communities. I then went out to eat with Paty, a host family member, and her friends to eat cemitas. Tuesday I visited the The House of the Serdan Brothers or the Revolution House. Afterwards a couple of the tour guides, another student and I went to a cafe to drink some coffee with chocolate and play scrabble in spanish. Today was nice because after class we had tacos gringas and instead of touring, we all took a break and went bowling or "jugamos boliche." I walked around for a while and of course right now, like every evening/night I am in the kitchen spending time with my host family.

Talavera pottery of Puebla is a type of majolica pottery. Authentic Talavera pottery only comes from the city of Puebla and the nearby communities because of the quality of the natural clay found there and the tradition of production which goes back to the 16th century. Much of this pottery was decorated only in blue, but colors such as yellow, black, green, and orange have also been used. Majolica pottery was brought to Mexico by the Spanish in the first century of the colonial period. Production of this ceramic became highly developed in Puebla because of the availability of fine clays and the demand for tiles from the newly established churches in the area. 

Another picture of my typical breakfast of eggs, sausage, and a nice plate of fruit. 

This was another typical plate of Puebla that I ate. It's called carne de lomo a la salsa poblana (pork tenderloin in a poblana sauce with rajas or roasted chile strips). 

This building is the Mexican Revolution Museum also called the House of the Serdan brothers. This is where the first battle of the Mexican Revolution took place on November 18, 1910. The Serdan family was betrayed two days before the planned uprising against President Portifio Diaz. The house still has the bullet marks from the battle. This museum depicts the life and times of Aquiles Serdan and his family. 

One of the rooms in the house. 

The three Serdan brothers

The kitchen

The front of the house where you can see bullet holes on the walls and in the mirror. 

A nicer picture of the house. 

Us playing Spanish scrabble at a cafe 

This is the taco gringa or a taco al pastor (pork). It is huge, I would say 3 tacos in one. It was delicious!

The inside stuffed with a lot of pork!

The bowling alley!

My tour guide, Daisy, about to bowl. 

June 24, 2012

Sorry, I haven't written for awhile, I've had less time to write and update my blog. The past several days have been great! On Wednesday,  I went biking and toured Puebla, it was fun and a little scary. In my opinion, they drive a little out of control here, so it was scary biking next to speeding cars, but also a new experience for me. I visited an old jail, which is now a museum and space for offices. On Thursday, I went to Angelopolis, Acatepec and Cholula to visit some churches and see The Great Pyramid of Cholula. It was really interesting! Then for the weekend, I took a 2 1/2 hour bus ride to Mexico City to visit my family that I haven't seen for quite a while. I stayed with my Aunt Teresa, Uncle Emilio and my two cousins Larissa and Alexandra. I had a great time and it was really nice to catch up with them. I got to walk around and see the popular areas in the city. Also, I went to the mall, which is nicer than some of the malls back home! Saturday night, I got to see almost all of my cousins. We all went out for a drink and appetizers and then spent the night playing games at my cousin's apartment. I never get to see them and spend any time with them, so it's definitely a memory that I'll cherish. I plan on visiting again in two weeks and cannot wait! Sunday was nice too because I was able to see my other uncle and my grandfather, who is 96 and I'm happy to say who is still looking strong and healthy. Overall, I've had an amazing time the past week, and I'm very much looking forward to this week!

Here I am biking around a park, before we headed around town.

This was the old jail that they turned into the "Museo de la Intervencion Francesa" 

This museum displays some of the objects used in the Battle of Puebla and it's history.

A beautiful church built in the XVII century in Angelopolis. Unfortunately, I was not allowed to take pictures inside of the church, but it is one of the most decorated churches I have ever seen! 

You can see how nicely decorated it is on the outside, only if I could show you the inside!

Museum in Cholula that displays artifacts found from the Great Pyramid of Cholula.

Some of the tools that were used. 

A mini model of the Great Pyramid of Cholula. It is the largest archaeological site of a pyramid in the New World!

The pyramid is huge. It is farther then from where I took this picture to where you see the church! The church appears to look like it's on a hill, but it's actually part of the pyramid, it is just covered by grass and trees. 

Here I am by the stairs of the pyramid, which were extremely scary walking down from!

We climbed all the way to the top where the church is, this was the last set of stairs! Phew!

Church of Our Lady of Remedies which was built by the Spanish in colonial times (1594) on top of the prehispanic temple.

This week I got to try homemade chalupas. These are nothing like the chalupas you might be thinking about that are from taco bell. These are fried tortillas with salsa roja or verde with cheese, but other ingredients can be added. They also originated in Puebla. 

This is in Mexico City. I was having dinner with my Aunt and Uncle and a few of my cousins.

Here I am with my cousins out at La Cerveceria de Barrio 

We were very tired from Saturday night, so we had some coffee and churros!

The delicious churros filled with strawberry, chocolate, nutella, cream, and some other yummy fillings.

My Grandpa and I at his house.

A nice meal of carnitas, rice and tortillas with my family at my Grandpa's house. 

June 19, 2012

Today was a pretty nice day and it didn't rain! The past couple of days it has rained, a lot! It's also been pretty cool ranging between 60-65 degrees. Normally, it should be around 70-80, so I am hoping it will be soon! However, right now it is the rainy season in Puebla, which normally begins in May and ends in October. So, I know I should expect a little rain daily. From what I've seen from the forecast and have heard from friends and family is that it's in the 90s in Chicago! Wow! 

I'll let my pictures do the talking, so here are some photos I took today followed by descriptions of a little of what I did today. Enjoy!

My breakfast of eggs with potatoes, onions, rajas with fruit and coffee.

For lunch I had a traditional pre-Columbian soup from Mexico called pozole. Pozole is made with hominy or dried corn. You can choose either red or white pozole with either chicken, pork, turkey, pork rinds, chile peppers, and other seasonings. There are many variations of this soup. Mine was a red pozole with chicken. 

This XVIII home is called Casa de Aldenique. It's named this because its design resembles the famed poblano candies made of sugar, called alfeniques. Here, I received a tour about Puebla, where they showed different indigenous codices (books written by pre-Columbian and colonial-era Aztecs), Spanish armor, maps, photographs, paintings, varied colonial furniture, an antique carriage used by Porfirio Diaz during his government and a collection of antique dresses. 

It's really neat to see how the houses were decorated in the 19th century, unfortunately I was only allowed to take photos outside of the rooms. The colonial furniture and decorated rooms are beautiful and it was a way for people to show their economic status and impress their guests. They had chandeliers, a lot of french furniture, and even a fireplace with no chimney! 

The upstairs

This is an area where a lot of bars, coffee shops and grills are. 

My tour guide said that it gets very packed here on the weekends. This was my view

from a small bar and grill we stopped to rest at. 

I ended my tour today with trying a beer that from what I heard is

pretty popular here. They also served my tour guide and I chicharrones (pork rinds) 

with some lime and salt.