Morelia

As much as I love Mexico City, I love leaving it, too. Sharing a city with millions of other people is fun and exciting, but I think it gets to me sometimes. I'm thankful for the travel opportunities that I've had to keep me sane. During the weekend of the 9th-11th of October, I met up with 2 fellow Fulbrighers, Tim and Sharon, and Sharon's 8 year-old daughter, Alice. I had always heard great things about Morelia and was excited to see this charming little town.

My original intention was to see the International Film Festival in Morelia, however, once we got there, that became secondary. Tim and I hung out the first night and he was expecting the energetic, let's-party-Gretchen, but she wasn't there. I'm-so-tired-I-just-want-to-relax-Gretchen was there instead. We walked around, saw the cathedral lit up at night, and ate some yummy food. The flavors reminded me of the Mexican food from home, maybe because in California we have a large population from Michoacán (the state that Morelia is in) and they have brought their delicious recipes with them. 

The next morning Tim and I set out to find out what this film festival was all about. We found the theater and spoke to someone who was promoting their film. It was about the raids on immigrants in the U.S. and how it effects the towns they are deported from and the towns they are deported back to. This film was specifically about a small town in Iowa with a large Guatemalan population. Unfortunately, the film was sold out by the time we got to the front of the line. That was our film festival experience. I still want to find this film and see it some day.

I was told that stars might be in town for the festival, so of course I kept my eyes peeled looking for Poncho Herrera or Jaime Camil. No luck there, either. Instead of stalking stars all day, Tim and I met up with Sharon and Alice in our hotel. We set out to explore the city. We went to an orchid garden, went to the candy museum (yes, a candy museum!), and returned to our hotel tired from wandering around. I think Tim, Sharon, and I really needed our sit-down- and-talk-time. Poor Alice got bored of the adult talk and retired back to the room to watch movies. I remember as a child whenever my mom was visiting with friends she would tell me, "Just let me finish this cup of coffee." I never understood why she didn't just chug that cup so we could go! Now I get it. We told Alice we were just going to finish our coffee and we would be right up. A couple of hours later, we were still there. We took turns venting about our frustrations of teaching in Mexico, bragging about the wonderful experiences we've had, and laughing about the many peculiarities of Mexico. When Alice came back wondering if we had finally finished our coffee, we decided to venture back out into the city.

We found a neat restaurant/bar/lounge where we ate our late dinner. The perfect place for all: food, music, and couches. Once Alice got tired, she just lay down on the couch and we were able to continue our dinner, listening to the music and trying to ignore the making-out couples that surrounded us. Public displays of affection are really common. I'm trying to get used to it again (Spain was crazy!).

The next day Tim left early, but Sharon, Alice and I set out to wander around the city before our buses left later that afternoon. I took them to the places that Tim had shown me; the aqueduct, a museum that was all about women, a beautiful church, an artesanía market, and the main plaza. We parted ways at the bus terminal and I was actually excited to get on a bus for 4 hours. ETN, the bus line I've been using here, is amazing. Once I had WiFi, there is enough leg room for me to straighten my legs (yes, ME!), movies, etc. Plus, the views of Mexico from the window are pleasing to look at while I listen to my música romántica....