¡Feliz día de independencia!

As of this weekend, I have started my new and improved life here in Puebla as a (semi) healthy individual. This weekend was Mexican Independence day, and it was time to play! We started off on Thursday night, attending a ward party with the "papitos" as we call them (our managers at the employment center) and their families. We watched some of the youth perform traditional dances, and then got dressed up in the costumes at their insistance. I think it was funny to them to see a couple of güeritas, as we are called, all dressed up. It was a little funny to me too. There was food- elote (corn on the cob) and chalupas (nothing like taco bell), more dancing, and volleyball (which I tactfully watched). And I can't forget the traditional "grito de independencia", where the bishop yellled out the names of the heroes of the revolution, while we all echoed, yelling "¡Viva!", and then finished up with a round of "¡Viva México!" 's. The next day, we went to a stake activity with our friends Ezra and Etienne, which was more of the same, but on a grander scale. It was pretty awesome- there was a HUGE turn out, and this time, there were mariachis. The first mariachi group to play was great because it cinsisted mostly of little boys, who were incredible...played instruments, sang, and danced. We ate some more food, met some more people, and generally, had a good time. On the way home, the city was festive, to say the least, and we caught a glimpse of a beautifully lit up church, that we had to stop to take a picture of. Then we passed through the center of the city to buy some flan and some churros, which were delicious. I decided that I definitely like Independence day here in Mexico, and it was exciting, because it was one of the first times that I got to go out without being in a fair amount of pain and getting tired really easily. It was a good weekend at that, but we didn't stop there. Saturday, Ezra and his mom, Isabel, called and offered to take us to a town called Cacaxtla, that has some ancient ruins and some pyramids. It turned out to be an awesome day trip. We walked through the ruins, and saw these amazing wall paintings that have some how been preserved. They are war scenes, and interestingly, depict people of different skin tones, a´la Book of Mormon. That was definitely a highlight, and it was incredible to think about the civilizations that have existed here anciently. After the ruins, we went to a nearby pyramid, and climbed to the top of it. The view was incredible, but by that time my camera had run out of bateries, so I didn't get a picture. We also ate these awesome blue tortilla quesadillas- I had a mushroom and pumpkin flower one, which was surprisingly good. My favorite part about it was that they were made right outside on these makeshift stoves. No pictures of the actual food, but we got one of a sign that informed us of what we would be eating. It was a day of authentic Mexico. We finished off the weekend with a young single adult activity where we met a lot more people our age. It was another volleyball night, but they were making chalupas again, so I had a great time getting in on the action and learning how to make them myself. My job was to put res salsa on the cooked tortillas. Pretty tricky, but lots of fun because of the people I worked with. Good times and good food. :)