Dia Numero 9 Domingo!

Hola Amigos ¿Como Estan?
Un Excursion al Tulle y mas!
Be prepared to be really jealous....This morning when Katie and I woke up, we calmy sat at our spots at the kitchen table for breakfast. Eva starting laughing saying "don´t you remember we are going for tamales today?" Who would have guessed they would be for breakfast...I quickly learned that for those tamales I would gratefully wake up at 3am everyday! We drove roughly 15 minutes from the house to this small little house with a wonderful old woman who made all the tamales by hand. I ate 3 tamales for breakfast...one with green salsa and chicken, one with chicken and mole, and one sweet one with raisins. A sweet tamale might sound gross to anyone who hasn´t tried it but I guarantee you would fall in love! After a quick and delicious breakfast Katie and I joined a group from school for an excursion to "El Tulle", Tlacolula, and a "Casa del Mezcal". Upon joining the group we met a group of 4 canadians who had ventured here for vacation and to spend a week in school learning Spanish. Now, these 4 were roughly in their sixties and quick interesting...probably couldn´t have looked or sounded more touristy. They were incredibly friendly nonetheless. We all filed into a van and traveled off to see a 2,000 year old tree. The tree is said to be the largest in the world not because of height but because it is so wide. The Mexicans say that it has been witness to their history. After the tree, we went to visit a tiny village where they make traditional Mexican "tapetas" which are tapestries or rugs. This was truly amazing. All the wool is spun by hand and died using natural plants, bark, insects, etc. The man who demonstrated was truly amazing! Some of the rugs had designs that were beyond belief and they are all done by memory. The colors too! It is amazing what you can do with nature if you have the knowledge....it truly is another form of intelligence that I don´t posess. After seeing the "tapetas" we went to visit the Tlacolula market which was rich with people, sounds, colors, and some of the most interesting foods I have ever seen. Picture this: women carring live chickens and turkeys with their legs tied together, pig carcasses lying in the hot son fresh for your picking, fruit so fresh you could almost see the juice pouring out of it, women yelling "quesadillas, tlayudas, tortillas" in your face as you walked by, and people so foreign you could see the years of hardwork in their faces, their hands, and their aching bodies. Truly a sight never to be forgotton. One of the canadian ladies asked an elderly mexican couple if she could take their picture...she (the canadian), not understanding the importance and naivety of photography, snapped their photo. Katie translated for them, as they were extremely concerned where she would be bringing them (their photo). They asked Katie to tell the woman to take care of them....amazing! After leaving the markets we made an impromptu stop at a mezcal house where they make mezcal the old fashioned way...(not sure there is any other way). There literally was a horse in the middle of the house pulling a large round stone to crush the smoked agave plant. Don´t worry I bought some delicious Mezcal along with sal de gusano (salt with chile and the maguey worm). We will share when I get home! I really like it. After Katie and I returned home hoping to feverishly hop into our beds for a nap, Eva informed us that we were going to return to El Tulle with the family for Quesadillas and a romp in the park. Unfortunatly for me I haven´t fallen in love with a Mexican man, however, I have fallen in love with the food. I cannot imagine a better place to visit to ground yourself other than a fresh produce market in another country. As Americans, we are so removed from what we put into our bodies...it fascinates me to see everything alive, fresh, moving, and smelling wonderful! We truly are missing out with SuperMarkets! Adios....Besos...Hasta Pronto!