4-3-09

I just arrived in Telpalpa. We were riding up a mountain for a pretty long time. I thought we would never stop ascending, haha. The ride up was amazing none the less. It was dark outside so it was beautiful to see the town below us all lit up as we kept climbing.

Before I talk about Marty’s(It’s short for Marecello) house I wanted to talk about the Casa Hogar in Guadalajara that we went to before we started on our wary to Tepalpa. It was a totally different house than the one in Tepa. Firstly it’s comprised of all little children. I think oldest there is 9 years old. I’m guessing that this would be more of the mind set of what people think of when I say I’m going work in an Orphanage. It’s more in the country area, the facilities aren’t as great at the ones in Tepa, and there are lots and lots of little kids. Yes it’s like “Nacho Libre”. It’s a smaller Casa Hogar, there are only about 40 kids apposed to 86 in Tepa. We went their because that’s where Marty lives. I really want to go back to this Casa Hogar before I leave. One of the Madre’s invited me to go.

Marty lives in this nice house that has a wonderfully welcoming feel to it. It’s totally made out of bricks, the walls and everything. They have beautiful gardening work all around the house I thought I would have to take some time to get adjusted to this living situation here, but I didn’t I felt right at home. I was able to go walk around the town a little bit the other morning. It’s so beautiful to see such amazing scenery all around you. There is even a volcano in the mountain. There are so many great things here, I don’t think I could list them all or convey in writing about how wonderful they are. I think this is a place that you have to truly have to experience first hand to get the affect.

I went to the plaza the other night and in the middle of the square were a bunch of different groups of people dancing these traditional dances in authentic outfits. It was so fun to watch an also me being the animation nerd that I am thought it was so cool how their dresses moved and feet stomped!

Another really cool thing that we were able to see were these huge rocks called “Pedrita” they were really breathtaking. It kind of reminded me of Stonehenge (not that I’ve ever seen Stonehenge in person, but I can imaging that what it’s like). They were really quite amazing. Marty got me to climb up one of the huge rocks. I really don’t think I knew what I was getting my self into. It was pretty scary. I seriously thought it would have been easier. I thought I was going to fall at one point. Marty helped me a lot with getting down. I have a few pictures of that in my album. I think all in all it was totally worth it.