More pictures have been posted.... enjoy!

At the request of many "fans" out there I have been working on a trials and tribulations page to share the real unedited version of how its been traveling through mexico.  unfortunately i have had a string of issues with trying to post the page (i hoped to have it up this weekend) but its coming... at worst it might be in the form of an email.  keep your eyes peeled. 

Lets catch up...

Yesterday went to San Miguel de Allende.  A LOT of white people there.... mostly retired or families.  Still, found it to be enjoyable.  Went to a park ... the largest urban open space i have seen so far.  Parque Benito Juarez (every city in mexico has a street or plaza or something named juarez... and hildago... and 16 de septiembre, etc)... was full of kids playing, basketball games, bike riders etc.  Did some sketching there.  Returned to Guanajuato at 7pm - still my most favorite city. 

Today I did some window shopping and worked on some assignments.  We have a group project due Wednesday and our design presentations and report due the following week.  Will be a hard couple weeks but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  Exactly 2 more weeks until Peter comes!!!

Hope everything is well is SLO town.

Happy Valentines Day everyone! (and happy birthday todd!).  Vday has been good - even got flowers, wow.  Went running this morning, then had a good breakfast (granola, yogurt, fresh fruit), then walked around the downtown, went to a 3 hour class discussion, then had a big potluck with the group.  Tomorrow we are working on some site analysis for our design project and I will probably work to get ahead on a few other assignments.  This weekend we have a short day trip to San Miguel de Allende..but more to come on that later.  Not much new news...its all work work work around here.

Pictures have been posted....

Just arrived yesterday and have already decided that this is by far my most favorite town!  Pop. 60,000 with narrow winding streets up and down steep hillsides.  Lots of plazas clustered around historic buildings.  Such a romantic little town.  We have a big assignment due Wednesday which I have about 80% done thanks to the time in Chiquis.  Also tomorrow we do a site visit for another design project (mixed use...of course, what else?).  Saturday to San Miguel de Allende...and in a few weeks the big chivas-américas soccer game.  While in Guanajuato we are staying in a hostel.... I think out of the group we got the nicest room.... balconies out to the little placita along the pedestrian walkway and our own kitchen and private bath.  We are right in the Centro Historico and all the amenities (grocery store, laundry, phone, internet) are less than a minutes walk away.

Hope you all are having just as much fun as I am!

Hey!  Its been awhile....

Wrapped up our stay in Mexico City on Monday.  Every day was packed with tours, museums, art exhibits, projects, etc.  By far the highlight was the two soccer games.... cruz azul and las amèricas.  Following DF we were given a 5 day break where we were free to travel wherever we desired.  Some went to guadalajara, others to morelia,etc.  Angie, Cecilia and I went to the small town of Chiquilistlan (half way between guad. and the coast)... to stay with Cecilia´s family.  Her father was born here (and is currently building a large hacienda on the outskirts of town) and I think Cecilia´s family makes up about a third of the population here!  We have been taking it easy... getting ahead on our schoolwork for the most part.  We head to Guanajuato on Saturday - the last stop of the trip - for a three week project and research paper.

Arrived in the most smog infested city in the world on Monday.  At first I didn{t think it was so bad but by mid afternoon when my eyes were burning, I decided that yes, it WAS that bad.  Besides the smog and the streets overcrowded with people, it has been a good experience.  Went to see several Diego Rivera murals, cathedrals, etc.  The most impressive so far has been the Templo Mayor (the spanish build their buildings on the exact spot of aztec temples.... in the late 70's when doing some electrical work, remains of the templo mayor were discovered.... it has since been excavated).  The pieces of jade, jewelry, and large stone carvings were amazing!  Even more amazing was the museum.... wow, what an impressive architectural space - i dont think i have ever been to a better museum!

my time is up.... will write again soon...

 

For all of you who thought I was going to take a nice easy vacation in Mexico... think again.  Just survived a week long project that was INTENSE.  We were at school every day from 9am to 9pm (until 3am on friday!)  with an hour and a half for lunch.  The scope of the project was really large for only having one week to work on it.  Two large blocks in Puebla´s downtown historical district bordering a pedestrian walkway and a busy one way street (20 bus routes!).  No matter where I go I just can´t get away from downtown mixed use projects!  My group was made up of 2 Cal Poly students (both fluent in spanish) and 3 Pueblan students.  All of our discussion was done in spanish and I went home every day with a headache from trying to understand what was going on.  We had some great artists in our group.... and I did some watercolor.  Got a pretty good review as well.

Today we have an assignment to complete and then Monday we are off to Mexico City.

 

The real work starts tomorow.... with our days packed with class from 9 to 5:30 everyday.  Tomorrow we have an introduction at the university and then after lunch take a trip to the site and start analysis.  Then in the evening we are off to do our homestays.  I and the 3 girls I have been rooming with are staying with Alejandro and his grandmother.  He is a friendly outgoing guy who gave the welcome speech (in spanish and english) today at lunch.