La Huasteca Potosina

This Monday there was no school in Mexico so my work decided to take advantage of the long weekend and travel to La Huasteca Potosina. It's an area known for its beautiful vegetation and the name refers to the indigenous people who use to inhabit the land. So, on Saturday at 12:30am, about 100 teachers and students loaded two buses and made the 7 hour journey.

Saturday we arrived very tired to El Castillo de Sir Edward James. It is a surrealist-designed castle built by a Brit in the middle of the jungle. Walking up, down, and around the strange castle was like walking in a maze. There are also little waterfalls and pools that you can hike down, which I did with some friends. I made it all the way to the last little waterfall until I slipped and landed hard on my butt. I have a gruesome bruise but am fine otherwise.

The next day we paddled in some boats to "El Tamul" - the waterfall you see to the left. It was quite a site. The best part was the cave nearby where you can go swimming.

Monday we went to "El Puente de Dios" - God's Bridge. It is an area with beautiful waterfalls and water that is the bluest you have ever seen (not a light turquoise but a dark, mysterious, and pure blue). You can jump off about a 20-meter high cliff, swim in the caves, or play at the tiny, rocky shoreline. The water was nice and warm, but there was a very strong current - I got caught up in it and crashed against some rocks - which added some more scratches to my body. Between the bruises and the bug bites, my body took some abuse this weekend!

Although the trip was very long and exhausting (my body was sore from all the hiking), it was worth the pain :) It was really nice to hang out with the students and staff outside of class. And I learned something about Mexicans this weekend: they have amazing patience. Whenever we had bus problems or something didn't go as expected, every single one of them took it in stride and didn't complain. Or for example when the busdriver stopped for 40 minutes to get gas just 20 minutes after we departed (why didn't he refill on his 3 hour break beforehand?), only my friend and I were grumbling to ourselves about how strategic thinking isn't a

personality trait most Mexicans seem to possess.

When I returned home late on Monday night, I received some bad news: Sparky the pet chihuahua died earlier that day! The owners don't know how it happened - they just found him dead. Too bad - he was only about a year old.