Puebla adventure!!!

¡Hooollllaaa a todos! I realized that I haven't posted on here in a really long time....sorry! Since I posted last, I've had a lot of fun though. Let's see...this past Friday, Saturday, and Sunday I went with a group through the university to the state of Puebla. We left at around 1:30 on Friday morning and it was about a 7 hour bus ride, but well worth it. We first arrived in the mountains in Puebla in a little place called Cuetzalan. This was a tiny little country town...soooooo beautiful, words don't do it justice. We arrived around 9:30 that morning and went to the hotel to check in. After checking in we broke off into 2 groups. My group went hiking and swimming first....so much fun. We hiked in the mountains, literally on the cliff of the mountain with a straight shot down probably hundreds of feet. After hiking down the path we ended up at a waterfall. We got to swim in the waterfall and it was so pretty...but really cold. I found I had goose bumps in places I didn't know I had Goosebumps! After spending time in the waterfall we walked a little further through the jungle area and we had the option to rappel down the face of another waterfall...probably about a 100-150 foot drop if not more. I was a chicken so I didn't end up doing this activity. I just ended up hiking down to the bottom of this waterfall and waiting for the others to finish. After spending about an hour here we hiked back up the mountain and then went to the cave. I had never been in a cave before...but it was just what I had expected..dark...wet...and scary!!! We walked in the cave for about an hour and then returned to the hotel to eat supper....Supper was pasta, beef, mushroom salad, tortillas, rice and beans.

Saturday we got up early and ate breakfast and then went to the city of Puebla to visit the great pyramid of Cholula. This pyramid is known to have the biggest base of any pyramid in the world. We walked around it and then walked up to the very top where a church sits today. The church was absolutely beautiful, just like all the churches here are. After the pyramid adventure we went into the center of the city and ate at a restaurant...which again was absolutely delicious! It was buffet style like all of the meals we ate....just doesn't bother me one bit! It was wonderful and I ate salad, poblano dip, beef, tortillas, fruit, rice, and the famous puebla mole! It was really just dip made from black beans....but man sooooooo good! After stuffing myself a few of us went on a guided tour through the city to a few places...we saw the church of San Domingo which was amazing. Pretty much everything was plated in gold...real gold. I'll put a picture on here for everyone to see. After the tour it was time to leave. We got back on the bus and went about 3 hours to another little place that I can't remember the name of. Here we stayed in a farmhouse...in the middle of no where, which reminded me a lot of home. It was very quaint and cozy and so cute! The only downfall was that it was really cold and rainy that night and the next morning...thankfully I had brought a sweater and a pair of pants! So that night we arrived around 8:30 and then ate supper which was lasagna and salad (the lasagna was actually a lot better than most I've had at Italian restaurants in the U.S.). We also had coffee (which they make with cinnamon and sugar) and hot tea while we sat by the fireplace. This dining room reminded me a lot of a rustic cracker barrel. Later they had a "party" in the common room and we danced and played games to music which was really a lot of fun! At about 1:30 that night we took our showers and went to sleep.

The next morning (Sunday) we got up around 6:30 and went to eat breakfast. It was delicious of course! Black beans, chilaquiles (which is just a pile of tortillas chips with cheese and salsa), fresh banana and pineapple, scrambled eggs, and more delicious coffee of course! After eating breakfast we loaded ourselves onto the tour bus and took off from the farmhouse on a trip of about an hour to our next destination. We ended up arriving at Quetzalapan, which is the name of the main waterfall there. It was soooo beautiful and I will also post a couple photos of it. So we hiked down the mountain to the base of the waterfall and took photos, and then hiked back up the mountain. After climbing back up we broke up into 3 groups. My group did zip lining first. We each zip lined directly over top of the waterfall....which was probably 600-700 foot drop....really scary (but AWESOME!!!) After that we waited to walk on the hanging bridge. This was SOOOO fun... this bridge was made only of small pieces of steel rope. It took about 10-15 minutes to cross and we went 3 at a time. Once all three of us got on the bridge, since I was in front, I started shaking the bridge and bouncing up and down (which was completely safe to do), and the 2 guys behind me did the same. Like directly 700 feet hanging above these beautiful waterfalls bouncing up and down and swaying side to side on this little bitty bridge...such an adrenaline rush!!!! This day was probably my favorite!!! After this we all boarded back on the bus and went about 2 hours to a town called zacatlán. Here we walked around and took pictures and then ate at a buffet style restaurant again. It was mole chicken (this mole was made from 4 different kinds of chiles), rice, beans, tortillas, fruit, and salad. Everything was delicious, as always! After this we got back on the tour bus and rode back to Querétaro in about 3 more hours. I was soooooooooooooo tired after all of this...not getting much sleep on the bus or in the places we stayed...for lack of going to sleep early enough. Needless to say last night I slept VERY soundly. I told my host parents that I believe my leg muscles are about double in size since I left from all the hiking up and down the mountains and in the cave! GREAT EXERCISE!

So this week is a busy week again. I had my grammar presentation today in class and I think that went really well! Tomorrow is class, Wednesday is my culture exam, and Thursday is my grammar exam and my Literature exam! Then this weekend I can relax and catch up on some sleep that I missed this past weekend.

All in all the trip was WONDERFUL and I know I will never forget it. I saw some breath-taking places, ate some delicious food, and met some new and amazing friends!!! I can't wait until the next trip like this...definitely worth it. The best part...that is really hard to believe...is that all of this (the transportation in a huge tour bus, 3 delicious meals a day, all tours, and accommodations every day) was only $100. No it's not a typo...only ONE HUNDRED dollars!!!! AWESOME!!! Anyway now that all of you are really jealous I'm going to go study for my exams! LOVE AND MISS all of you and hope everything is well for all. ¡Hasta luego!