The last week or so has continued to go super well here in Xalapa, with lots of fun with friends and my host family, as well as new and really unique experiences. The 2 highlights of the new experiences being a Temascal and a private concert with Tlen Huicani. Bueno, a temascal is basically a prehispanic sauna, although the experience is much different than a sauna. I wasnt sure if I would like it because I´m not too fond of saunas, but I loved the Temascal. There is picture below of what it looks like, but it´s basically a cave constructed out of sticks, clay and concrete. The temascal that we went to was homemade by two really interesting brothers. They are about my age and live in a tree house that they built as well (picture below). Their family owns a plant business and their father, although he cant read or write, knows an incredible amount about plants.
Anyway to do the temascal, you make a bonfire to heat up volcanic rocks and boil water to make an herbal tea. Then you climb into the temascal and pour the boiling tea over the hot rocks to make a vapor. Its a really intense experience because the waves of vapor give you the impression that you cant breath, but you have to relax and breath calmy the steamy hot vapor. The idea is that the experience cleans your body of impurities. The whole experiences lasts about 30 minutes inside the temascal and when you get out, you pour cold water over yourself to close the pores in your skin. We did the temascal at night and whole experience was incredible, you leave feeling really relaxed by at the same time energized.
The other really neat experience that I had this last week was the opportunity to listen in on a group called Tlen Huicani while they practiced. Tlen Huicani is a world renowed group from Xalapa that plays Son Jarocho (the traditional music of Veracruz) and other styles of music from Mexico. If you search on youtube there are lots of videos of the group playing in various different countries and wikipedia also has a page about them. They have earned numerous awards and were/are considered the best folkoric band in all of Mexico. The director of the group is the uncle of Alejandro, my good friend from Xalapa, who has traveled to 70 different countries during his tours with group! So his uncle invited us to their practice in his house so we got to listen to them play for about 3 hours. At the end of the session, Alejandros uncle gave me two autographed discs of the group which I wasnt expecting at all, it was enough just to get to hear them play in a free concert in their living room.
Other fun things that have happened recently: I got to go see my mexican nephew play in an american football game. He plays for a local team here in Xalapa, and they are actually playing in the semifinal of a regional tournament today in the capital. Last night, I went to really cool reggae concert of another local band called the Aguas Aguas. The concert took place outside in the patio of a really old community in the city in which they have a communal patio and the apartments of families surrounding the patio. I also had the opportunity to go to a really interesting conference about Political Torture here in Mexico. Two fairly young ladies shared their experiences about being abused and raped by police for having participated in a protest. They were really powerful testimonies of sometimes the level of corruption and abuse of power that happens here in Mexico (and in many other parts of the world). I´ve also celebrated various birthdays of friends I have made here in Xalapa, in which we have sang Karaoke or danced salsa. We also had a farewell dinner for the people in my group who are now back in the States. The majority left, there are now just 5 of us still here in Mexico.
My classes continue to go well, its nice to just have 3 classes, I´ve found lots of other things to do to fill up my time. I´m also really enjoying my new host family, I really enjoy our conversations and joking around with them. My host dad is quite a character, he is a really humorous person, so there is never lack of conversation or fun. They have a tradition of getting all the family together (aunts, uncles, grandsons, etc) every saturday which I really like. We spend the day eating and talking. Anyway, Ill leave it there for now. See everyone in a month! (as I looked at the date, I realize I will be back in the states a month from today)
Pictures:
1-Game of Futbol Americano
2-Me with some friends, celebrating a birthday
3-concert with Tlen Huicani
4-concert with Tlen Huicani
5-companeros from my anthropology class, with my professor in the front
6-the temascal
7-the tree house where the brothers who built the temascal live
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