Sunday in Mexico

Hi, it's Valerie here.  I feel like I should say this is a guest post, but I suppose this is sort of my blog too, though I'm not very good at posting.  

On Sunday we went to a few churches.  We started out in Jen's ward, which was an adventure since I don't speak any Spanish.  I can't say I followed what was going on exactly, but everyone was very nice and friendly.  I certainly tried to understand what was going on though!  I tried my best to pick up on Spanish and communicate.  It was exhausting!  I can sympathize a little more with missionaries now.  

That afternoon we took a bus over to see the basilica, a catholic church.  I expected to see one beautiful old church.  It was much more than I expected.  It was a whole square of beautiful churches.  I may not agree with the doctrine of these churches, but they sure do know how to build beautiful churches.  I was in awe of the beauty of the churches and the grounds.

Straight ahead is the basilica, and to the right is one of my favorite cathedrals.  The city is sinking, which you can see from the slant of the cathedral.

Inside the cathedral

Celebrating the day of the dead

Our lovely group.  Jen's friends were so nice to let me tag along with them.  They are great!

There might be just a bit of a height difference...

We picked the right day to go!  There was a group of people dressed up in costumes that looked like they were from the Aztecs and were playing drums and dancing.  "A group" makes it sound small, but it wasn't.  The entire square was covered with the dancers.  It was ridiculously loud, but awesome to see.  We took a few pictures with the dancers.

This costume was one of my favorites.  There was a jaguar and an eagle on his head.  And his headdress was enormous.  He thought it was pretty cool too, because he would only take pictures with people who paid him.  It was Sunday so we didn't pay him.  I might have sneaked a few pictures when wasn't looking...  Whoops!

The basilica from up above.  We climbed these stairs (as pictured below) past beautiful gardens to a church at the top.  I didn't care so much for the church, but the garden and stairs were incredible.  And the view of the city, magnificent.

This is how I spent my Sunday in Mexico.  Pretty fantastic!  Good people, good food (the MTC there has pretty delicious food), and beautiful sights.  I would call it a success!

Churros!

That Saturday after I finished work, we headed out to a place that I frequented during my time in Mexico.  Churros Rellenos!  We had to get three kinds, so Valerie could sample a few.  On top we have zaramora or blackberry with cream cheese on top, below we have lechera and fresa.  They were so yummy!

Not the most faltering picture, but its all we have.  Dan was sweet enough to come out with us that evening.

The sweet ladies making the churros.  They were so good and remembered our favorites.  They would often sneak in extra little things and our last night there had a little farewell for us.

As you can tell, these weren't the healthiest, but they sure were tasty.  Who wouldn't like something deep fried, covered in cinnamon sugar and then filled and topped with delicious toppings.

We snapped a quick picture and then hurried to put the camera away, because it was late and we we didn't want to get robbed.  The joys of Mexico!  But as a side not, I never really felt in danger and don't think the city is as dangerous as people think.

Next up, Sunday!  Where we make it to both the Mormon and Catholic church.  Jajaja

Valerie comes, so we ate yummy food and headed back to the castle

While I was in Mexico, I convinced Valerie to fly down to spend a few days with me in Mexico.  She must love me, because she was willing to miss school and work to come enjoy one of the most incredible cities on this planet.  She would blog about it, but she came back trying to catch up on school and is now in the crunch of the end of the semester.

She flew in on a Friday night and a dear friend took me to the airport to pick her up.  We met up with her just after she made it through customs.  She was amazed at the size of the city, overwhelmed by all the Spanish, and immediately noticed the lack of seat belts.  We headed back to the CCM o sea the MTC, our oasis in the middle of the city and headed off to bed.

The next day was Saturday and I worked part of the day, but in between the shifts we made the time count.  First we headed out to a place close by to grab some yummy gorditas.  Mmm, so good.  I miss those.  Making my mouth water.  Miss those so much.

We then hopped on the bus and then the metro back to Chapultepec, so Valerie could see the castle.  She loved it.  I'll let the pictures tell most of the outing.

After the castle, we hopped back onto the metro and headed into Ciudadela.  I love that place!  It is an artisan market and I went there regularly.  The prices a reasonable and there are so many beautiful things from hand-blown glass, beautiful ceramics, incredible woodwork, embroidery, and sooo many other incredible items.  We ran in really quick and bought a couple things and headed back to the CCM, so I could be back for work.  That night we went out for churros, but this post is long enough, so I will put those up another time.

(We didn't take any pictures while we were there, so I just found this picture of the outside off of google.)

El Castillo de Chapultapec

So, I am now back from Mexico, but I was too busy having adventures my last few weeks to record them, so I am now going to try to catch up.  I think I will enjoy the time to reminisce.  

A couple weeks ago, I decided to go explore Mexico's very own castle.  It wasn't too far away, so one  Saturday in between shifts, we headed out!

There was a beautiful view off of one of the many balconies that we could see a portion of the city and the Mexico flag waved beautifully in the skyline.  Viva!

Beautiful stained glass

There were several carriages.  This one was my favorites.

One of the many grand staircases.

An elevator!  I can't imagine living in a house that had an elevator.  The metal work was just so beautiful.  The picture doesn't really do it justice, so you are just going to have to trust me on that one, or go visit yourself.

Ceiling

Bryton and I in the courtyard

More of the courtyard

After visiting the castle, I realized Valerie would love it.  Stay tuned for part two, where Valerie comes to Mexico and I take her to the castle!