So....

we still have two more stops from our trip and I've been trying to upload the pictures but it hasn't been working. So I will continue trying til I get to them up. Otherwise everything here is great and we can't believe that we've been here for a month. I hope everyone is doing great and here is my email so you can let me know what you think of the blog. kalei22420@hotmail.com. Hasta luego mis amigos. Oh and we are going to Puebla this weekend so I will be sure to take some pics to share with everyone.

La Basillica de La Virgen de Guadalupe

Our last stop of the day was La Basillica de La Virgen de Guadalupe. It was very beautiful and an incredible experience to be at a place that has so much religious importance. For those of you who don't know the story. On December 9, 1521 a man named Juan Diego was crossing the mountains to visit his sick uncle. On his way the Virgen Mary appeared to him and told him to go and tell the Bishop to build a church where he appeared to her. He did as he was told and the Bishop just laughed in his face. The same thing happened for the next two days. On the fourth day, Juan Diego really needed to go see his sick uncle so he went the long way hoping that she wouldn't appear to him. Wrong. She appeared to him and he told her that no one believed him and that he really needed to see his uncle because he was dying. She told him not to worry about his uncle and to go over to the rose bushes and pick some flowers, put them in his tilma and take them to the bishop. The thing is that the flowers she asked him to pick don't bloom in the season. He picked the flowers put them in his tilma and went to the bishop. When he opened his Tilma out fell roses and there was an impression of her image on the tilma. The Bishop finally believed him and built the church.

The new Basillica (built in the 1970's).

A Statue of Juan Diego showing the Bishop his tilma.

Another statue in honor.

Ana, me and Kate

The old Basillica.

The view looking down from the old basillica to the new one.

The inside of the old basillica.

The inside of the New Basillica.

The originial Tilma.

Kate and I posing in front of one of the many replicas.

A statue of Pope John Paul II and the popemobile that he used when he came to Mexico City.

Side view.

El Catedral and La Plaza de Tres Culturas

So our third and fourth stops of the day were El Catedral and La Plaza de Tres Culturas. El Catedral is obviously the church. La Plaza de Tres Culturas is the plaza where in 1968 the government shot and killed hundreds of students who had gathered to protest the government. It was all kept pretty hush hush so it's not really ever spoken of but that where it happened. Another reason it's important has to do with the big earthquake Mexico experienced. All of the department buildings that surround the plaza collapsed like pancakes. And the third reason the plaza is important has to do with the fact that on August 12, 1521 the final Indian Chief, Cuauhtemoc, was captured there by the Spanish. They were all very interesting places to visit.

El Catedral. Looks fake huh?
Where the very first pyrimaids in Mexico were located.

Another View of El Catedral.

Some Indians dancing.

El Catedral Up close.

The Inside of El Catedral.

La Plaza de Belles Artes, the building is made of marbel and is sinking. It is where el ballet folklorico de Mexico is performed. We will be going to see it, incase you were wondering.

The dedication to the students that died standing up for something they believed in. When the government started shooting lots of students ran to the church in the background and the priest wouldn't open the doors to let them in.

The dedication to Cuauhtemoc.

El Palacio Nacional

Here are pictures from our second stop in Mexico City. This is El Palacio Nacional. It is a government building that used to be the "White House." Back in the day they had Diego Rivera paint murals on the walls that told the history of Mexico. Once again like I said about the Frida Kahlo murals it was crazy to be so up close and personal with these works of art. Well I did my best to bring the art to all of you. Enjoy!

This is the front of El Palacio Nacional. The balcony is where every 16 de Septiembre el Presidente de Mexico da el grito. Viva Mexico!

One of the many murals done by Diego Rivera. This is the middle. As you look from right to left the story is being told.

This is the right side, starting with the indians.

The middle. Which was the present time. (When Diego painted the mural)

The future through the eyes of Diego Rivera.

The middle of El Palacio.

The one wall of El Palacio that has all of Diego's murals.

The first mural. The Marketplace. Shows how the marketplace was in the times of the indians. Back then one could find anything there, and the person sitting in the center in white, was the judge. He would decided whether or not the prices that were given were resonable, and if they weren't he would decide the punishment.

The indians are the ones who gave us corn. As you can see they are growing the corn and turning it into food.

This mural shows how things were when the Spanish came to conquer the Indians.

Gold Panning, one of the many things that the Indians gave us.

Posing as cheesy tourists with our good friend Frida.

Mexico City

This past weekend we had our first excursion. We visited Mexico City. I took a whole lot of pictures so I'm going to divide them up and every place that we visited will be its own blog. We left Cuernavaca on Saturday morning. When we arrived our first stop was at the Frida Kahlo museum, which is actually in the house where she grew up and where she and Diego Rivera lived. After that we went to El Centro and then to Tlatelolco, which is where they killed hundreds of students in 1968. After that it was off to La Basillica de la Virgen de Guadalupe and finally to the hotel. Sunday we woke up, breakfast, then off to Chepultepec. After that we went to the Museo de Antropologia and then made our way back to Cuernavaca. As I said above, I took lot's of pictures so I thought it would be easiest to break them up. First up was our trip to the Frida Kahlo Museum. It was very surreal being there and looking at her house and her belongings. We obviously weren't able to take pictures inside but by the looks of it life with Frida and Diego must have been fun at times and crazy at others. The house is very beautiful and colorful. Enjoy the Pics!

Kate and I outside the Museum (thats the original paint colors)

The view from the garden to the house.

Kate and I hanging out in the yard.

Our Group. The one guy is our Professor.

Kate and Ana

Another view of the house.

Happy Late Valentines Day!!!

So yesterday as everyone knows was Valentines Day. Valentines Day here is way different than in the U.S. First of all one can definitley tell that its Valentines Day just by looking out the window. There are tons of people selling balloons and flowers on every street and at every stop light. So Kate and I planned on going to el Centro to buy flowers for our "mom" and "Sister." At el Centro, like I said before you can get anything, including flowers. Eventually we found a flower shop and a after a little while of asking prices we realized that anyone that buys flowers in the U.S is spending way tooo much money. We bought a dozen roses for $10.00 dollars. Yes I said 10 dollars. And they were long stem too. Oh and as Kate and I were waiting for our arrangement to be made we saw an arrangement go by that was at least 3 ft. tall, it was sooooo beautiful. Anyway below are some pictures. Hope everyone had a great holiday!

Above is the Governor's building. Cuernavaca is the Capital of the state Morelos.

Flower alley. Where all the flower shops are.

Guess how much the arrangement above costs??????

$25 dollars!

They were so suprised that we got them flowers.