Bienvenue à Jalisco

Upon arriving in my new home in Jalisco, I discovered that my international experience was about to get a lot more international, thanks to the addition of young frenchman in my office.  His name is Pierre and he’s a summer intern who is already my favorite person from France. It’s awesome that we communicate in Spanish, sometimes with hilarious results that generate bursts of giggles. Who knows, maybe I can even learn some French here in Mexico.

Mexico, France, the USA....

   The central square at sunset.

  The site for Sunday night strolls and music.

My first week went by lightning fast and was full of a lot of relationship-building events, often lasting until late in the evening. On Sunday night, my family took me to the central square for the weekly community gathering with live music, lots of strolling and fun foods. I had my first chocolate-filled churro, which was like heaven covered in sugar, and got to meet more of the family here since everyone likes to partake in the Sunday night stroll. I’ve had the chance to try some new foods and beverages, all of which have been delicious: birria de res, aguas frescas (horchata, jimica, pepino, ciduela and tamarindo), camarones de mojo de ajo, and – most excitingly – pajarete.  I will admit I was nervous to drink this concoction of chocolate powder, grain alcohol and warm milk fresh from a cow early in the morning, but my mouth thought it was delicious and, thankfully, my stomach agreed.

The biggest cup of Pajarete - mine was smaller (photo by Cindy).

Martin getting super fresh milk for all of us (photo by Cindy).

 Quality time with the team - and the cows (photo by Cindy).

This bull is the dad to many cows we met - and he was ready for us to go.

I attended one community workshop and two celebrations recognizing the first round of informadores (i.e. tourist guides) here and met some very friendly people, including 3 men in a town of 600 people who knew Seattle and had worked there or had family working there!   I also heard about some amazing thermal waters and petroglyphs in their community, so hopefully I can return in the next 2 years to see them first hand as they are not easy to get to without a car.

  View from the central square in La Cuesta.

 A smaller version of a mechanism for processing coffee in La Cuesta.

 A lovely and warm community.

  La iglesia in La Cuesta.

  This flower smelled amazing!

 A hazy view on the road out as it's the season for forest fires.

I’m feeling more comfortable with talking in Spanish thanks in part to the patience and help of the people in my office.  I’ve learned some new words and phrases this week, along with some great cultural tips, like when to say pasa, pase o propio when someone asks for permission to pass.  Today I went to the local casa de cultura to inquire about art classes and was able to have a real conversation with the art teacher and learn about his classes, and additional classes for dancing and cooking at other spots in town!   And I was able to joke with a waiter yesterday about how I could not pronounce “birria” correctly, so there are small victories to celebrate.

  The central square in San Antonio de los Macedo.

  Countryside near San Antonio de los Macedo.

I’m continually amazed by the kindness of people here and realized that I could really be more giving.  Anytime food is present, I am offered some - even if it’s someone else’s meal they just received.  Earlier this week my host mom bought me that chocolate-filled churro, along with a lemonade when she invited me on another evening walk. Today I tasted some amazing beef and shrimp in a coworker’s fajita.  Yesterday, a man in my group received a loaf of mango (cajeta de mango) as a gift and he gave us all a taste and then split the loaf in 4 for all of us to take home and eat.  And this was a DELICIOUS food that I’m not sure I could have been moved to share with 3 other people. Which got me thinking about how sharing is good.  Generosity is good.  And although my automatic response is to say “no thank you” to everything I’m offered, the only thing I really need to say is “is it picante?” – and to then offer a gift to those with me (or better yet, to be the first to offer).