Why You Should Visit a Peace Corps Volunteer

My friends Nancy and Tim recently came to visit me, which was awesome!  Any other volunteers half-way through their service will understand the value of and pure excitement generated by visitors from the US (especially when they’re people that you love :).  They stayed with me for four nights and I was able to show them several different aspects of life in my little Pueblo Mágico.
  

Exploring a local treasure in town.

 Touring some small towns in the hills above my pueblo.

I was also able to share with them many of the unique noises that dot the landscape here.  What kinds of noises, you ask?  

• Los huetes – these are essentially loud, booming fireworks without colorful flares that sound like a rocket is exploding - very close to you.  They are used in rapid succession during religious celebrations, often starting at 5:30 AM and going into the wee hours of the night.  
• Church bells – If you’re sitting in the plaza when they start ringing, it’s like you are one with the bell (and it's possible that you may lose some hearing).  If you are anywhere else in town, you will know that it's time for mass, because the sound of a church bell really carries.
• Roosters – I was naively under the assumption, pre-Mexico, that roosters only crowed at the break of dawn.  Nope.  They crow all day and all night, and I can find no discernable pattern from day to day.
• Water and gas trucks – I’ve become accustomed to the loud jingles but it was great to have someone else here to play the game of “is that a water truck or a gas truck? It sounds like an electronic cow is mooing, so...... that'd be the gas truck!" 
• Off-road vehicles – there aren’t a ton of these in my town, but when they come through, you know it.  We got to pinpoint the source of a loud engine noise while enjoying beverages on a rooftop deck and watching a dune-buggy-type-vehicle roar past.   
• Music – there’s an event venue about a block from my house and I can frequently hear very loud music playing for hours at a time during the weekend.  Nancy and Tim got to experience a full on banda celebration with music from about 3 PM to 12 AM, with tunes so fast that we all had to ponder how those musicians were still standing and how people were dancing at that pace.
• Car announcements – I was oddly happy that Nancy and Tim got to experience having a car drive by with a loud speaker on top announcing that next weekend there’s going to be an optometrist in town.
• Dogs barking - less than a week after my last blog post, which talked about the neighborhood dog barking, my visitors got to see and hear that dog as well.  Along with several others in the middle of the night. 
• Birds – there are all kinds of great birds in my region and while hiking on an 11 km walk to the local lake, we got to hear lots of different songs.     

Rooftop dining - that's the hill we climbed in the background.

Cross at the top of the hill.

Visiting a lovely church in a mountain town.

Nancy and Tim enjoying some delicious mango ice cream with my friend Sonia and her husband.

The end of our 11 km roundtrip hike, where we encountered many birds.

Also at the end of our hike - the world's largest mocajete!

We hiked to the top of El Cerrito de la Cruz where we could hear every single noise being generated in the city below – all at once.  Imagine if you will, a cacophony of roosters, water truck jingles, music from outdoor parties, church bells, announcements from trucks selling fruit, loud car engines and a crazy strong wind.  We were all laughing at the amount of noise at the top of that hill, and every other noise we encountered, because sometimes laughing is all you can do!  We also laughed while traveling with some local friends to visit three different neighboring communities, exploring various colorful churches, having brunch with my friend from Belgium, teaching my weekly English class and sitting in the plaza people-watching while listening to those church bells. 

Nancy and Tim were great sports about all the new experiences, modes of transportation, noises and foods!  They tried birria at a counter in a local mercado, my standard quesadillas with veggies, the chayote vegetable, two different kinds of local ice cream, papaya, the Jalisco version of gorditas, mole, hamburgers and more.  They were also willing to slather on sunscreen for daily adventures, and to pass a Sunday afternoon navigating tons of religious tourists in the local tianguis.

Eating birria in the mercado. 

Dinner of champions at my house.

Vendor swatting away flies from his table of nuts and sweets.

Rolled guayaba - a local delicacy that we did in fact eat.

Goldfish crackers AND M&Ms from the US?!!!!

I cannot express enough thanks to my friends for both coming to visit me and for bringing me a bevy of awesome gifts from the US.  If you have a friend or loved one serving in the Peace Corps, GO VISIT THEM!  You will have a great time, get a unique view into a different culture, and you will bring that volunteer so much joy.  If you haven't made it to Mexico yet, come on down!  I recommend a visit in September or later, after the rainy season, but you're welcome anytime.  I promise to show you some beautiful sights, provide a fan to keep you cool and to ply you with tasty food.  Plus you'll have my eternal thanks, and that's worth the trip alone, right?