The sunrise when we arrive in Mazunte
Dolphin we saw on our tour
Releasing baby turtles into the ocean
The hammocks on our deck
More releasing of turtlesSunday, 27 November 2011
Mazunte
November 20th is a holiday here in Mexico so it's a long weekend. A few friends and I decided to take advantage of this break and we went to the beach for a couple days. We went to Mazunte which is probably the most beautiful beach I have ever been to. The beach is known for it's sea turtles. Mazunte is a tiny beach town full of hippies and really laid back people. It's not very touristy or over developed. Our hotel tell was right on the beach. We just had to walk down the stairs and we're on the beach. We left on a night bus at 9:30pm Friday and arrived in Mazunte at 7:15am. It was perfect because we slept the entire time and had the entire day ahead of us when we arrived.
Within an hour of arriving at the beach we were on a boat to go see sea turtles. It didn't take us very long to find the turtles either. They were amazing to see. Probably about 3-4 long. We actually saw some turtles mating. At one point in our tour one of the guides jumped out of the boat and grabbed a turtle. We all got to jump in a touch it. There were a ton a tiny jelly fish in the water though and when we got back in the boat it felt like stinging nettle all over our bodies. We also got to see dolphins and go snorkling during our tour.
On the sunday we went on a tour at Ventanilla which is known for it's crocodiles. We got to see a wide variety of crocodiles. Some were just babies and others were massive. We paddled down a calm river that was surrounded by Mangroves. It was beautiful. We got to drink the juice from a green coconut and once we had finished the juice we got to eat the coconut with lime and chilli powder. It was really delicious.
There was a jazz festival on the beach. So at night we would sit at a restaurant on the beach listening to the music, drinking cocktails, and watching the waves crash on the beach. It was pretty magical. There is a place called Comet's Point that we hiked up to and watched the sun set. It was a gorgeous view over looking the ocean. Our last morning at Mazunte we set our alarms and woke up at 5:45am in order to see the sunrise. It was so beautiful watching the sun come up on the beach.
Unfortunatley I didn't think ahead and forgot to recharge my camera so I was only able to take pictures on the Saturday. My friends took some amazing photos though. It was an incredible weekend and it's hard to believe that we were only at the beach for 2.5 days. We did so many fun things and made so many memories.
Within an hour of arriving at the beach we were on a boat to go see sea turtles. It didn't take us very long to find the turtles either. They were amazing to see. Probably about 3-4 long. We actually saw some turtles mating. At one point in our tour one of the guides jumped out of the boat and grabbed a turtle. We all got to jump in a touch it. There were a ton a tiny jelly fish in the water though and when we got back in the boat it felt like stinging nettle all over our bodies. We also got to see dolphins and go snorkling during our tour.
On the sunday we went on a tour at Ventanilla which is known for it's crocodiles. We got to see a wide variety of crocodiles. Some were just babies and others were massive. We paddled down a calm river that was surrounded by Mangroves. It was beautiful. We got to drink the juice from a green coconut and once we had finished the juice we got to eat the coconut with lime and chilli powder. It was really delicious.
There was a jazz festival on the beach. So at night we would sit at a restaurant on the beach listening to the music, drinking cocktails, and watching the waves crash on the beach. It was pretty magical. There is a place called Comet's Point that we hiked up to and watched the sun set. It was a gorgeous view over looking the ocean. Our last morning at Mazunte we set our alarms and woke up at 5:45am in order to see the sunrise. It was so beautiful watching the sun come up on the beach.
Unfortunatley I didn't think ahead and forgot to recharge my camera so I was only able to take pictures on the Saturday. My friends took some amazing photos though. It was an incredible weekend and it's hard to believe that we were only at the beach for 2.5 days. We did so many fun things and made so many memories.
Tuesday, 15 November 2011
Tule and Teaching
Last weekend I went visited a tree called Tule. It is over 2000 years old and has the widest trunk on earth. This tree was huge. Some of the branches looked as though they could be tree trunks. It was interesting because there were knots in the tree that looked like lion heads and there was one part the tree connected to a branch that looked like an antelope's head. We didn't spend too much time at Tule, but my home stay mom said that if you just sit and look at the tree you can see all kinds of different animals and things. The trunk of Tule looks as though it could be multiple trees but it has been proven to be the same tree. The diameter of the tree if it was smoothed out is 30.8ft making it the widest tree in the world.
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This past week my teaching partner Liz and I have finally been able to start to teaching some classes. It has been so much fun. We work really well together and come up with some dynamic lesson plans. It is an interesting situation because she is an elementary teacher and I am a high school teacher. Normally you are paired up with someone of the same grade levels as you. So we get to teach in an elementary school, middle school and high school. I enjoy being in the elementary school and I think that the young kids are very nice and funny, but I am definitley more comfortable in the high and middle schools.
Before we started teaching, Liz and I were a little worried about classroom management. The kids here are just so full of energy and are constantly yelling and getting out of their seats. We have observed many classes where there was maybe only 10 minutes of actual instruction the entire block. However, when we get in front of the class the kids are attentive for the most part. We really don't have much trouble getting them to stay on task and do their work. I think that team teaching is a great help with this because as one of us is speaking in front of the class the other person can wander around making sure the kids are on task. The classes still tend to be loud but I really enjoy all the enthusiam and energy the students have. I feel more comfortable when there is noise in the class rather then when it is all quiet. Especially when we give the students activities to do, it's great to hear them discussing with each other and practicing their English. I really enjoy teaching here and it will be very interesting to go back home and experience the differences in the classroom.
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This past week my teaching partner Liz and I have finally been able to start to teaching some classes. It has been so much fun. We work really well together and come up with some dynamic lesson plans. It is an interesting situation because she is an elementary teacher and I am a high school teacher. Normally you are paired up with someone of the same grade levels as you. So we get to teach in an elementary school, middle school and high school. I enjoy being in the elementary school and I think that the young kids are very nice and funny, but I am definitley more comfortable in the high and middle schools.
Before we started teaching, Liz and I were a little worried about classroom management. The kids here are just so full of energy and are constantly yelling and getting out of their seats. We have observed many classes where there was maybe only 10 minutes of actual instruction the entire block. However, when we get in front of the class the kids are attentive for the most part. We really don't have much trouble getting them to stay on task and do their work. I think that team teaching is a great help with this because as one of us is speaking in front of the class the other person can wander around making sure the kids are on task. The classes still tend to be loud but I really enjoy all the enthusiam and energy the students have. I feel more comfortable when there is noise in the class rather then when it is all quiet. Especially when we give the students activities to do, it's great to hear them discussing with each other and practicing their English. I really enjoy teaching here and it will be very interesting to go back home and experience the differences in the classroom.
Saturday, 5 November 2011
Dia de Muertos
Dia de Muertos was such an amazing experience. It all started on Monday with a presentation explaing the beliefs of Dia de Muertos. In short it is a couple days where the people in Mexico honour the dead by making altars. These atlars are made of flowers, fruits, and different favourite foods of the deceased. After the presentation we went to Central de Abastos, which is a market, to pick up different materials for the altar we built at our school. I was in charge of getting peanuts.
Monday evening we all got together to paint our faces for when we went to the cemetary. We painted our faces because it is believed that during Dia de Muertos the spirits come back to earth and we need to hide our faces so they don't confuse us for other spirits. We then went to the Panteon, which is a cemetary in Oaxaca. There were candles and flowers everywhere and so many people. After the Panteon we went to Xoxo, another cemetary in Oaxaca. The graves are very elaborately decorated and there were many people sitting graveside. It was kind of sad because Monday is the night that the children spirits come back so there were many small graves decorated. It is believed that first the children spirits come and then on the second night all spirits come.
Tuesday night we dressed up and painted our faces yet again. We hoped into the back of a truck and drove up to Etla. There was a parade that went on all night, it didn't stop until 9am wednesday. There are people dressed up very elaborately and they walk around the town going from house to house. There is also a band that walks with them and they dance as the band plays. At every house they go to there are chairs set up in a circle in courtyard type area. This is for the people watching to sit. The band and dressed up people come in and dance around. The home owners give everyone shots of tequila or mezcal. It was a lot of fun following the parade around the town. There were some young kids who were dressed up dancing all night. I don't know how they did it. We stayed out until 5am and I was more than exhausted at this point.
I had to wake up at 8am Wednesday morning to go to the Panteon with my homestay family. On November 2 they always go to the cemetary and visit the graves of their family members. We made sure that the flowers at the graves all had enough water. Outside of the Panteon it was almost set up like a carnival with food stands, games, and rides. So we went and had breakfast after visiting the graves. It was a really neat experience. And a very busy couple of days. There are so many tourists that came to Oaxaca for Dia de Muertos because Xoxo is a famous cemetary. It will be nice when Oaxaca goes back to being our town ;)
Monday evening we all got together to paint our faces for when we went to the cemetary. We painted our faces because it is believed that during Dia de Muertos the spirits come back to earth and we need to hide our faces so they don't confuse us for other spirits. We then went to the Panteon, which is a cemetary in Oaxaca. There were candles and flowers everywhere and so many people. After the Panteon we went to Xoxo, another cemetary in Oaxaca. The graves are very elaborately decorated and there were many people sitting graveside. It was kind of sad because Monday is the night that the children spirits come back so there were many small graves decorated. It is believed that first the children spirits come and then on the second night all spirits come.
Tuesday night we dressed up and painted our faces yet again. We hoped into the back of a truck and drove up to Etla. There was a parade that went on all night, it didn't stop until 9am wednesday. There are people dressed up very elaborately and they walk around the town going from house to house. There is also a band that walks with them and they dance as the band plays. At every house they go to there are chairs set up in a circle in courtyard type area. This is for the people watching to sit. The band and dressed up people come in and dance around. The home owners give everyone shots of tequila or mezcal. It was a lot of fun following the parade around the town. There were some young kids who were dressed up dancing all night. I don't know how they did it. We stayed out until 5am and I was more than exhausted at this point.
I had to wake up at 8am Wednesday morning to go to the Panteon with my homestay family. On November 2 they always go to the cemetary and visit the graves of their family members. We made sure that the flowers at the graves all had enough water. Outside of the Panteon it was almost set up like a carnival with food stands, games, and rides. So we went and had breakfast after visiting the graves. It was a really neat experience. And a very busy couple of days. There are so many tourists that came to Oaxaca for Dia de Muertos because Xoxo is a famous cemetary. It will be nice when Oaxaca goes back to being our town ;)
Tuesday, 1 November 2011
Cuajimoloya
View of the city from our Cabanas
The 100 year catcus
View from our hike
Basketball CourtCuajimoloya
Last week we went on a three hour bus ride to a small town in the mountains called Cuajimoloya. There are only about 600 people who live there and they didn't get street lamps until 1997. It's 10,000 fas so it gets very cold at night and in the morning. All the kids there have the rosy cheeks like the kids in Tibet because it gets so cold. It is absolutely beautiful, mountains as far as the eye can see. There is one tractor for the entire town and they all share it. Alot of the people are farmers and have animals. Unlike the city, it is very quiet there except for all the animals.
We got there thursday around noon and went pretty much straight into the classrooms. We were spilt into groups of 3 and assigned a grade. I was in the grade 3 class. We did an identity art project with the kids. Zapotec is an indigenous language, but unfortunately emphasis has been placed on Spanish and not many people speak Zapotec anymore. They are trying to reintroduce Zapotec to the kids. So it was our job to ask the kids when they drew their pictures of Cuajimoloya to ask them if they knew any words in Zapotec. And tell them that we were very interested in learning the language. This made the kids excited to share the words they knew and the other kids wanted to learn words so they could share with us.
We went on a couple hikes while we were there. We went on one at night and it was amazing all the stars that you could see in the sky. It was absolutely beautiful. You could see even more stars than you see at Chilliwack lake. We went on another hike in the morning before we went to the classes again. Our guide told us about many different plants that are used for different things. Some for tooth aches, some to quite babies, they use sap to make casts. There are some catci that grow for 100 years before they get flowers and they only grow one flower a year. We saw some that had close to 30 flowers.
Cuajimoloya was an incredibly beautiful and peaceful place. We were very fortunate being able to go there. Apparently Omar (our Spanish teacher) has been working with the community for 15 years so that we students can come there and experience the culture and enter the classrooms.
We got there thursday around noon and went pretty much straight into the classrooms. We were spilt into groups of 3 and assigned a grade. I was in the grade 3 class. We did an identity art project with the kids. Zapotec is an indigenous language, but unfortunately emphasis has been placed on Spanish and not many people speak Zapotec anymore. They are trying to reintroduce Zapotec to the kids. So it was our job to ask the kids when they drew their pictures of Cuajimoloya to ask them if they knew any words in Zapotec. And tell them that we were very interested in learning the language. This made the kids excited to share the words they knew and the other kids wanted to learn words so they could share with us.
We went on a couple hikes while we were there. We went on one at night and it was amazing all the stars that you could see in the sky. It was absolutely beautiful. You could see even more stars than you see at Chilliwack lake. We went on another hike in the morning before we went to the classes again. Our guide told us about many different plants that are used for different things. Some for tooth aches, some to quite babies, they use sap to make casts. There are some catci that grow for 100 years before they get flowers and they only grow one flower a year. We saw some that had close to 30 flowers.
Cuajimoloya was an incredibly beautiful and peaceful place. We were very fortunate being able to go there. Apparently Omar (our Spanish teacher) has been working with the community for 15 years so that we students can come there and experience the culture and enter the classrooms.
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