Hola Todos!
The last couple days have been pretty exciting here because... (drumroll) ... it was Independence Day! (---> no it's not on cinco de mayo like everyone in the States thinks!!!!)
So on Tuesday the 15th, I headed to Dolores Hidalgo with my sister, Anai, and this group called AISEC (she works for them). In the group there was about 30 students, most from around Mexico, but also some Germans, Italians, Brazilians, Colombians, etc. Regardless, it was a good group to hang out with. This is the city where Miguel Hidalgo made the cry (el grito) for Independence from Spain, which then began the Mexican Revolution....so it was pretty amazing to be in the same place.
Here is Miguel Hidalgo's wiki page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel_Hidalgo#Grito_de_Dolores
We left Guanajuato in the late morning and arrived to Dolores in the early afternoon (the drive was only about an hour). After dropping our stuff off at the house, we went downtown to the museum of Jose Alfredo Jimenez. He's a pretty famous singer here in Mexico and the museum was pretty cool. After that, we headed to lunch which was also really good. I had chorizo with tortillas, rice, and pasta. Then we went back to the house so everyone could shower and get ready before the grito, which was at 11PM.
Sometimes the weather here surprises me. It was absolutely beautiful weather all day on Tuesday, and then 6:30 came around and there was more or less, a hurricane outside. So we waited about 30-40 minutes for it to stop before we made our way downtown while walking through rivers and small ponds in the streets. We got to the church at about 7:30, which meant we would be waiting 3.5 hours in the rainy weather for the grito. During the wait, we went to get some pizza, sang songs, and played games. When more people started to show up around 9:30 or 10:00 everyone in the group decided to start the wave, and I swear it took like 20 times before everyone else started to catch on. I can't even tell you how entertaining this is after already waiting outside for two hours haha.
Finally 11:00 rolled around and the grito began. What happens is a government official of Guanajuato comes and takes the microphone and says something like: Viva Miguel Hidalgo! and everyone yells, VIVA! And he says Viva la Revolucion!, along with other things, and everyone again proceeds to yell, VIVA! The last thing he says is Viva Mexico! and everyone yells, VIVA! VIVA! ... it was incredible. After el grito, they had a fireworks show for a little while and after that we made our way back to the house for dinner and the after party, which lasted until like 6 or 7AM.
Independence Day here is definitely more patriotic than in the States. There is such a sense of unity and a love for one's country here that is unexplainable. It is just something that you have to experience. It's like everyone is so proud to be from this country that you can feel it around you, it is so infectious. I've never really felt a similar feeling during the 4th of July. The only way I can explain it is that the Mexicans keep in mind the history of their independence - what their people had to go through & how it happened, whereas Americans think about drinking and fireworks. I mean how terrible is it for me to say that I think I know more about the independence movement in Mexico than in the U.S? How well do you know the history of our independence?
The 16th is actually Independence Day, but the 15th is the day for partying. So I spent my day on Wednesday getting back from Dolores, taking a much needed shower, and then working on a presentation for my Spanish class about Amnesty International with Jack & Sarah. We decided we could probably be most productive at a cafe and because I was the last one to arrive downtown, I got stuck going to Starbuck's. I seriously hate Starbuck's, especially because every American in town goes there to use the internet. It drives me nuts. I don't even like Starbuck's in the U.S., but I dislike it even more here. It wasn't my decision either; I would've much rather gone to one of many other cafes in town that have real coffee and that aren't monopolies.
Other than Starbuck's it was a good couple of days & only showed me that I'm still really enjoying my time here. Below is the link for my album from Dolores Hidalgo.
P.S. The title of the page has changed to a year in Mexico because I've decided to change my location for next semester from Chile to Mexico. No worries though, the URL is going to stay the same to avoid confusion, although in a way it still doesn't make sense haha.
