Life in Oaxtepec

Today marks my first week in the mountains, be it in Mexico City or Morelos. Living at the same temperature as the trees almost turns me into a morning person. I say almost because 6am is still not my thing, but here, neither is 9:30am.

Today I had special motivation to get moving: the World Cup. Sadly Mexico lost to Uruguay, but, hey, we are still in the game! Not so for my Greek and South African friends.  Greece lost to Argentina and South Africa lost to France. I will say this, South Africa wins as well loved and impressive host to the world. Comments here both on and off the screen have been very positive.

After the game I headed to the local coffee house to give a virtual class. I had already ducked in yesterday to confirm they had Wifi. The screen was of course tuned to soccer, with only two other people. Everyone else was probably headed back to work or still mourning the loss at the bars and restaurants.

AM booze is just not me, World Cup or not. Instead I opted for a turkey croissandwich and coffee with jello for dessert. It’s much the same as what I order in Dallas, but entirely different. For starters, here my croissant was pressed and toasted like a Panini and filled with Manchego cheese, the likes of which are not easily found in a US café. Sides? Chips and jalapeños, of course. And that jello is made with milk and drizzled with mango sauce.

It was a bit warm today, so the coffee house shut its doors and turned on the AC... to a normal temperature! Can I just say how nice it is not to need a sweater in the summer? The virtual session went well. I was a bit concerned after reading several blog posts on poor Internet connection in Mexico. My experience was entirely normal, no issues with the connection whatsoever.

As the sun set, I wound my way back home, taking more pictures and lollygagging at every flower patch. Though it's not exactly intense exercise, it got warm after a while, so I jumped in the pool as soon as I got home.

The night couldn’t have ended better. For maybe three hours my uncle and I talked about history, culture, politics, and society. The best part for me is always the history. All my uncles are extremely well versed in national history, and the one I’m visiting is so passionate about it that his conversations play like a movie reel in my mind. It was nothing short of a history lesson and I loved it.