We did our best to learn about the Mexican culture. Here we are at the Explora museum, a museum in Leon, about 45 minutes away. We created butterflies and puffy art. Where is Bryson? He is in the robot area, creating a virtual fighting robot.
They had a dinosaur show. Never mind that we couldn't really understand what they were saying. The kids loved these dinosaurs that chased them around.
One of the exhibits was about solar energy. A life-size hamster wheel.
Of course the kids jumped on the climbing wall.
We also visited the Bicentenario de la Independencia de México. The Bicentenario was a
big festival to celebrate 200 years of Mexican independence since 1810.
Among the different highlights were a roller skating rink, China exhibition, dance club, the history of cars, and the Ice Age.
Car exhibition, including a drive through.
It's a mammoth! We got to learn about the different theories about why the Ice Age animals died - plants dying and the effect on the food chain, global warming, being hunted to extinction, and meteorite (our favorite).
Ice cream every other day. This one is from Hungary, an amazing concoction of bread with filling of fruit and topped with icecream and yumminess.
Scarlet made friends with the daughter of the ice cream shop, Sophie.
One of our favorite homemade meals, El Dorado tacos.
We were lucky to live next to an art center where the kids took private lessons from art teachers. This one was named Luisa. She specialized in puppets.
Scarlet made a cat finger puppet, while Bryson made a Yankees baseball player.
Oh yes, more ice cream. This time - malteadas.
Guanajuato is famous for its bright architecture. This building happens to match Bryson's shirt.
Making hand puppets, this time out of socks.
This is Scarlet's unicorn.
Bryson made a snake with a goatee (yes, a goatee).
Scarlet's cat creation (she is a bit obsessed with cats)
Our school puts together 4 activities per week. This one was a toy class where the kids learned about different Mexican traditional toys like this puppet.
During the kids program, the kids would play in the street. Luckily, there aren't many cars in the city, so the kids play soccer without any problem. We paid a few bucks for this ball. Worth it!
What did you do for your
15th birthday?
In Mexico, quiceanera is a Big Deal, complete with
big dresses (and crowns), parties, and church service. Scarlet loved seeing
princesses come alive all around the city taking photos.
We met some wonderful familes, like this one (Laina and Colton) from Tahoe.
The kids perform a skit about Dia de los Muertos.
We also have cooking class. This was on pozole verde, a soup.
Another dragon by Bryson.
We had friends from Florida visit and took them to Santa Rosa. The hike was a bit harder than we thought. We left the city at 10am and didn't get back until 6pm.
Picking apples on the way.
Check out this dog on the roof.
We think we reached our destination, but nope. Another hour to go.
We ran into a beautiful horse and traditional cowboy. Bryson tried to talk his way into getting a ride.
The next day we headed up the mountain to see the Pipila.
Check out this
statue behind us. This is Pipila (short for Juan José de los Reyes Martínez
Amaro), a Mexican miner who became a hero.
Imagine this. The Spaniards had barricaded
themselves–along with plenty of silver and other riches–in a grain warehouse
known as the Alhóndiga de Granaditas. The granary was a stone fortress with
high stone walls, but its wooden door proved to be a shortcoming.
With a long, flat stone tied to his back to
protect him from the muskets of the Spanish troops, Pípila carried tar and a
torch to the door of the Alhóndiga and set it on fire. Pipila and the other
Mexican stormed inside and took over the granary.
It was the start of the independence movement in
Mexico!
The furnicular.
Scarlet spotted a kitten and pulled her out of what looked a trap.
After our hike, we started our food tour - licuados!
Then gorditas and tlacoyos.
Bryson had his first chapollines, cricket.
We arrive at the Museum of Mummies.
Yep
- these are mummies. Good thing Alex isn't here to monitor my choice of
"field trips" for the kids. He wants to wait until the kids are 18
before they watch Indiana Jones. "Too scary," he told me. Hmm...
Welcome to the Mummy Museum. Thanks to the natural minerals and soil of Guanajuato, the mummies are naturally preserved. This museum sorts the bodies by age, cause of death and
sex. Its main attraction, is the “world’s smallest mummy”, a fetus extracted from its mother’s womb.
There are quite a lot of mummies with expressions of horror and suffering. Why? Because some were mistakenly buried alive. Oops!
One man had narcolepsy and people thought he was dead, so they buried him. He later woke up in his casket and tried to claw his way out - but to no avail. The only reason they knew he
was still alive when they buried him was because they realized he was buried with a winning lottery ticket, and they wanted them money. Oh boy.
Stopping by Mercado Hidalgo.
Doesn't this look like Uncle Rob?
Playing games with a skeleton.
Cafe Ofelia, one of our favorite restaurants. Scarlet likes the chocolate waffles, Bryson the spaghetti.
Alhóndiga de Granaditas, where Pipila stormed the granary to take the food.
We met a family with two kids and were able to try using their whip. We were sold on it and proceeded to buy whips on our own.
We were trying to choose between horchata, watermelon, tamarind and went with the watermelon.
Goodbye dinner with our friends, Liz, Charles, Ava, and Ari.
Big storm. What did Bryson do? Run out, and then Scarlet of course followed.
Graduation day from Escuela Mexicana. My teachers were Adely, Gerardo, Aura, Paula, and Alex. All awesome! Scarlet had Aracely. Bryson had Karen and Paula. Highly recommend the program!
No comments:
Post a Comment