Sofía

México

July 12th, 2012. San Luis Potosí, México.

Sofía's pov:

I came with Maya and her family to Mexico. Maya's birthday is this month, and this trip is her birthday present. My birthday was like two weeks ago and it was amazing, I'm now 9 years old. Maya's parents invited Mama and I to join them, they said this is also a present for me.

Mama couldn't come because she has to finish her movie, but she promised that next time she will join us. Erasmo and Macarena said both of us are more than welcome to come with them whenever we want to to.

We took a plane from New York to one of the big cities of this country, called Monterrey. We spent a couple of days there. Macarena took us to a museum called Marco, where there is a big sculpture of a bird on the main entrance. There are a lot of cool paintings and different art pieces inside, and there is also a section where you can do your own painting, which we all did. Since we have to take them back on our suitcasses, we picked the small canvas. I painted a dolphin on the ocean, with a sunny sky. I'm giving this to Mama as a gift.

We also went to downtown and it's very different from the downtown in New York, this one looks more old, less modern, but it's also very pretty. We went to some stores and we ate a lot of delicious food, some that I never had before. 

We then rented a car and Erasmo drove the entire night while we slept. When we woke up we were already on our destination: Xilitla, one of the many magical towns of Mexico. Part of Erasmo's family is from here, and they live here, so we are staying at his mother's house.

There are a lot of things to do here, but we can also go to a lot of places nearby.

Yesterday we went to a garden, Edward James garden. It was very magical to be there. There are a lot of sculptures and constructions, but since they are old, some have cracks or are missing parts, and most of them have moho on the rocks. Even with all of this, it is safe to go up on the bigger construction, it has steps and you can sit on the top. From there you can see a big part of the garden and the jungle that neighboards the city. Surrounding the entire place are a ton of trees, plants and flowers, all very green and colorful. The is a little river crossing the entire garden, and the river transforms into little waterfalls on some parts.

This part of Mexico is very hot and since there is a lot of vegetation, it's also very humid, so Maya and i got tired kinda fast, and after having lunch we took a long nap. Then we walked through downtown and after having dinner we fell asleep again.

Today we are in another town, that is not that far away from where we are staying. The drive was like an hour long, but still, not that far. Macarena explained a bit of it to us while on the car. It's called Sótano de las Golondrinas, translated to Swallows Basement, but the funny part is that the birds that live there are not actual swallows, but instead swifts, that are very similar so they get confused.

To get here we had to go up 568 steps since you can use your car only to a certain point of the road, and from there you have to walk. We did have to stop a few times to rest a bit, specially the adults, but we got to the top. Once we reach the top we walked to the front of the balcony type thing, which is the way you can see the birds go in and out of the cave, so you are close but not exactly close; a safe distance close. The turist guide of the place told us that this very big hole is the 6th deepest abism in the world, so very very deep.

The time all the birds come in and out it's either at sunrise or sunset, and we are currently here at 11 am. The good thing is no mather what time it is, a lot of birds still come out to fly and maybe do some other bird stuff. The funny and interesting thing they do is that they come out flying in circles, instead of just going straight up, they turn and turn until they are out.

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We are now in another cave, a smaller one, still extremely bug, but smaller than the swifts one. This one is called Sótano de las Huahuas, which the second word doesn't have a translation. The birds that live in here are another species of swifts and also green parrots, along with other species of birds. Here the characteristic thing of it is that the bird come out of the hole in turns, first the birds with chicks, then the old birds, and at last the young ones. I never thought birds would have such an organization to come out of their home, but I guess they are smarted than I thought.

We explore the area of jungle for awhile before we get hungry and decide it's time to go to the min part of the town to find a restaurant to it at.

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Maya, Fabi and I didn't know what to order because everything sounded too delicious, so instead we order food to put at the center of the table and that way everyone can eat a little bit of everthing. 

We are having enchiladas huastecas, which are little quesadillas but the tortila is red, the dough gets mixed with a chile sauce from where it gets the color; we are also eating zacahuil (hard word to pronounce), it's a big tamal with a red tomato and chile sauce and pork, that it's served on a banana leaf.

I really wish Mama was here, not only to expierence all of this adventures with me and try all this new delicious food, but I also want her to see how good my spanish is, I'm understanding basically everything the people in here say.

Hi everyone!

I've been in school for two days and I'm already tired. I've also walked a lot already and my legs hurt.

Did I take this chapter as an opportunity to show off my culture and home state? Yes, and I hope I did it justice, because it's really beautiful.

Hope you enjoy reading this :)

Stay safe <3