Dias Cinco y Seis

Thursday was productive in the morning because we (students) staged a small coup and organized ourselves outside of our professor's earshot. Then, we took a break from that whole hour of hard work and went on a midday cruise around the lake, cervezas on deck. Even though it was awesome to get some sun, personal dynamics were starting to flair and the passive aggressiveness between girls was palpable - arriba! We saw a black Christ in a church, had an enormous lunch that cost a whopping $5, and then I managed to slip in a quick siesta before dinner. Our client, Alejandro, had us all to his house, which was such an interesting place and had a fantastic view of the sun setting behind the mountains. His sweet mother Alma practiced her English by giving us a demonstration on how to make several kinds of salsa, and I got to taste the best green mole I've ever had in my life (the only green mole, to clarify, but still...).

Alejandro's adorable kitchen

Friday BIRTHDAY DAY started nice and late (10 a.m.!) with a few wrap-up meetings and then a quick trip to the artist's market, where I bought a handmade, handpainted chip & dip...a true sign that I am officially 27 years old. 

In the afternoon, we got to hear from some of the local nonprofits that will be our client's first clients, which was rather uplifting. It's nice to know that hopefully the work we do will ultimately help these people and their organizations. They are so grateful for anything...it reminded me how much I really do want to work in nonprofit consulting, if that's where my intended purpose is. It made for an intrinsically soothing birthday afternoon. We had a farewell dinner, during which I ate and drank for the first time without managing stomach cramps at the same time--success! After practicing some salsa dancing with our 60-year-old waiter, we headed back to the hotel for a "debriefing" that the Dean called, which turned into a birthday serenade from a 12-piece Mexican band that our hotel owners had hired!!! What a fantastic birthday surprise! Ringing in the big 2-7 with a local band while sipping tequila was definitely the way to go.

As many as I could capture in one shot!

A few of us ended up at a local discoteque/bar, which was fun until the owner of the bar tried to force us to go to his house and even tried to make our taxi leave us. Why do all good things in Mexico end with someone trying to rape you? Excuse me while I add that to the list of things I will never tell my mother. 

All in all, I guess the trip was a success. As a few of us got to know each other better in the week, the little excursions were a lot more fun, but we all were pretty sick of the food (hello, I just reversed 6 weeks of working out) and the claws in the group were starting to come out, so it ended just in time. We did feel like we could've done more work down there, but I won't even get into how frustrating THAT concept is. However, my roommate situation worked out well, and I recovered from the turista, and I got to work on my Spanish, and I had a few truly unforgettable experiences, so I guess that's what it's all about, right?