ONE WEEK LEFT!!!

I absolutely cannot believe how time has gone. Here I am on my last Monday at school. I spent the last week in Lake Powell in the states con la familia, so I have sorta checked out of Mexico. But I am definitely going to make the best of my last week here. Saturday Erin and I went out to dinne rwith our parents. Yesterday they took us to see la barranca, a beautiful national park full of lush rainforest and three rushing waterfalls. I slept SOOOO MUCH once I got home. It felt so good to sleep. Today I am going to el mercado con mi hermano, tomorrow to licha libre, which is wrestling, con mis maestros, and the rest of the nights I will be partying it up to celebrate the end of our adventures. Oh and studying for my final on friday. Then I´m HOME HOME HOME on Saturday! I am excited to be back with my family and back in the states.
So let me update about Guanajuato. It was absolutely my favorite place to visit since I have been here in Mexico. The bus ride was about four hours and you can instantly tell once you are there. All of the houses are brightly colored! Pinks blues yellows greens oranges. All the little houses are nestled closely against one another amongst the rolling hills. It is very colonial, and though it is a tourist attraction, it is a real city. My favorite part was visiting all of the Mexican businesses, especially restaurants. I had the best pizza of my entire life at this little place right by our hotel. We stayed in hotel San Diego, ironic? I roomed with Erin, Kate, and Jaclyn, and we just had a blast. The first night we got there, Thursday, we went to this salsa place that was an absolute hole in the wall. There were all 150 of us... and like four locals. It was great, my favorite teacher, Aguilar, was there dancing it up with all of us. Jaguar style. He's crazy. He always leads the tours and throws up his hands like claws and makes jaguar sounds, to indicate we shoudl follow him. Love him.
Friday we did a whole bunch of toury things. We toured the city, the mummy museum, the mines, some shops, and Diego rivera's house. The mummy museum was crazy. Something in the soil in Guanajuato makes mummies out of carcasses in only five years. There were a lot of little baby mummies. And one pregnant mother and fetus. The mine was cool too. We all donned hard hats and climbed on down. Everywhere we go there are gorgeous churches. The sky in Guanajuato seemed SO HUGE!!! After our tours we settled into this little place for lunch ON TOP OF THE CITY!!! It was amazing. You could see everything. The sun was beaming. I had great company. The beers were 8 for $6 haha. Couldn't really ask for anything better. We ate there and then trekked down to our hotel, napped, and went out. I was pretty tired so I only stayed at the packed club for about an hour. I was in by midnight, a very early night indeed. Oh but before we did that we did this amazing thing with the entire group where we followed a traveling mariachi band through the streets, singing along with them. It was fantastic. They made the boys stand to one side while they serendaded the women. Then we went to a famous kissing step. you have to kiss on it or you get very bad luck. I kissed a couple of my guy friends and Aguilar on the cheek haha. Made me miss Anthony a little bit, though.
Saturday we headed to San Miguel de Allende, another town where many US citizens retire. The town was obviously very rich. It was the most American-looking place we have been so far, and I didn't really like that. We had a little tour then were free to look through the town. The shops were incredibly expensive, with clothing for $80 and up. I was like, take me back to TJ!! Haha. It was just obviously VERY touristy. The church was, however, very beautiful. The ice cream was delicious. The restaurant we all went to was first class all the way. And I got to see a partial mural by Siqueiros which was cool because I always wonder how the hell they begin those gigantic projects. Overall, though, I would have rather spent the day in Guanajuato. We ate again at the same beautiful spot once we got back, then sleep, then clubbing again. This night I was just not feeling it. This guy from the USD group was a total jerk to me for no reason, I don't even know him. He was just drunk but it put a damper on the night. So instead me and my girls went and got 4 am pizza. perfect.
The next day we took a little walking tour of the city, El Teatro Juarez, a bar where there is a built in peeing fountain, etc. We went to the mercado there, huge indoor market, and shopped a little, then hopped on the bus and headed home. I fell in love with Guanajuato and really wish my family could have met me out there. Maybe next year.
Then of course I had a normal week of school, going out, writing two papers, taking a midterm. bla bla. I went to a kiddie amusement park with Jaclyn and my rich local friend Pepe one day and that was fun. And on Friday we all went wakeboarding at Lake Chapala. BEAUTIFUL! It looks just like Costa Rica in Jurassic Park. The water was so so so warm. It was so fun. There is nothing I love more than being on a boat on the water. But that whole day all I could think about was how my friends and family were all together and I wasn't with them!
Needless to say, Powell was a blast as always, despite some mishaps. I am excited for my last week here, and excited to be home. :)