Another big month in Mexico for Ingrid

Ingrid eating tortas with her Mexican family

22nd Mar 2023

This month I met Lizzy, began regular school, watched my first ‘football’ game, participated in two Rotary events, met some good people at the gym, tried so much food and had a lot of fun.
Lizzy is the 22 year old German girl that was previously staying with my host family. We visited Metepecs centre. The Ex-Convento de San Juan was open because it was Saint Agatha's day, so while the stairs/walk up were not very appreciated it was worth it once we stepped inside. They even had the bells ringing every 40 minutes as part of the service they were conducting.
We visited a lot of potter shops while walking through the area, all selling the Árbol de la Vida that Metepec is famous for. It came in all different sizes, colours and themes.
Afterwards we went to Metepec’s renowned Monday markets for lunch. We had chorizo verde (green chorizo) tacos and bought some huge sheets of pork crackling known as chicharon. I would definitely recommend it if you like pork and you are in Mexico.
The next day we went to explore Toluca. We booked a bus tour but had a few hours spare before it ran so we had tortas at a really cute deli/cafe, then walked through the shopping streets.
The streets were filled with clothing and shoe stores, flower and snack stands and even a massive lolly shop filled with different Mexican and American sweets and snacks.
We eventually got on the bus and toured through Toluca for about an hour, getting to see many famous parks, museums, statues and fountains.
On February 11th I went to a Valentine’s Day inspired Rotary event put together for the students.
All the Toluca Club students met in Toluca and took a bus to a big park in the middle of Santa Fe.
We played duck duck goose, dodgeball and American football, had pizza and did a Valentine's gift giving. There was Layla and I as well as students from Germany, Korea, France, Switzerland, Sweden, Brazil, Denmark, the Czech Republic.
I spoke to a French boy and the American girl a fair bit as they spoke English but I also chatted a lot with the Brazilians.
Jaoa’s host mum was having a surgery so he stayed the night with me at Karin and Roberto’s house.
The next day we went to a ‘football’ game between the Diablos Rojos (Toluca FC) And Cruz Azul.
Because Roberto is a photographer for the team, we got to sit in the fancy section, had really good breakfast tortas, walked around the field after the match, watched their press conference from right beside them and met a few players.
Jaoa and I talked and cheered a lot, often accidentally for the wrong team.
It turns out that our favourite player, Toluca FC’s goalie, Tiago Volpi, is my neighbour.
He was our favourite before this discovery though, because he is a goalie, like I am at hockey, and a Brazilian like Jaoa.
For Toluca Rotary Clubs 51st anniversary we attended what was advertised as a formal dinner.
It started off very formal with a three-course meal and fizzy drinks then at about 11pm the adults (everyone except Juliet and I), started drinking and the dancing began.
I ended up having to dance with the club’s president for almost an hour. I discovered that while I can’t dance in sneakers I am good in heels.
Upon our 2am arrival home, we found Airis (the family dachshund) had birthed one puppy. She delivered four more throughout the early morning and now has five happy, healthy babies keeping her on her toes.
On Wednesday the 22nd, I only had a half day at school before I was taken out for yet another birthday party. This one was a little different as it was for a four year old girl.
They served pizza and chilaquiles, had a magician, a pinata and two different cakes.
On that Friday Juliet and I had no classes so we spent a family day at Karin’s parents’ house. It was absolutely gobsmacking and I had so much fun.
Their house is located on Ranch De San Diego, Ixtapan.
We arrived around 10am and had a breakfast of fruit and yoghurt, then chilaquiles with sausage and eggs.
Everyone talked for a bit then we had coffee and an assortment of sweet breads.
Afterwards Karin’s dad, Juliet and I got changed and went swimming in the second pool.
Karin joined us eventually and after a while I got out to sunbake and get ready for … surprise, another birthday party!
The birthday was more of a hangout between friends than a party but I still had a lot of fun.
It was for Lou, who is Ana Paus' little sister.
She turned 15 so it should have been her quinceanera but apparently all their family lives far away in another state so they didn’t have one.
There were maybe 10 girls, but I only knew two so I got to meet a lot of new people from school.
They all sang karaoke then showed me how to do a Mexican country dance that is supposedly a crucial part of any party.
It was explained to me as “if you didn’t play this at your party it sucked.”
On Saturday I woke up very late as did the rest of my family.
We went to a barbacoa place for a so-called ‘breakfast’ and had quesadillas & soup.
That night Karin took Juliet and I to Maccas for dinner then we went shopping at the big Walmart in Toluca.
It took us two hours just to walk around but it was fun and definitely different.
Turns out Walmart is a place you can buy road legal car tyres, pineapple juice and Carebear singlets all in one trip.
On Sunday we were running late so we had a very rushed breakfast at Regginas.
I tried rotas for the first time and absolutely loved them.
We attended church as usual then went to the little Walmart near the house to buy some crabsticks and chicken
In the morning we sorted ourselves out and Karin dropped us off at school, 10 minutes earlier (on time) than any day with Roberto.
School on Monday and Tuesday were pretty standard and uneventful so that sums up another great month in Mexico.
Ingrid Geere

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Another big month in Mexico for Ingrid

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