More recent Tuxtla happenings/observations

The picture above is the high school wing of my school, the American School Foundation of Chiapas. Coming soon, pictures of my decorated First Grade classroom.

One of the markets in Tuxtla is in the Plaza Civica, the park at the center of the city. There's a stand there where you can buy coconut milk, rice water, or Jamaica (pronounced Huh-my-kah, not like the country), which is a sweet drink made from hibiscus flowers. The other park, Marimba Park, is so named because nightly, from 6-10pm, Tuxtla residents come to dance Marimba to a live band. I wasn't brave enough to shake it in the dance area, but I did have a great time watching. My favorite song was one in which the band sang, "La vaca, [pause] ugh!" La vaca [pause] ugh!" La vaca, for the non-Spanish speakers, means "the cow." Before going to the park, I dined with some of my new friends at the Marimba Park restaurant. I sampled empanadas and tomales, which were, of course, delicious. In most restaurants in town, one can eat for about $5 USD. After dinner and [watching] dancing, we took a ride on the "Panoramico" bus for 15 pesos (a little over a dollar), which takes riders up a hill near the city to get a... panoramic view of Tuxtla. It also points out a few historic and/or cultural points.

Although the school partially pays for a gym membership for its teachers, I was not planning on going anywhere NEAR these sweat-inducing establishments. But, a gym near me offers classes, two of which are modern dance and salsa. I decided to give the salsa dance class a try, and, despite tripping and nearly taking a dive, I have enrolled in the class. Sometimes we look down over the balcony and see people working out have stopped to watch the three gringas (white girls) trying to dance. Let it suffice to say that salsa is not in my blood. And, the instructor, Andres, is like the Mexican equivalent of Billy Blanks (the big Tae Bo guy) in terms of intensity, and doesn't really appreciate the gringas giggling throughout the lesson. I think he forgives us because he's taken a liking to Lisa, one of the teachers who also takes his class.

Getting cable service in other countries appears to be a universal struggle. I had quite the time trying to get service in France due to loads of paperwork and non-existent customer service, and things haven't improved much in Mexico. On Saturday morning, my roommate went to the cable office to investigate our options, but the line was out the door and down the corridor, so she gave up. Monday afternoon, we both went, and there was no line, but they also had no registration forms. Perhaps they ran out on Saturday? They said they would have forms "manana", or tomorrow, which I'm quickly learning could really be "manana manana" or even "manana manana manana". Flexibility is key. Nothing accomplished, but they did realize we weren't paying for cable and turned it off! Funny how they can turn off the cable in 30 minutes, but it takes a week to install. We trekked back to Megacable the next day, and sure enough, they didn't have any forms. We told them that they had turned off our cable, and suddenly, out of nowhere, forms appeared! Not only did they suddenly have forms, but they signed us up, and arranged for installation for 7 days later. Another friend had been told 10 days. Sort of a "dartboard" system, like I ran into often in France.