Happy to be home again in San Cris

Wow, the past few days have taken quite their toll on me, where to begin...So on Tuesday Kurtis and I had the chance to go into a rural community and meet with some traditional healers and walk around the coffee fields. The community made us lunch of tortillas(yuk,I've had way too many in the past week), spicy broth and a piece of chicken. They also gave us each a cup of hot coffee from their own beans sweetened with a ton of sugar- Kurtis even drank a whole cup!

After lunch, which I am pretty sure what is responsible for the "turistas" that visited me later on, we sat with a healer woman who explained the tradition of the acto de tsunel, a prayer she says for protection, births, harvests, all kinds of things.

Some people in the community have formed a committee called the "Sonadores del cuerpo del espíritu"- healers of the spiritual body. A lot of what they were saying made me think of the Christian Science movement. They are totally discriminated against by their government, if a pregnant woman doesn't go the medical route and anything goes wrong she is completely responsible and gets no national healthcare support. They don't recognize the spiritual healing methods as legitimate or worth supporting and so there is a big fear that these traditional methods will disappear. They also talked about how illnesses have spiritual causes that have to be taken care of which modern medicine ignores. The way they treat patients sounded really neat, they accept anyone and charge nothing but people will leave a little money or chicken or corn or something that they have.

That night we went out to dinner with two kids in Kurtis' group and had some great burritos and ice-cream.

The next morning, we headed out at 6:30 and caught a 5.5 hour long bus ride to Palenque. Note to all travelers-don't ever take big buses on tight windy mountain pass roads, it's a terrible idea. The first half of the trip we were feeling extremely queazy but made it to the rest stop and when we got back in the bus we knew we still had at least 3 hours to go...worst feeling ever.

To make it worse, they played Apocalypto, possibly the most offensive movie to show at the time. Keep in mind we were on our way to see Mayan ruins, a culture that was eventually overpowered by the Aztecs and then the Spanish. To sum up the introductory quote: A culture can only be colonized once it is destroyed from within. So basically, every culture that has ever been colonized, Algeria, Haïti, the U.S, has been destroyed by themselves first...so it's their fault? So the 3 hour movie continues making me more carsick with the gurgling death noises and screams coming from super loud speakers surrounding me from all sides...terrible.

I kept trying to sleep so I wouldn't have to think about being so sick but during one of my drifts into consciousness I looked up to see Kurtis asking his friends for plastic bags desperately and that was when I couldn't trick myself into believing any longer that I wasn't feeling the same way. He started puking and I followed suit into the same bag that he held for me, there were times when we were going at it at the same time and if you can believe it his friends thought it was cute. Cute. I promise you there was nothing cute about it.

An hour and a half later we were finally in Palenque, the town about 11 km away from the ruins. We decided to take a taxi to the "cabanas" which are just 2 km away from the ruins. Most. interesting. place. ever.

How do I even begin. The culture of pot and mushrooms was more common than food I can say that, and they had a lot of food there. We were welcomed by a man named Marcos, aka Old Man Stan and Mushroom Man who quickly told us in very clear english that he discovered the ruins in 1978, his grandfather had left this place to him...It took him 5 days to wander from the highway through the jungle where he found the ruins and camped out only to meet a 13 year old boy. He introduced the kid to pot and then an old man appeared everyday on a stump, watching him through the woods. Eventually the old man demanded that he come to his village: he had to know how he made fire come out of his hand (he had a lighter). He followed the old man, who turned out to be the shaman, to his village and became his apprentice. After living there for years, he left and years later his wife got a knock on their door and opened it to 40 villagers. The shaman had passed away and Marcos was the sole apprentice left to care for the village. He told them he wouldn't be able to take over as Shaman so they made him get a tattoo of a Mayan man smoking, surrounded by mushrooms. (Later, we actually found this carving on a wall in the temple at Palenque if you can believe it). Marcos taught them to eat garlic and mushrooms and smoke lots of ganja and they haven't been sick in 25 years because of that.

He went on to explain that the only way to open your subconscious is with mushrooms and that in fact, they are for everyone. There was a young girl name Zoey who was living with him, very cute and 1/2 Québecoise and also high off her mind all the time. Literally, all the time. She was very sweet but we were always a little weirded out by how she lived with Marcos, an older man, and how she always seemed a little creeped out when he came over and talked to her or touched her. It was a weird situation. They told us about a private waterfall, apparently with clear waters and so private you could go skinny dipping without any danger of people finding you. I immediately pictured him hiding in the woods but tried to through that image out of my mind since it was so hot and humid and a waterfall sounded like heaven.

We ended up getting our own little "cabana" with a porch on a little river and everything, even a fan! The next day we headed out for the ruins. It took us 30 minutes at least to walk to the museum, after which I felt completely drained considering I had barely eaten any dinner and only two little pieces of toast for breakfast. I basically laid on the floor in a cold corner of the museum for an hour or more while Kurtis looked around, gathering my strength back. We finally went to the ruins which were absolutely breath taking. Although I only climbed up into one of them, I loved the day and thoroughly enjoyed myself, very grateful that there were cool stone benches under the shade of big trees to lay under all day while being able to look at the ruins from a shaded area. I'm very glad my day didn't have to be ruined (hehe) by the "turistas", Kurtis was able to explore all day and came and checked up on me every now and then while I relaxed.

We decided (we being Kurtis and I am 4 other students from his group) to check out the private waterfall Marcos had told us about and as we entered the trail from the road a man walked out of the bushes asking for 5 pesos for each of us. After a few minutes of discussing the sketchyness of the situation we decided that 5 pesos was more than worth it and he had the right to ask for it considering it was private land. After another 15 minutes of hiking we got there and it felt so good to get in cool water. It was so refreshing after a 90 degree day in the sun. We stayed there for an hour or so and then headed back to our cabana. That night I was able to drink a whole banana chocolate shake and have three little pieces of homemade thin crust wood oven pizza. The solid food was a little harder to digest but I did it and I was so grateful for that.

This morning, Kurtis and I headed out at 6:30, this time taking a "combi" or "collectivo" little skinny vans that drive crazy and are filled with people but all the same, was a gazillion times better than the bus. I took my first shower in a few days, washed my hair twice and put on clean clothes and I can't wait to get home to Lopez so soon! It's been a great trip, we might have to move here someday for a year or so...everyone should get to travel here at some point in their life.

San Cristobal de Las Casas

After 17 hours, 3 flights, 1 taxi ride and very little sleep I finally made it to Mexico, more importantly to Kurtis! I feel kind of silly going to Mexico for Spring break, you'd think I could be a little more creative...I can't count how many groups of college girls I saw in the Chicago airport getting on my flight to Mexico city. This included one group of three girls wearing pink tanktops with "Free Snooki" written on them- not only making a reference to Jersey shore but also to their favorite extracurricular activities...

I have met the whole group of students Kurtis has been with and they all seem like very cool people, very friendly.

We are being rained out today so we are holed up in Tierra Dentro, a center full of little zapatista shops around a café which serves delicious food and drinks. I have never heard rain this hard, the leaking plastic rooves probably emphasize the noise but I am just glad to have a roof over my head for now. We were rained out yesterday too- about 10 minutes walk from our hotel it started pouring down rain, St Louis style rain, and we had to run all the way back to our hotel without raincoats. Needless to say we were completely soaked but laughing and very conscious of the fact that we looked ridiculous to the locals who were taking shelter under the eaves of buildings, watching us run right by.

Before getting poured on we walked through the text-tile market which was full of beautiful scarves and hand-embroidered shirts mostly sold by indigenous women who wear their traditional clothing. It has really surprised me how much the indigenous culture is a part of everyday life here.

The city feels so much safer than Nicaragua I can't even begin to describe it- I could walk around on my own and honestly not feel the least bit worried or harassed- don't worry, I'm still very aware of everything around me! The city is beautiful, all the bright pastel colors and dozens of cathedrals really make this town special.

Today, Kurtis and I got up early (for us) and took his clothes to the laundry-mat where they wash, dry and fold and large load for less than 3 bucks and then we headed out on a walk that lasted us until lunch. We climbed all the way up to this catholic church that sits on the top of a hill, overlooking San Cristobal, arriving right as mass was starting so we got to hear the bells over and over and over again. We hung out there for awhile, it was still blue skies so we got to enjoy the sun. We headed down after an hour or so and went to the market to get lunch which was chicken quesadillas on homemade tortillas and stewed chicken in tomatoes and a delicious sauce with rice and tortillas. Right as we got to our little café to eat, the hail started-that's right, hail! Then the rain. By the time we were done eating we were able to head out to pick up Kurtis' laundry, this time with raincoats, without getting completely soaked. Now we are sitting in Tierra Dentro and I am enjoying every minute of it. Great Zapatista café con leche and a two man mariachi band playing. Life is good.

Figure Studies: Week 7

I know I have posted this image already but I made a big change to the hair. My prof made me realize that I had drawn in all the hair since it was blond but I had not paid attention to what parts of the hair were lighted and which weren't. The assignment was to draw the light so I erased half of the hair and it looks much better now.

Thursday, I walked begrudgingly into class out of the 72 degree perfect weather to find this skeleton sitting as our model. Basically, our prof had us stuck inside for 3 HOURS to draw a skeleton instead of letting us enjoy the great weather. It was really fun though, I was on the verge of insanity by the end with the sheet!
This drawing I did of Eric on Friday. The idea was to work on background which I must admit is very hard. The hardest part was probably figuring out what to lay out first (which I did wrong but now I know)and having to fill in the background in little spaces without messing everything else up. I did this one in charcoal which means it smears extremely easy (I am literally covered in black by the end of class) so whenever you touch the paper you either take black off of something or put black onto something.

Figure Studies: January 28th, 2011

This drawing is not my favorite by far but I figured I would share it anyways. It is probably two feet wide and done in graphite which I hadn't worked with in a while, causing me to forget how time consuming it is and so I was unable to finish the drawing before class was over.

This was done on our drapery day when we were learning how to draw clothing, sheets in this case. This one was a 5 minutes warm-up drawing.
Another one of the drapery drawings, this one took about 10 minutes I think, it was a lot of fun.
Our last drawing of the day, we had about an hour and a half to complete these one. Our teacher found this arabic sultan get-up somewhere. The cape was actually a very shiny gold material but it was so hard to shade material with charcoal I just went ahead and covered it all in charcoal and then did darker areas and took out the lights with an eraser.
I did this drawing this afternoon, we had 2 hours and were told to go after it. White conte is hard to erase and kind of a hit or miss kind of medium so it took some getting used to. It was scary to make the first few marks because you want to outline the figure and make changes constantly but you just had to get this one right on the first shot and draw in only the light areas.

Back to School

School is finally back on for a week of a whole two days. It is very cold here today but the sun is shining so that helps a lot. I seem to forget how depressing winter can get sometimes. Snow and sunshine change that though so I am in luck.

I am at work, obviously with nothing to do. I am starting to wonder if my brother and Katie fell of the face of the earth or if they are just having a good time in Scotland. I'm jealous.

I have been reading more about Prague and the old statues and castle and churches. I can't wait.

Last night I had dinner with friends and then watched some American Idol and Modern Family. It was just the beginning of American Idol so we were lucky enough to see the worst of the worst singers. I forgot how much bad singers can make me laugh. After that, Kiersten and I went over to Andersen and got crepes which were delicious. They had all kinds of fruit and nutella and it was definitely a treat.

Today we have a model in art and then we are doing the insanity workout afterwards. I can definitely tell that that workout is working because every time I do it I take less breaks and can do more. I pumped myself up for it yesterday by watching The Biggest Loser beforehand. If they can workout I figure I can do it and enjoy it too.

I am looking forward to the weekend, I would like to relax some more since this week has been so packed and busy with one snow day after another I can barely keep track. Tonight we have Starbrooks so I am trying to get all my homework done this morning which was not much and now I can just enjoy the rest of the day.

Snow Day #3

I am officially ready for school to start back up again. Never in a million years would I have thought that I would get sick of snow days during mid-terms week but the time has come. Tomorrow we are supposed to have a model in art class, given that they can get here with all the snow and ice. We are supposed to get down to -5 degrees here tonight. What I want to know is who is the crazy groundhog that decided Spring was coming early this year? Definitely not a good week for giving us faith in that whole tradition, although I hope the groundhog is right.

I woke up early this morning after going to bed early (second night in a row and I am loving it). I read my lesson during breakfast and then went to the gym and played volleyball for an hour with Mary Ann, her daughters, Hannah, Sara and Ally. Afterwards three more people showed up and joined us to do the Insanity workout. I'm pretty sure I would be happy being a personal trainer judging by how fun it was.

Some of us went to lunch together afterwards and then I had my art midterm which was on bones and muscles. It went well I think and I am glad that it is over so now I can just focus on drawing and building up my portfolio for the end of the class.

I got to talk to Kurtis for a good 45 minutes this afternoon which was great. We skyped and he showed me around his campus, it is beautiful. There are colorful murals of social revolutionaries everywhere and all the walls are painted bright colors. It is right on a hillside covered in trees above the city and I guess the weather is perfect, mild enough to have to wear a sweater but at some points warm enough to just wear a t-shirt. He was telling me about his homework today: they broke into partners and were asked to go into the market in town and find foods that they had never seen or heard of before. They have to present it to the rest of the class tomorrow in a "creative" way. Kurtis said he and his partner are probably going to write a song about it. During his trip in the market he ended up with a bag of four huge fruits that he is clueless about, I hope they taste good! Overall, he said he is having an amazing time and absolutely loving it. He was able to play music with a music class he has been sitting in on and learned some hymns from the other students. I'm so excited for him.

I'm starting to get excited about Prague as well. I had a dinner with my teacher and she told me that this abroad is different than most in the fact that there is a lot of individual time since it is focused on art and creative writing. I can't wait to just wander around the city drawing people as the go about their daily life. Woohoo! Just five more weeks and then I am pretty much done with college. How exciting is that?!

Winter Storm

School was cancelled yesterday and today and by the looks of it I will be watching movies in bed tomorrow as well. Everything is coated in ice here which makes it beautiful but also very cold and dangerous. We are supposed to get up to 24 inches of snow in the next couple of days but so far all we have gotten is lots of sleet.

The wind is starting to pick up and I am hoping that it doesn't get too crazy or else trees are going to start breaking.

So far this morning, I went to breakfast, worked on my capstone and finished a movie about a young girl who gets into a relationship with a married older man who she didn't know was married or a thief, both of which he was. It wasn't as creepy as it sounds, it was actually pretty thoughtful.

I am trying to muster up the courage to put on a coat and some boots and head back outside all the way to Hay this time where I am meeting up with some friends to do the Insanity workout. Later today, I think I am going to watch a movie with friends and get some Prague homework done, do some drawing (a secret project that I am already starting for Kurtis' birthday). Tonight the biggest loser is on, I might try to get Christy to watch it in her apartment so I don't have to wait until tomorrow. Who would have thought that my capstone quarter would allow me this much free-time. Maybe I've finally learned time-management?

We have a visiting weekend starting Thursday but by the looks of this weather and the forecast things are going to be bad today and tomorrow and stay cold for a long time afterwards. I hope the weekend doesn't get cancelled!