**UPDATE: I've uploaded a few pics, will add them later. I'm also uploading some QuickTime movies. 4/4**

 **note: This is mostly Maia's page on Paul, Luda, Maia, and Chris's trip to Mexico. However, Chris has his own page and there's unspoken input from Dad and Luda.**

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Wednesday, April 5th: It's All Over

Even though we're staying, and everyone else is leaving, it feels like everything is over and we're leaving now too.

The thing is, the conference is over a little early - in fact, today is the last day.

Which means: Chris's little friend Donnie will be gone. We probably won't have Internet. We'll go and see the Aztec pyramids and laze around for perhaps only one more day. It's like we just got here a few days ago - we really did! And now we're going so soon.

And this may be my last entry. The conference will be over, which means no more wireless in the conference room. There is Internet in the hotel.. but you have to pay 25 pesos for ten minutes, and I doubt Luda will pay for it, and I don't know if I have enough. After all, I should be using my money on that rebozo Mom wants. Although it seems like that's never gonna happen, so maybe I should blow it all on one of those awesome flutes. If I can find one. Nyech.

 A few thoughts from today, that I wrote in my journal...

Nydia actually told me some interesting things on the way to the restaurant the other day, that I forgot to mention. She said that Mexican people actually do speak very quickly - it doesn't just seem that way because we don't speak it as well, but they really talk very fast, unlike people in Argentina and Spain. And according to her, some people in Mexico speak their original languages; not Spanish, but Mayan or things like that. I didn't even know those languages still existed.

And something interesting happened this morning! An ashfall. Like a rainfall... but with ashes. Ashes, falling from the sky. It was really weird - these long, black strips that crumbled when you squeezed them spiraling downward. Luda got some pictures, so I guess I'll post them.. when I get back. 

 Argh.
Anyway.. We'd planned to go swimming, but couldn't. But then it started to lighten - not as many were falling - and so we decided to go swimming anyway. Unfortunately, as we walked to the swimming pool, more started falling again.
At the pool, we met big Don, Donnie's father. He knew where the ashes were coming from. You see, we'd gone to a restaurant on a bus with Nydia again last night, and seen a lot of forest fires on the way. Don told us that the ashes were from a similar forest fire, except that the fires had come closer to us.
So yeah, that was interesting.
I don't think I'm going to put up any earlier stuff. It'll just take too long. And I summarized. So just look below to see all that's happened in the past few days. Nyeh.
I'm going to try to put up more pics today, though, and some more stuff about Chris, even though he says he doesn't want any more. I'm sure his class would like to see more stories and pictures than just the parrots and the chapel.
Bye for now. 

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 Tuesday, April 4: A Little Behind...

Hey everyone!!
Okay, okay-- I know I haven't updated much. I got pictures up and stuff though, right? Right? The thing is, we don't have wi-fi in our room. It's just in the conference room. And the wireless router can only handle a certain amount of computers at a time, so it's hard to break into the network. Also, since it's in the conference room, we may not be able to get Internet after the conference is over...
Well, who knows.
I have been writing entries to post - I'll put them up separately, not on the main page. I've been recording every little detail, so you needn't fuss. However, I left my notebook back at the room, so I'll do that a little later.
 Please forgive me for my arcane and obscure fashion of speaking. I just tend to write weird things when I'm bored or something.
Here's a summary of events so far - detailed entries to follow:
We arrived on Saturday morning. The plane food wasn't bad. I tried to talk to the flight attendants in Spanish. (Chris is watching now.) Nydia, Dad's friend, drove us to the Hotel Hacienda Cocoyoc - as it seems, we are actually staying in Cocoyoc, not Cuernavaca. It's pretty ritzy. There are a bunch of pools and tons of gardens, a golf course, trees everywhere; they even have horses if tourists want to take a ride. There are actually a lot of Mexican people staying here, and the waiters and maids, etc., pretty much don't speak English. At least it's a good opportunity for me to practice my Spanish - though it was very hard at first. I'm getting better at speaking faster.
 We unpacked and got settled - our room is beautiful, pictures and video to follow - and then went to dinner at the hotel restaurant with Nydia. According to her, the food there is nothing special, but it was good. I talked to her a lot - and eventually, she invited me to come and stay with her for a couple months this summer and go to a Mexican school!! It's just.. wow. I'm not sure yet. I have to talk to Mom about it.
On Sunday.. geez, I can barely even remember... Oh yeah! We went to Cuernavaca, to the market. We walked around in the hot sun for a long time - Dad eventually took pity on Chris and I and bought everyone Cokes. Everyone except me, that is; I picked out a weird lemon soda that was actually pretty good.
The market - that was amazing. It was so crowded - lots of people had blankets spread out on the ground with whatever they were selling. Lots of people came up to us asking if we wanted to buy things, even little kids. I saw this flute there - a wood flute, with a weird way of playing it - it was like a wood flute, except both ends were open, and you didn't blow over a hole to play it. You blew a very certain way into the little cut that was made in the top. It's hard to explain.. I really wanted it; it seemed pretty quality, but it was 550 pesos ($55 Amer. dollars). And that would pretty much eliminate all possibility of buying Mom that scarf she wants, if I can find it (special type of scarf called a 'rebozo')... However, I was suckered into buying a personal hammock for 100 pesos - $10 for a hammock! Seriously! At Renfair they cost like, $100 or $200... I also got some nice jewelry - 3 pairs of earrings for $4 total. 40 pesos.
Lesseee.. We also saw a cathedral in Cuernavaca, and lots of other amazing things. We went swimming after dark when we got back. Then yesterday, Monday, we mostly hung out around the hotel. I went swimming quite a bit with Chris, Donny, and Luda. Chris and Donny ran around taking pictures of everything - we saw parrots and horses and explored the gardens. Chris and Donny, at one point, found some "wolf tracks" in the brick floor, which made for quite a bit of trouble - they insisted on going to tell the manager about the "wolf" in the hotel, then when I retrieved them from that situation ("No, no, lo siento - no lupo, ellos piensen es pero no es lupo") ran off to look for the wolf. Chris was quite upset (Donny had been sent up to he and his parents' room by then). That was eventually sorted out. Then we went to dinner at a place in Cuernavaca - Nydia had invited everyone to sign up and come with her on the bus to that. About 40 people from the conference came. The food was... weird. They served things like ox tails and red worms and veal brains... ("Aren't veal brains unsafe? I thought they couldn't serve them." "Yeah, well, this is Mexico!")
And, to anyone who was worried, yes, they always serve us bottled water. We get a weird kind called "Ciel" in the hotel, that says it's made by the Coke company. It tastes bad, but it doesn't inflict Moctezuma's vengeance.
And now, this morning, I'm in the conference room, typing all this. It's 10:30am Central time (the time here) but it's 11:30 at home, I believe.
I'll add detailed entries from earlier days later on - check the sidebar, I'll make it say "Missed Entries" or something. I'll post some movies and more pictures too.
Bye!