The View from Above

The weekend started off right with a michelada. What’s that you ask? Why it’s a drink with beer, tomato juice concentrate flavored with spices and clam broth, lime juice and salt with shrimp on the bottom and rimmed with a kind of spicy gummy. Sounds gross but it was really good, actually! After picking up fellow Fulbrighter ETAs Britney and Charllotte from the bus station we headed to a restaurant in Metepec to meet up with our Mexican friends. This is where I tried the michelada.

Friday we went to a quaint nearby park to run. On the weekends there are Zumba classes in the center of the park. We made huevos a la Mexicana when we came back then ventured out to downtown Toluca for Alfenique. It’s a cultural festival/fair to celebrate Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). Los portales were lined with vendors selling pig shaped cookies, chocolates on a stick, papel picado, decorated sugar skulls and chocolate skulls. They also had people walking around in costume with their faces painted. I want to paint my face like a skull for Halloween/Dia de los Muertos! It rained on us on the way home. We should have expected that from the sunny Toluca skies. Ya get all sorts of weather in one day. We stopped by the panaderia, fruteria, and tortilleria to pick up taco ingredients and dessert. It’s so convenient. At night we had some adult beverages at a bar near the downtown area and we danced salsa, cumbia, and banda (which is mostly hopping around).

Saturday was the big trip to Valle de Bravo! Britney and I decided to be adventurous and try paragliding so we spent part of the afternoon sightseeing in Valle from the sky. It wasn’t scary at all, actually. We were driven up a mountain to a concrete landing from which the paragliders departed. We strapped up with an instructor, took a few running steps and started to fly. The flight lasted for about 30 minutes. We met our friends at the landing area and we hung out for a few hours next to the lake. Then we rented a boat and got a tour of the area. We got out of the boat to explore a waterfall and then it started to rain. We took the boat back to the dock and had seafood at a floating restaurant. I had delicious fish tacos. Then we walked around the downtown area to walk off all the food we had just eaten. I bartered and got myself a sweater! After that we headed back to Toluca and stopped to look at the stars on the way home since the sky is so clear because there’s no light pollution.

But the day didn’t end there! Once we got back to Toluca, we put on some warmer clothes at the apartment and headed to the nearby town of Metepec to go to Quimera, an art festival. They have performances and tents set up in the downtown area. The festival lasts for about 2 weeks. By the time we found parking, the events were mostly over and it had started to rain so we found a shelter at a mezcaleria. We stayed there pretty late and were able to celebrate Jess’ birthday which was on Sunday! It was a very long but fun day so we all crashed as soon as we got home. Looking forward to the next adventure!