spring break/landlord

After a long spring break week in the indiginous regions of Oaxaca and Chiapas and long walks through the jungles, the Mexican Track is back for the final three weeks of class. It has been hard to come down from the high of spring break. I went with 10 other students, a tour guide, a school coordinator, and a van driver. We crammed into a van that fit 14, and we had exactly 14 people. There was absolutely no room to breathe in that van, and not enough room to sleep comfortably. The first night, we drove 15 hours to get to the general region where we would be vacationing. We drove through winding mountains with no shoulder and crazy drop-offs. The bus driver kept driving way too fast and the tires would squeal with every sharp curve, which was like once a minute for an 8-hour period. Many of us were postive we saw him falling asleep too. In total, we endured half a dozen checks by the military police, which is pretty normal in Mexico.
The trip was absolutely amazing, and I saw sights like I've never seen before. I saw live monkeys in the jungle, beautiful waterfalls, plains that looked like it could have been anywhere in rural South America, and villages of indigious people that despite living in wretched poverty, still strive to preserve their way of life and retain their traditional dress. There was something very peaceful about it. The only downside was seeing the children on the streets trying so hard to sell their goods and wares. It is a very poor region and this is the way they have to get by. When we were nearing one of the waterfall sites, the van driver and the tour guide pulled off the side of the road and went into a store, leaving the door open. A half dozen children actually climbed into the van and begged for us to buy their fruit. At another site, the children actually set up a rope as a roadblock to make passing cars stop and maybe buy something. This whole experience was definitely eye-opening.
On another note, I am getting settled into my new apartment great. After about 5 weeks of having the window in my bathroom uncovered (with no window whatsoever, just an open space in the wall to the outside) the landlord has finally fixed this. The landlord, by the way, is hilarious. Him and his wife are Mexican Buddhists, which is weird in Mexico, considering that 90% of the population is Catholic and more resistant to other religions. One Sunday morning, I was getting ready to go out for a run and he noticed that I had the sniffles. He asked if I was sick, and I told him that I have allergies and have had them all of my life. Well, the next night, as I was getting ready to leave for the cafe around the corner, he pretty much invited himself into the apartment with a portable DVD player and a DVD with some testimonials of patients who were miraculously "cured" by a quack doctor who gave his patients herbal pills. My landlord doesn't believe in modern drugs and believes that herbs are the cure-all. We must have been watching that dumb video for over an hour. Wow.
Then there is the issue with the "bichos," or creature bugs, that I sometimes find in my apartment. As the weather gets increasingly warm, I am finding lots of ants and cockroach friends crawling around. I called the landlord and told him that we probably needed to get someone to come out and spray the place. His response was that all bugs have a place in the world and that we shouldn't kill them, even when they are in the house. Well, I just went out and bought a can of Raid, and regardless of what he says, I am having too much fun watching the poison take effect on the bugs.
I also told him at one point that I was interested in getting my eyebrow pierced and he was going to come with me. However, this was back in early March, and I have since decided not to. I read up on the process and there is a 6-8 week healing period and there is always a chance of infection. I didn't want to risk getting an infection in Mexico. Plus, my fellow IMBA classmate and I have to visit the company we are interning with this month, and I would not be able to take the bar out at this point yet. My window of opportunity has already come and gone. He still asks me about this, though, and says that I won't get an infection if I take the herbal pills from that doctor from the video!
Tonight he told me he is going to set me up with one of his friends. I really want to say "no thanks" but at the same time, I am curious of how weird his friends are. I have to give it to him, he seems to care about my well-being a lot. I do enjoy living where I am.